Thursday, March 20, 2008

Age of Consent Laws and Disney/ABC

On March 14, 2008, ABC's 20/20, a Disney owned company, aired a show challenging age of consent laws. To the dismay and shock of child advocates and Anti-pedophile bloggers and writers (a term coined for those who expose online sex offenders, predators and pedophiles), it was disproportionately favorable to the plight of sex offenders. The show featured a segment called "Vigilante Justice" in which they interviewed a child advocate who goes by the name "Petra Luna". The child advocate was clearly shown to be the antagonist as opposed to the sex offender(s), who were presented as the protagonists and victims.

Credible child advocates (as opposed to registered sex offenders claiming to be child advocates, whose offenses range from molesting preschoolers to teenagers) are gravely disappointed in the position ABC's 20/20 decided to take. Even more disappointing is the fact that ABC is owned by Disney. Parents might be caught off guard and falsely assume that Disney would take a more child centered position on sexual abuse.

While many reasonable people might support the pretense of 20/20's questioning Romeo and Juliet laws, which are "offenses" that often refer to younger teens "hooking up" with older teens or offenses with minimal age gaps, the show was surprisingly sympathetic to the sex offender, especially in their "Vigilante Justice" segment. Speaking on behalf of many child advocates and parents, we believe 20/20 mislead viewers by portraying the United States National Sex Offender Registry as made up of a significant amount of Romeo and Juliet affairs by conjecture only.

Truth is, nobody really knows how many Romeo and Juliet affairs actually make it to the registry. Most Romeo and Juliet affairs are often reported by angry parents and the vast majority of affairs are never reported the police at all.

Many states are already making amendments to such laws to change status for Romeo and Juliet crimes, such as Florida.

For example:

Underage sex is still a crime in Florida, but the law which went into effect in July allows a judge to remove the sex offender designation in certain cases. The victim in the case must be between 14 and 17, a willing participant in the sexual activity and no more than four years younger than the offender. The offense must be the only sex crime on the offender's record.


The woman who was presented as a victim of "vigilanti's" in 20/20's Age of Consent segment is a notorious sex offender activist and advocate and is shown here, in the video link below.

Vigilante Justice with Jan Kruska video

Her name is Jan Kruska and many child advocacy organizations believe her profiling by Wikisposure was what prompted her to contact 20/20:

http://www.wikisposure.com/Jan_Kruska

Wikisposure (http://www.wikisposure.com) is a subsidiary of Perverted Justice (http://www.pervertedjustice.com), who is best known for their partnership with NBC's Dateline in effort to out Internet predators. It has been rumored that NBC's show "To Catch a Predator" has long been the nemesis of ABC's 20/20 in a tumultuous ratings war.

The reason child advocacy volunteers are most concerned with 20/20's support of sex offenders is obvious, but we also think 20/20 was sorely remiss in not disclosing Jan Kruska's sex offender advocacy work and the dangers of lowering age of consent laws to tweens or even younger.

John Stossel, the host of the 20/20's "Age of Consent" gave his viewers something to think about when he revealed that other countries, Yemen for example, had age of consent laws that started at age 9, but is this suggestion an appropriate battle for Disney and ABC? It strikes me as a conflict of interest, for a company whose target audience is as young as just a few months old and their parents, the segment on "Vigilante Justice" seemed to tread a slippery slope when they seemingly decided to to take sides, sympathizing with a known sex offender advocate and sex offender law reformer.

Interviewee Petra Luna has revealed to us that the producers of 20/20 and John Stossel were made aware of Jan Kruska's website, http://www.operationawareness.com/ and her general motives. It doesn't take much research or reading on her site to start questioning whether or not she has a child's best interest in mind, the arguments and anger toward the parents of abused children and the laws that were designed to protect them go much further than a scorned offender.

Sex offender advocates work by grooming the public in much the same way that they groom children. They slowly introduce ideas and use deception to present their cause as synonymous with civil rights movements such as gay rights or minority rights.

Many sex offender advocates, especially those actively involved in lobbying for change and have organized via the web, believe that child/adult (age of child unrestricted), is a matter of civil rights for both the adult and the child.

They often present their advocacy as:

* Fighting for children's rights
They believe that it's a child's RIGHT (sometimes as young as infancy) to have sex with an adult

* That child protection laws and the sex offender registry don't work
They present junk science to decriminalize sex offenses against minors and claim that the registry and child protection laws only make pedophiles and sex offenders more secretive and resourceful even though they have no evidence to support this

* That is the fault of the child or the parents if a child is molested
Many sex offender reformers claim that if a child falls into the hands of a predator it is because the parent was a bad parent or actually blames the child as the instigator of sex, regardless of their age. They want you to take their word for it without actually speaking to the victim themselves

For further explanation on sex offender rights and pro-pedophilia activism, please see a very revealing look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-pedophile_activism

Further incriminating 20/20 are their web forums and public discussions on the Age of Consent (located on the 20/20 website) where they decided to selectively delete posts by true child advocates (Anit-pedophile volunteers) and leave up of the comments of sex offense reformers and pedophile activists. One has to ask, what would be their motive in doing this?

