text:
Families, policy and the law
- 1. Weaving a common narrative: An introduction to essays on families, policy and the law in Australia
- 2. Trends in family transitions, forms and functioning: Essential issues for policy development and legislation
- 3. Ancestry, identity and meaning: The importance of biological ties in contemporary society
- 4. Past adoption practices: Key messages for service delivery responses and current policies
- 5. The forced adoption apology: Righting wrongs of a dark past
- 6. Current open adoptions: Mothers' perspectives
- 7. Perfecting adoption? Reflections on the rise of commercial offshore surrogacy and family formation in Australia
- 8. Use of surrogacy by Australians: Implications for policy and law reform
- 9. Secrecy, family relationships and the welfare of children born with the assistance of donor sperm: Developments in research, law and practice
- 10. Gay and lesbian parenting: The legislative response
- 11. Step-parenting
- 12. Grandparents as primary carers of their grandchildren: Policy and practice insights from research
- 13. Contemporary issues in child protection intake, referral and family support
- 14. Mandatory reporting laws
- 15. Children in the out-of-home care system
- 16. Justice and the protection of children
- 17. Children, families and the law: A view of the past with an eye to the future
- 18. The ties that bind: Separation, divorce and the indissolubility of parenthood
- 19. Confidentiality and "family counselling" under the Family Law Act 1975
- 20. Has confidentiality in family dispute resolution reached its use-by date?
- 21. Family law: Challenges for responding to family violence in a federal system
- 22. Families with complex needs: Meeting the challenges of separation
- 23. Post-separation parenting arrangements involving minimal time with one parent
- 24. Family violence and financial outcomes after parental separation
- 25. Lionel Murphy and the dignified divorce: Of dreams and data
- 26. Prosecuting child sexual abuse: The role of social science evidence
- 27. The scientists are coming: What are the courts to do with social science research?
- 28. Social science and family law: From fallacies and fads to the facts of the matter
- 29. Complex family issues: Collective awareness, common narratives and coordinated approaches to promoting resilience
- About the authors
26. Prosecuting child sexual abuse: The role of social science evidence
By Antonia Quadara
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Despite significant reforms to the criminal prosecution of sexual offences against children, a gap persists between the number (prevalence) of people who have experienced sexual abuse as a child and the far lower number of incidents that are adjudicated. Through a process of attrition, only a small number of cases are prosecuted.1 In this paper, I reflect on a second, related, gap between what the social science evidence tells us about the dynamics of child sexual abuse, and what the criminal law is able to countenance as "legal evidence".
The social science research on the reasons for this gap points to the misconceptions and mythologies about both victims and offenders that have shaped legal actors' decision-making.
With the increased willingness of victims to step forward and report (see Cossins, 2010, for a summary), and as investigative training increasingly draws on research about sexual abuse, and offenders' tactics and motivations, and locates sexual offending explicitly as a "crime of and in relationships" (P. Tidmarsh, personal communication, December 2010), this gap has become more pronounced. There is something peculiar to the criminal law that makes the empirical understanding of sexual abuse difficult to translate into the legal arena: the complex edifice of legislation, case law and jurisprudence about precisely what information about the sexual abuse can be admitted to the court and heard by the trier of fact (usually the jury).
This chapter briefly discusses the persistent "prevalence vs attrition" gap before highlighting three key issues that affect the extent to which a comprehensive narrative of sexual abuse can be presented to the jury: the laws of evidence,2 judicial warnings and directions to the jury, and the extent to which "extra-legal" evidence can be, and is, adduced by the court. I am limiting this discussion to issues that are relevant to the criminal jurisdiction, specifically the higher courts.3 These issues are contextualised in light of the current empirical evidence base in relation to delayed disclosures, the context and dynamics of sexual abuse, and perpetrators' grooming and offending tactics. The discussion is particularly focused on child sexual abuse perpetrated by family members (immediate and extended),4 and subsequently, where there is a high likelihood that the case is a delayed complaint or relates to historical child sexual abuse.5
The prevalence-attrition gap
Significant numbers of people in Australia are survivors of child sexual abuse. Looking at nationally representative data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS; 2006) Personal Safety Survey, 956,600 women (12%) and 337,400 men (4%) experienced sexual abuse before the age of 15. These figures are in the range suggested by other Australian prevalence studies with community samples. Child sexual abuse is thus not uncommon, with somewhere between 1 in 10 to 1 in 7 males, and 1 in 8 to 1 in 3 females having experienced some form of child sexual abuse (Child Family Community Australia, 2013).
