The Major Kinds of Sexual Abuse Torts
Negligence or a lack of care is the most common personal injury claim (tort). Examples include car crashes and slip-and-falls. Sexual abuse claims are intentional torts. There is a difference between intentional and negligence. In one famous case, a court ruled that a boy who pulled a chair from underneath an elderly woman, causing her...
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Help for Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse in Baltimore
Sexual abuse is a terrible crime. It not only violates a person in a physical sense but also robs them of their innocence and dignity. There is help available for Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse in Baltimore. This is especially heartbreaking when those in positions of morality, such as members of the Catholic Church, are...
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Like Churches, Maryland Schools Found to Harbor Sexual Abusers
A recent investigation shed light on the tendency of schools to quietly allow teachers accused of sexual abuse to transfer to other schools. Unsurprisingly, those teachers accused of sexual misconduct often repeat the same bad behavior at their new schools. This practice is repeated in schools across the United States, risking harm to millions of...
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Local Catholic High School Renames Auditorium
When Sister Francis Marie Yocum was a music teacher at The Catholic High School of Baltimore in the 1950s, she wrote the school song. But after her name appeared in the Attorney General’s sex abuse report, her name will no longer be on the school’s auditorium. In 2012, a 75-year-old woman reported that Yocum sexually...
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Common Physical Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Women
Exact numbers are difficult to pinpoint, but as many as 40% of American children experience some form of sexual abuse. In a significant number of cases, children experience ongoing abuse, often at the hands of a parent, caregiver, or adult in a position of authority. The betrayal of trust, not to mention the act itself,...
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Jehovah’s Witnesses Sex Abuse Exposed
After a four-year investigation, a Pennsylvania grand jury recently indicted nine men on charges connected to long-term sexual abuse in the Jehovah’s Witness church. Critics say church elders have treated child sexual abuse as a sin rather than a crime, carefully documenting cases in internal files, but not reporting allegations to authorities and sometimes letting...
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Sexual Abuse and the Five Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Responses
Sexual abuse survivors, as well as people who witness these activities, often develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Contrary to popular belief, PTSD is not a processing disorder that randomly affects some victims and leaves others untouched. Instead, PTSD is a stress-related brain injury. Extreme stress enlarges the amygdala and squeezes out the cerebral cortex. The...
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Top-Five Reasons Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors Do Not Immediately Come Forward
Delayed reporting of childhood sexual abuse is extremely common. Researchers have known this for years. Unfortunately, the law does not keep up with science very well. In recent years, several states have altered their respective statute of limitations laws in favor of survivors, including Maryland. A statute of limitations (SOL) limits a victim’s right to...
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No More Adverse Childhood Event Statue of Limitations in Maryland
In the wake of a sweeping report detailing long-term childhood sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Governor Wes More signed a provision that ended the statute of limitations (SOL) for institutional adverse childhood event (ACE) sexual abuse claims. “There is no statute of limitations on the hurt that endures for decades after someone is assaulted,”...
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MD Attorney General Finally Releases Sex Abuse Report
After many delays, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown published a 1,000-page report which detailed an “astonishing” amount of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Maryland over the past 80 years. The report paints a damning picture of the archdiocese, which is the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the country and spans much of...
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