While sex offender reformers/activists seek to abolish laws against tween/teen/adult sex and decriminalize such behavior; undoubtedly they see 20/20's age of consent challenge as a major victory. It may behoove Disney and ABC to educate themselves on why these laws are important to begin with. The fact is, these laws are there to protect children from predators and adults, not necessarily consensual teenage relationships. One must ask, if 19 year olds are legally able to have sex with 12 year olds, then how could justice ever be served when a 50 year old grooms and takes advantage of those same 12 year olds?

Is this the message Disney is willing to risk their reputation on? Is this a battle Disney chooses? Is Disney going to remain silent while it's affiliate company presents a very bias and quite frankly, pro-sex offender and pro-pedophile message? Are parents willing to negotiate with sex offenders so that they offenders are granted greater access to children as young as 9 as John Stossel presents for discussion?

Is Disney willing to take on this pro sex offender activism?

Laws must close loop holes for predators while not criminalizing teenage sex. A line must be drawn somewhere and our hope is that Disney and ABC would refuse to contribute to blurring that line of consent and puberty as the right time to have sex. As one of John Stossel's guests suggested - nowadays 10 year olds can reach puberty, suggesting that they're biologically ready for sex. This is a controversial statement and one that is extremely dangerous for children. Does ABC and Disney really support pushing this envelope and if not, why aren't they presenting the dangers of lowering the age of consent as well and presenting the dangers of suggesting the validity of such controversial laws?

Our plea:

Parents, educators, and child advocates alike, please, write Disney today and condemn their presenting sex offender advocates as victims and advocating the lowering of age of consent laws. This kind of publicity gives credibility to all offenders and encourages and supports child molesters, knowingly or unknowingly. This kind of publicity is what sex offenders, even those violent in nature and those with much wider age gaps, perceive as a monumental victory.

Please support child advocates who wish to keep children safe from sexual abuse -- children of ALL ages. Even 15 year olds deserve the right to be protected under the law, because if we're going to allow children consent at the point of puberty, whose going to protect them when an adult molester claims that the child consented? Where exactly do we draw the line? Parents must ask themselves, are we willing to negotiate with a 12 year old who has likely reached puberty or even negotiate with our 15 year olds? If it is legal for a 19 year old to have sex with a 14 year old, then why not a 60 year old having sex with a 13 year old? We promote as a general rule -- all minors deserve to have the laws err on the side of protecting them from sexual abuse.

Please stand up for children across the country, across the world. If you won't, who will? Certainly not the people who think that there is nothing wrong with child/adult sex.

Disney/ABC can be reached via email at:

For ABC channel
http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html

20/20
http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=20/20

Disney/ABC

Disney’s Chairman of the Board George Mitchell
george.mitchell@dlapiper.com

Robert Iger, CEO
robert.a.iger@disney.com

Rich Ross, President of Disney Channel Worldwide
rich.ross@disney.com

Joanna Spak - The Head of Finance, Planning, etc., Disney Channel - joanna.spak@disney.com

Mark Kenchelian, The Head of Business and Legal Affairs, Disney Channel mark.kenchelian@disney.com

Jewell Engstrom, CFO and Executive VP for Disney-ABC Cable Group
jewell.engstrom@disney.com

Olivia Stafford, Assistant to Jewell Engstrom
olivia.stafford@disney.com

Albert Cheng, EVP/Digital Media, Disney-ABC Television Group - albert.cheng@disney.com

Karen Hobson, Digital Media Communications Office, Disney-ABC Television Group karen.hobson@disney.com

George Bodenheimer, Co-Chairman Media Networks Group
george.bodenheimer@disney.com

Nicole Nichols, Senior VP of Entertainment Communications, Disney-ABC Television
Group
nicole.nichols@disney.com

Aime Wolfe, Assistant to Nicole Nichols
aime.wolfe@disney.com

Patti McTeague, VP of Kids Communications
patti.mcteague@disney.com

Hope Hartman, VP Media Relations, ABC Entertainment
hope.c.hartman@abc.com

Brad Jamison, VP, Corporate Initiatives, ABC
brad.jamison@abc.com

Stephen McPherson, ABC Entertainment President
stephen.mcpherson@abc.com

Annie Fort, ABC Family Media Relations
annie.fort@disney.com

Alex Wallau, President of Network Operations & Administration
alex.wallau@disney.com

Mike Shaw, ABC Sales and Marketing President
mike.shaw@disney.com

Kara Rousseau, VP of Ad Sales Marketing for Disney/ABC Kids Networks - kara.rousseau@disney.com

Judy Estrin, Board of Directors
jestrin@packetdesign.com

John Bryson, Board of Directors
john.bryson@edisonintl.com

Monica Lozano, Board of Directors
monica.lozano@laopinion.com

John Chen, Board of Directors
john.chen@sybase.com

Gary Wilson, Board of Directors
gary.wilson@nwa.com

Thomas Staggs, CFO/Senior V.P.
tom.staggs@disney.com

9 comments:

jacey said...