Yet the numbers of incidents of child sexual abuse that enter the criminal justice system and that result in a conviction are very small by comparison. Of child sex offence matters progressing through the New South Wales justice system between 1995 and 2004, fewer than 16% of the cases reported to the police resulted in proven charges (Cossins, 2010). This was more pronounced in cases involving adult complainants (Daly & Bouhours 2010).6 Beyond victim/survivors not reporting the offence to police at all (approximately 8 out of 10 victims do not), it is in the early stages of the justice process - from the incident report to police clearance,7 and between clearance and before the commencement of criminal proceedings - that matters are most likely to not proceed. In terms of child sex offences, the predominant reasons for this are because either no suspect is identified or the victim withdraws the complaint (Cossins, 2010).
Closing the gap through "front-end" reform?
As noted, trying to close the prevalence-attrition gap has seen an extensive program of reforms across Australian jurisdictions for both child sexual abuse and sexual assault (including adult survivors of child sexual abuse). In a review of recent sexual assault law reform, Daly (2011) identified some 48 unique approaches that endeavour to improve both victim/survivors' experiences of the justice system and improve systems' outcomes (e.g., decreasing victim withdrawal, and increasing guilty pleas and verdicts). In addition to fairly standard approaches to law reform (i.e., reforming the substantive aspects of the offence and the admissibility of different types of evidence) are a host of other changes to the justice response to sexual offences.
Particularly noticeable are efforts to increase the level of specialisation of police investigators and to enable and improve collaboration among first responders (i.e., sexual assault services, child protection, police and forensic examiners). This specialisation may be the consequence of the changed nature of cases being reported to police. Not only are more victim/survivors reporting to police, but the nature of the sexual abuse being reported has altered; reported cases increasingly involve family members, historical incidents, ongoing sexual abuse, and adult survivors reporting abuse upon discovering the perpetrator abusing another child (e.g., their own child or sibling) (Cossins, 2010; Daly & Bouhours, 2010). Such sexual victimisation challenges the stereotypes of child sexual abuse. To be clear, it is not that the nature of child sexual abuse itself has changed. Thirty years of research has already demonstrated that, contrary to received wisdom, child sexual abuse is not a rarity, a fantasy of the child, the result of a precocious sexuality, the result of mothers' sexual absence, or due to the predatory behaviour of an unknown sexual deviant (Cossins, Goodman-Delahunty, & O'Brien, 2009; Eastwood, Kift, & Grace, 2006; Goodman-Delahunty, Cossins, & O'Brien, 2011; Taylor & Joudo, 2005). Child sexual abuse - like adult sexual assault - has been demonstrated to be fundamentally located within familial and familiar relationships, and that it is precisely these relationships that provide the opportunities for offending, and for silencing and denying (Clark & Quadara, 2010; Craven, Brown, & Gilchrist, 2007).
