Special Article: Abuse of authority

We find that a commonly reported problem in child abuse investigations is an abuse of authority based on pre-emptive guilt. Raids are very often carried out without a search warrant, and there is a disturbing new trend of police co-operation with anti-pedophile vigilante groups.

Here, we present a list of reported abuses of authority.

• The minimodels injustice, in which a man was convicted of child pornography for clothed fashion shoots of adolescent girls, and framed for a series of other crimes.
• Bruce Rind commentates on a Canadian TV documentary that exposed abuse of authority:

"The teens' willing participation and their predominantly positive perceptions of the experience are completely consistent with the findings of the current study, as well as the other nonclinical research reviewed previously. Nevertheless, as the CBC series documented, the London media, social workers, and police treated the affair following the dictates of the incest model, with serious distortion and iatrogenic harm ensuing. The media consistently and repeatedly exaggerated and misrepresented the affair from the start, presenting it as a child pornography ring victimizing children as young as eight, when in fact almost none of the men knew each other, 95% of the cases did not involve pornography, and teenagers were involved, not young children. Social workers proceeded from the premise that the relations were coerced and non-consenting -- even though most boys were above the age of consent -- because of a "power differential;" they also tended to believe that men and boys get their "power needs" met through sex. The CBC series documented further that the social workers involved in the cases, were distressed that the boys did not see themselves as victims, and many had a declared agenda to make the boys see themselves as victims. They wrote "victim impact statements" for the courts, in which they interpreted the boys' refusal to talk with them about the sex as a traumatic reaction to the sex itself. Finally, the CBC series documented how the police, operating under the premise that the boys were victims and were being "ruined" by the sex, used threats, bribes, deception, and harassment to coerce them into providing state' s evidence. Teens interviewed for the series recounted how the police pressured them to claim in court that they felt victimized when in fact they did not. The CBC series was critical of the actions taken by the three London institutions just discussed, pointing out examples of harm imposed on the individuals brought "into a system of interrogation and confession and squealing, a system of punishment and therapy, humiliation and incarceration" (IDEAS, 1995, p. 61). The series presented an interview with a gay spokesman, who argued that "it was the whole criminal proceedings that caused them to feel victimized or caused damage to their lives, not the sex trade" (IDEAS, 1995, p. 57). Another London commentator opined that the police and social workers should stop treating these teens as if they were "damaged heterosexuals"; the president of a Detroit group organized to protect homosexuals against violence and discrimination added that "they're damaged now because of heterosexuals, in this case the police" (IDEAS, 1995, p. 53). The producer of the series summed up the procrustean influence of the incest model when applied to teenage males involved in willing relations with unrelated adults:

"the modern and useful feminist analysis of the reasons young women suffer in horrible incest cases -- that analysis has been inappropriately used in an attempt to understand an entirely different set of circumstances. A blurring of motives and psychological effects has taken place, which has created a powerful and misleading narrative that produces neither justice nor happiness." (IDEAS, 1999)"[1]

• The website thomasreedy.info:

"A message in Thomas Reedy's own words: I would describe myself as a man who believed in the American dream, who started a business from an idea of helping to keep kids out of adult-oriented content on the Internet while at the same time making a profit. I am the person who created the very first Age Verification Service (AVS) for the Web, crafted from the Communications Decency Act signed into law in 1996. I am also the one who, after 2 1/2 years of successfully growing his company and managing 17 employees, started the process of taking his company public, including the company's internal operation and website vetted by corporate attorneys. I became a target for the U.S. Postal Service, the Dallas Web Taskforce, and Prosecutor Terri Moore because, out of the 6,000 plus sites using our Age Verification Service, 10 sites had images of child pornography. I became a target only after I turned these sites in to FBI Agent Frank B. Super due to customer service complains we received. I was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for aiding and abetting the distribution of child pornography by a prosecution who used fabricated evidence, perjury, and witness intimidation to win an otherwise unwinnable conviction against my company, my wife (who was my bookkeeper) and myself. I hope the evidence presented on this website will help prove my allegations and overturn the wrongful conviction against my wife and I. I have an active petition before the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas in front of Judge Terry Means. It is called a 2255 habeas petition. This petition was filed in January 2007. It has been almost 2 years and the judge has yet to give a ruling on our request for a hearing to present evidence of gross ineffective assistance of counsel and gross government misconduct. I have attempted to contact the media and cannot even get a reporter to investigate the facts to prove or disprove my claim! I feel this injustice needs to be exposed for the dirty deed it is to prevent others from this type of injustice. I have been actively fighting my case for the almost 8 years I've been held prisoner and will continue to fight. I hope you will join me in our fight. Purchase my artwork, donate money or time. I need exposure and legal assistance. I am in a fight for my life. Sincerely, Thomas Reedy"

• The website twominuteverdict.org, documenting the conviction of Jeffrey Nickel - This website documents countless abuses of authority and due process in the trial of a man whose conviction is yet to be overturned.

• Mendori on BC - "I joined a group on Facebook advocating a mandatory national "pedophile" registry, and opened a topic asking if they recognized the difference between a pedophile and a child molester. The debate proceeded, during which I repeatedly told them I was 16 (truth), and that I have never actually touched a child, and had no intention of doing so, as my conscience would not be able to cope with the potential of harming a child psychologically (You cannot deny that not nearly enough genuine research has been done on the subject). They replied, nearly unanimously, that if they had their way I would be included in their registry despite being a legal minor myself and having no criminal record. In reply, I gave them a list of the constitutional rights and various laws that their proposed list would break. Etcetera. Eventually, one woman said she had contacted my school. As luck would have it, I had already left that school at that time, and the email was referred to the police, who came early in December and outed me to my parents. After being satisfied that I had not been sexing the kiddies, they warned me they could be back to confiscate my computers and check for child porn. Never have I been so glad I did not give in to temptation and download any."

• Conn. man says police broke into home, ripped out catheter (replacement link, quote below from wtopnews.com) - "HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A man alleges that police entered his home illegally and ripped a catheter from his body during a child pornography investigation that led to the arrest of two neighbors. Andrew Glover, 60, of New Britain filed a notice with the city Thursday that he intends to pursue a federal civil rights lawsuit. He accused the officers of inflicting severe injuries as he was recovering from intestinal surgery in February. Glover's lawyer, Paul Spinella, said police entered Glover's apartment Jan. 30 and Feb. 28. Glover wasn't involved in child pornography, has not been charged and has no criminal record, Spinella said.".