It's concerning when ratings mean so much to companies like Walt Disney/ABC that they're willing to paint sexual offenders as victims just to have a new "angle."

Stitches77 said...

It would have been nice to think that they weren't aware of what was going on. You could at least forgive them for allowing someone to deceive them.

But they did know. We know this for a fact. They chose to ignore it and deceive the American public by perpetuating the lies.

There's an obvious agenda going on here. Should we try to find out what that agenda is? Nah, it's most likely money which means they are selling out America's children for $$$$ and that is completely unacceptable.

WASP Ohio said...

ABC just wanted 2 get into the "hot topic" of sex offenders so they actually bought into the crap that Jan and all her little buddies were spewing out. They must have asked SOSEN for any "romeo and juliet" stories that they knew of because they couldn't find any themselves. And out of that there was only 1 true Romeo and Juliet.
The blonde girl thought that the boy needed to be on the registry because of the pressure he exerted on her.
Jan was having sex with someone 7 yrs younger than her. If she was a man we would not be having this discussion, and everyone would know why she is a sex offender - but they all seem to dismiss that the boy was 15.
He probably thought that Jan was in love with him. He has not had enough experience in LIFE IN GENERAL to understand the certain nuiances in an ADULT sexual relationship.
20/20 took the RARE occurance of a teen actually being convicted in a R&J situation and blew it all out of proportion. Then they attempted to make Petra look like some crazy lady just after all sex offenders.
Petra doesn't just pick one and go. She goes after some of the most dangerous sex offenders in the world. Jan may not be "physically" dangerous, but I equate her to Hitler... spewing lies and propoganda to suite the needs of sex offenders and pedophiles to the average citizen and to lawmakers of this country in hopes to make it easier for sex offenders and pedophiles to hide in secrecy and convict more crimes against the children of this country.

Anonymous said...

Our children are not for sale!

Does 20/20 think they can pick up the sex offenders for ratings?

Our kids are not for sale!!!

Stitches77 said...

"Does 20/20 think they can pick up the sex offenders for ratings?"

In my mind, the only thing lower than a child molester and their enablers and apologists are the ones who do it for one reason and one reason only.........money. THEY aren't the wacked out need-driven misbehavers, they have NO excuse.

But then, greed causes people to do really stupid and selfish things. Fortunately sometimes there are people watching, and they catch one trying to sell out someone's children. And well, that's the end of THAT.

Anonymous said...

Can someone who molested a child twenty years ago and who has been out of any trouble during that time be trusted?

If not, then why not?

AMC said...

anonymous said, "Can someone who molested a child twenty years ago and who has been out of any trouble during that time be trusted?

If not, then why not?"

-----------

No, they can't be trusted because so many child molestations go unreported, that it can never be safe to assume that somebody who has a compulsion for sex with children or has already demonstrated a lack of control, can never truly be trusted. That is just common sense, IMO.

I certainly wouldn't leave my kids with a formerly convicted child molester/pedophile, no matter how many years had passed.

Stitches77 said...

Trusted? Trusted with what?

Now if you're talking about trusting them with my child, hell no. Anybody who would molest a child once is not of a calibre to suit me. And you know what? My child is worth more than the chance.

Funny thing is that Jan Kruska said the exact same thing on one of Tom Madisons podcast. Interesting eh?

Now, if you mean 'trust' in another way, say for example, could you trust them to be honest? Could you trust them to be telling you the truth?

Well you wouldn't have to watch them for 20 years to determine that would you? One lie, and that would be it for me. You don't have to lie to me 50 times for me to know you're a liar.

The only thing worse than a liar, is well, a child molester.

Stitches

Anonymous said...

Are you truly going to Crucify Disney ABC and John Stossel over one Special in which they used two polar opposites on a movement. Is this not still America where one does have the freedom of independent thought.
I used to follow Petra, I have become disillusioned, so would then I be crucified like Jan to counter your arguments? Their is more rhetoric without facts being flung on both Jan's web site, and this one to make any person truly sick.

I am a survivor of Childhood molestation and sexual assault. My parents chose not to report my crime, to wipe it under a rug and leave it buried. My prep went on to attack another child 10 years later her parents believed her, reported the crime. He shot himself in the head with a sawed off shot gun. Was justice truly served? No.... and to this day I pray for his soul.