An effective and appropriate investigative response requires a significant degree of knowledge about child sexual abuse and offender behaviours, and a high level of skill in conducting investigations and interviewing victims, witnesses and suspects. Thus specialist police responses have been established, such as the Sex Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Teams (Victoria), the Joint Investigation Response Teams (NSW), and the Sexual Assault & Child Abuse Team (ACT). These are complemented by collaborative and multidisciplinary service provision (e.g., multidisciplinary centres in Victoria comprising sexual assault services, police, child protection workers). The overall effect is an increasingly specialised investigative capacity, enriched and supported by experts in both the victim services and offender treatment sector. Findings from the limited evaluation data suggest that victims of sexual offences are having more positive experiences when reporting to police (Success Works, 2011). Anecdotal evidence from the sector indicates improved attitudes and increased knowledge among police, and a greater capacity by the police to see themselves as partners alongside other agencies in supporting victim/survivors to engage the justice system and to prevent further offending.
However, best efforts at this "front end" of the justice system do not necessarily translate into improved outcomes in relation to prosecution and conviction (the "back end"). The arena of adjudication (i.e., the courtroom) is markedly different from the investigative one. The police role is to investigate a complaint by gathering all the available evidence and put together a brief of evidence to support a charge that has reasonable prospects of conviction. Moreover, unlike the court arena, in which there is no victim per se but a witness for the prosecution (or complainant), police are victim-focused. This is not to say they advocate for victims, but their role is in response to a victim's complaint.
The courtroom, on the other hand, is an arena in which the evidence gathered is tested (at law) by a judge and by the tribunal of fact (usually a jury, in indictable offences). The evidence is tested for: its relevance to the elements of the offence and the particular facts in issue; its admissibility, that is, what of the gathered evidence can legitimately be heard by the jury; its credibility; and its reliability (is it accurate and complete). With these requirements met, the trier of fact also needs to be satisfied that all offence elements for each charge have been proven beyond reasonable doubt (Bronitt & McSherry, 2001). The role of the judge in this is to guide the jury's assessment and use of the evidence in their decision-making (and to guide them in such a way that it does not occasion an appeal).
This is the overall framework in which indictable offences are tried. Arguably, sexual offences are presented with additional evidentiary obstacles in the form of exclusionary rules on evidence and judicial warnings on witness testimony. While these are not limited to sexual offences, they occasion significant difficulties when one considers the circumstances in which child sexual abuse occurs. These issues are taken up in the next sections.
The dynamics of child sexual abuse
The majority of child sexual abuse occurs within familiar and familial relationships.8 As such, it tends to be characterised by:
- prolonged or repeated victimisation;
- secrecy; and
- delayed disclosure (see Finkelhor, 1986; Herman, 1992; Smallbone & Wortley, 2001).
Perpetrators expend significant effort in identifying and building a connection with a potential victim, and use a range of "grooming"9 strategies to do so, such as:
- identifying the most vulnerable child (e.g. the child who is picked on by her siblings, is struggling at school, or is lonely) (Craven et al., 2007);
- identifying vulnerable or receptive families (e.g., a single mother with primary care for her children) (Leberg, 1997; Van Dam, 2006);
- isolating the child from other children or guardian (e.g., sending other siblings to bed early, encouraging the child's mother to take up activities outside the home);
- conferring a "special status" on the child (e.g., making them feel more adult or worldly) (Herman, 1992);
- gradually desensitising them to sexual touch (Smallbone & Wortley, 2001); and
- becoming "indispensible" to significant adults in the child's life (e.g., offering to look after the child or children, or do tasks parents, teachers have little time for and which puts them in a position of trust) (Craven et al., 2007).
These strategies demonstrate long-term planning (whether conscious or not), such that perpetrators gain "insider status" and its benefits (e.g., trust, authority and respect) long before they start offending (Van Dam, 2006). These benefits are amplified in contexts of intra-familial sexual abuse.
Perpetrators may also use bribes, threats, coercion, denial and blackmail to continue the offending and to ensure victims' compliance and silence. This can take the form of creating secrets the child must keep, thus rendering them complicit or co-conspirators in their abuse (Paine & Hansen, 2002); demonstrating potential for violence by harming others; threatening the family will break down or non-offending parents will be upset if the child discloses; or making the child feel responsible for not stopping the abuse (Craven et al., 2006, 2007).
The dynamics of child sexual abuse produce complex barriers to disclosing, such as fear of not being believed; being blamed; shame; fear of, or feeling responsible for, the consequences (Quadara, 2008). "A neat, coherent and timely disclosure should be regarded as the exception rather than the rule" (Staller & Nelson-Gardell, 2005, p. 1417). A US survey (Kogan, 2004) with 1,958 adolescent women found that although 24% disclosed their abuse within 24 hours, the majority either delayed or did not disclose at all. One in five waited more than a year, while one in four had never disclosed until the survey, findings that are reflected in the broader literature (see Cossins, 2010, for a summary of these studies). Perpetrators themselves commonly deny or normalise their behaviour (Nugent & Kroner, 1996; Van Dam, 2006); however, it is very difficult for this understanding to be translated into the criminal justice setting.
Prosecution and conviction issues
This section discusses three issues: the difficulties with providing courts with the full context in which the sexual abuse occurred; judicial warnings and directions to their jury; and the treatment of "extra-legal" evidence by the court. Discussion is with reference to jurisdictions in which uniform evidence legislation is in operation.10
Evidence of context
During investigations, police gather different types of evidence from a range of sources (the victim, other witnesses, documents, phone records, etc.). In cases of historical child sexual abuse, this process is significantly challenged because much of the strongest corroborative and forensic evidence (e.g., a disclosure made to an adult or evidence of sexual penetration) is no longer available. Often, the only evidence is the account of the survivor herself, which may well be of multiple offences over several years. Investigators will need to follow leads and clues in that account in order to provide the specificity required for an actual charge. However, not all this evidence will be admitted into the courtroom if the case goes to trial. Indeed a number of threshold requirements11 are in place that whittle away at the narrative initially provided, namely: whether the evidence is relevant to the facts in issue;12 whether the evidence is hearsay or opinion evidence; whether it invites the jury to make propensity reasoning, or "similar fact" reasoning; and whether the probative value of the evidence is outweighed by the prejudicial effect it has for the defendant. These thresholds apply to all offences; however, as Judge Roy Ellis (2007) observed, child sexual abuse cases differ in that the allegation typically involves a "course of conduct" over a period of time; in other words, there may be multiple charges relating to an extended period of time. This has evidentiary implications in that complaints lack specificity. Further, concepts such as time or the sequence of events may not yet be fully developed. However, some specificity and parameters may be possible; for example, the first or last incident of sexual abuse, incidents that occurred on particular or special days, such as birthdays, and incidents that may have occurred at different locations or in different circumstances than normal. Ellis went on to note that:
in these cases, if a jury is to gain appropriate insight into the real context of the allegations it may be necessary for events not the subject of a charge to be referred to. The real context in this sense means a number of things, including but not confined to the history between the complainant and the accused and the circumstances in which the complainant was living at the time of the allegations. (para. 13)
In other words, knowledge about a range of behaviours (some of which may constitute offences of their own, e.g., killing the family pet, and are referred to as "uncharged acts"), interactions and events that are not related to the charges can be put to the jury. The purpose of this is twofold: to enable the recollection of the actual charges and to locate the sexual abuse within in its "proper context" such that the charged acts don't appear as though they came "out of the blue" (Hamer, 2008). This is context evidence, which may also include relationship evidence (although there is a lack of precision in the use of these terms and whether they are interchangeable or different categories).
However, courts do not like evidence that invites "propensity reasoning"; that is, it is not permissible for the jury to improperly conclude that because the defendant behaved in the way presented by the prosecution (e.g., the uncharged act of killing the family dog or of other sexual[ised] interaction with the victim), it is more likely he did the charged act (i.e., the charge of child sexual abuse). Hulme (2009) noted this was a particularly prominent issue in sexual offence matters, and that context evidence introduced specifically for the purpose of helping the jury to understand the circumstances in which the charges occurred was "likely to be highly prejudicial to an accused person, and the jury must be carefully directed as the extent to which it may legitimately use the evidence when determining the facts in issue" (p. 16).