This movement has become akin to the ANTI war protesters of the 60's and 70's who reverted to bombs during their final push. You are not serving the interest of children, you are serving to fill this ugly world with more anger, more disillusionment, more crime. Crime perpetuates crime, propaganda perpetuates propaganda. The only way to dissipate a destructive cycle it to learn from it and speak to fellow human brings the way we wish to be spoken to. Advocates can also be criminals. Like cancer, bread from hate leading to more hate and darkness.

Where is the ray of light.
Where is the merit for all the good John Stossel has done for crimes against children over the years.

I have a friend who's been on a child predator list since he was 18 for sleeping with His 17 year old girlfriend, and while Florida now has a Romeo & Julliet statuate the is no repeal for those already living with the stigma.
Age of consent is valid. While I do not think we should go back to Victorian standards, we do have to realize that children are increasingly more sexually active at a younger age. Their is no comparison to a 60 year old and a 9 year old in the same context as a Teen and Young adult.

I have a sister who had fully developed female body at 11. By the time she was 12 she was actively lying to Teen boys and even Young adult males and was beyond promiscuous. My Mother worked full time, I was 5 years older then my sister, but she look 10 year older then I did. Her behavior was beyond control. By the time she was 14 she had been expelled from every school in our county. I would have felt sorry if any man, and I mean ANY had been prosecuted for sexual contact with her. Most states don't even offer ID Card to children under 13. Our teens idols walk around telling sex, and we have seen the destruction of many teen idols to front page sport on tabloid news.


As a survivor of abuse, what I see the most need for rectifying is community units. So many family's are so very broken and fragmented. My mother could not police us, someone had to feed us. Their was no child support, no father figure, no support system. This gap has only increased in the 21 years since my abuse occurred. We need to remember that it takes a village to raise a family, to be more mindful of our surroundings.

I also believe that a punishment should fit the crime. End of story. A mild sexual act as a Teen or young adult should not brandish you to the life of a scarlet letter that goes beyond literary comprehension into Cruelty. WE rehabilitate murders and set them free, you may live right next door to one and NOT know it. You cold hand them the knife that ends you life and never know the wiser. But commit any type of sex act and carry that burden for life? Where is the standing justice in that.

Please find facts. Convince me beyond propagated rhetoric. Show me why I sould Punish Disney, the staple of my community's life because you think they were wrong to allow the subsidiary ABC to provide two sides of a story which showed that even advocates can be cruel. I know this to be true. I have seen it. I have seen Petra have to beg you to call off attacks. I have seen in bulletins and blogs the nasty vile temperament of a moment so far from peace, and so at odd with its message. You can not abuse the abuser. You can not kick the wounded dog. If you do eventually society will become numb to the good your trying to do!

This my friend is a lesson in Media. This was an interview that Petra herself told people[le to watch. A media event which was changed in an editing room. It has happened to the best and worst in this world, and will happen again. ABC's freedom of speech is just as valid as my own.

We need to look towards Positive Role models. Dr. King who's message lived beyond the violence who took his life and so many others who carried themselves with Dignity and grace in the eyes of adversity. The battle we fight is already at odds with the constitution. 1 step forward is not enough when anger shoves you 15 steps back under the dirty carpet of secrets.

When you attack, you must have your facts straight. You must check and recheck everything. Site your sources, and play your cards. This is not poker, you can not bluff your full house. Its a cheap trick and it demands the victims out their who have pulled themselves up by the grace of faith and gone on to make and find beauty in their life.

I somehow doubt that my passionate plea to you, and your Army Leader will actual make even a ripple affect. I am just one who is willing to finally say I have become one of your disillusioned. You are like Teenage girls on the play ground threatening to Kick my A** for no reason. I don't' want to fight you. I want you to hear me. Truly hear me.

I have show two instance in my own life where age of consent would have been valid., and I am a survivor of the type of assault you counter with. I was 10, my perp was 57.

What makes me sad is knowing somewhere out their some little girl or boy may tell their parents tonight that someone did something inappropriate and that parent will cast it off as a child's fanciful imagination. This is the true battle. Enlightening parents to the signs of abuse, making head way with our legal system to not place blame,and look at the crime regardless of the victims age. It is worth the money to find the child has lied, then to have never spent it assuming that all of them lie.

And in no way shape or form should the reformation of a murder be less a crime then a sex act. Thou shalt not kill....... Thou shalt not kill...... Nor in anger should you threaten a life get your message heard. In that instance you become not better then the Perp and the circle game begins again.

Dignity should always be present. "When you walk through a storm hold your head up high", but don't throw the stone into your glass coffin. The shards will hurt beyond your perception.