Thus, the introduction of context evidence is not automatic, being subject to a number of considerations: whether propensity is an incidental effect rather than central purpose of the context evidence, whether the evidence actually applies to any issues that have been raised in the trial, the necessity of balancing between its probative value and its prejudicial nature and, ultimately, judicial discretion as to its admissibility.
Judicial warnings and directions to the jury
A jury is the tribunal of fact. It is not the jury's role to become entangled in the intricacies, fine gradations and customs of the criminal law. However, in the assessment of facts and the use to which they are put in deciding the guilt or otherwise of the accused, jury members must be guided about how to make sense of evidence presented by the prosecution and defence.
The following three directions (or warnings) relate specifically to corroboration and delayed complaint:
- The Murray direction (R v Murray 1987): Where there is only one witness, the evidence of that witness "must be scrutinised with great care" before the jury should arrive at a verdict of guilty.
- The Longman warning (Longman v the Queen 1989): Where the complaint has been delayed, it would be "unsafe or dangerous" to convict on the uncorroborated evidence of the complainant alone unless the jury has scrutinised the evidence with great care, considering the circumstances relevant to its evaluation and paying heed to the warning, and were satisfied as to its truth and accuracy.
- The Crofts direction (Crofts v the Queen 1996): If a jury is informed that a delay in complaint does not necessarily indicate that the allegation is false and that there may be good reasons for why a victim of sexual assault may hesitate in making a complaint, the jury should also be informed that the absence of complaint or its delay may be taken into account in evaluating the evidence of the complainant and in determining whether to believe him or her (Cossins, 2010).
The Longman warning in particular has been subject to significant discussion and criticism, both from judicial officers (e.g., Wood CJ, see Nicholson, 2008) and the wider legal fraternity (e.g., Hamer, 2010). The warning is essentially about the "forensic disadvantage" caused to the accused by virtue of delayed complaint; had the complaint been made in a timely fashion, the accused would have had better opportunity to gather evidence and mount a defence. Criticisms of the Longman warning and its application in Australia include:
- There is no definition or guidance on "delayed complaint", with earlier cases having defined "delay" as being in the realm of hours or days, but more recent cases considering six months to be a relevant delay.
- Loss of evidence and the forensic disadvantage caused to the defendant has been presumed in Australian case law rather than being something the defendant needs to specifically identify or demonstrate.
- It is not always necessary to demonstrate the specific disadvantage caused, nor is there much discussion about the probative significance of that evidence (i.e., the lost evidence may in fact be peripheral to the case).
- Phrases such as "dangerous to convict" are an invitation for the jury to acquit.
- It conflates the specific issue of forensic disadvantage with the credibility of the complainant.
Legislative reform in some jurisdictions has attempted to limit the scope of such warnings by requiring the defendant to request the warning, the judge to indicate the nature of the disadvantage, and the phrase "dangerous to convict" not to be used. Nevertheless, the Longman warning remains for the most part mandatory (particularly where clear legislative prohibitions are absent) in an effort by trial judges to err on the side of caution and not risk an appeal by failing to give the direction. A study of successful appeals against conviction by the Judicial Commission of NSW (Donnelly, Johns, Poletti, & Buckland, 2011) found that 60% of those appeals related to a deficiency in the Longman warning, resulting in an error of law. In a majority of these appeals an inadequate Longman warning was the only error at law.
The Crofts direction is also problematic. Like Longman, it is a direction given in relation to a delayed complaint. Previously, a Kilby direction (Kilby v the Queen 1973) could be given in which the trial judge directed the jury that a delay or absence of complaint could be used as a factor in determining the credibility of the complainant. Given that such a direction reinforced stereotypes and misconceptions about victims of sexual abuse and disclosure (i.e., a "genuine victim" would raise a "hue and cry" at the earliest opportunity), legislative reform was introduced in Victoria to the effect that in relevant cases the trial judge needed to direct the jury that an absence or delay in complaint did not necessarily mean that the allegation was false (s 61(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic.)). In the appeal case Crofts v the Queen,13 the High Court held that s 61(1)(b) did not preclude the giving of a Kilby direction. Thus, it is possible for a jury in the one trial to be directed both that an absence or delay in complaint does not necessarily mean the allegation was false and that the very same absence or delay can be used in the jury's determination of the complainant's credibility.
In addition, directions may be given in cases where they are not relevant to the evidence (see discussion by Australian Law Reform Commission, 2010; Hamer, 2010; Tasmanian Institute of Law Reform, 2006). There is also the matter of what the research tells us about delayed complaint in child sexual abuse; that delayed complaint is the rule not the exception.
True enough, reform has been introduced with the aim of bringing this empirical knowledge into the courtroom. However, the Longman and Crofts directions point to a deeper issue: the ongoing tension between the power of legislative reform against the power of common law, in which it is judicial interpretation that often gives effect and substance to the operation of legislation, sometimes contrary to the spirit of the reform itself.
Expert evidence and specialised knowledge
Some effort has been made to provide courts with an empirically informed understanding of child sexual abuse with the introduction of s 79. This provides that expert evidence can be presented to the court, but is limited to its applicability to the specific matters at hand, not the general pattern of child sexual abuse. Further, its focus is on understanding the behaviour of the child, not the perpetrator. Finally, it is not clear how often it is being used. Anecdotal discussions with prosecutors and the NSW judicial commission suggest that it has not been used advantageously. The research literature tends to support this view in that scholarship on the use of social science evidence in criminal proceedings peaked in the late 1980s and into the 1990s; there is very little contemporary analysis. Previous research (Blumenthal, 2002) suggested that there is a divide between legal and empirical evaluations of social science evidence, namely that:
- Judges have questioned the material value that research findings and expert evidence provide, seeing the conclusions to be "commonsensical".
- Too much expert evidence on such commonsensical findings invaded the "province of the jury".
- Juries nevertheless could not be left to their own devices in evaluating such evidence.
- Social science researchers have not been particularly effective in undertaking legally relevant research and judges see the research paradigms as atheoretical.
- Social science research findings have not been presented in such a way that the court easily uses them.
Overall, the available commentary paints social science evidence and the law as "rival systems" (Tanford, 1990) - social science is innovative, while law resists innovation; social science is based on data and observation, law on precedent and hierarchy; social science seeks objective answers and law an adversarial victory; social science findings are probabilistic, but law's conclusions must appear certain. Tanford concluded that social scientists needed to accept that research that runs counter to law's epistemic and value system was unlikely to have influence. At the same time, the law aims to adjudicate on matters that occur in the empirical world - the very world that much social science research attempts to document and understand. Given the hidden nature of child sexual abuse, it would appear that such expert knowledge would be essential in assisting the jury in their deliberations.
Implications for future reform
What, then, are the ways forward? The issues discussed certainly raise the question of whether the criminal law is in fact the best arena for dealing with sexual offences, particularly offences that are historical in nature and involve intimates or family members. Indeed, there is ongoing discussion and, in some situations, implementation of alternative justice responses to child sexual abuse (for example, restorative justice conferences) (Cossins, 2010; Gavrielides & Coker, 2005; Jülich, 2006). However, it is not clear to me that we have yet exhausted opportunities within the justice system. Justice Neave of the Victorian Court of Appeal observed that the law - particularly evidence law - was "limping behind" the research base on child sexual abuse (Neave, 2012). She pointed out that there are many gateways inhibiting the presentation of the full context (or the "whole story") of an experience of sexual abuse into the courtroom (relevance, admissibility, exclusionary rules, and the balance of probative versus prejudicial evidence), which is a matter of concern, and an area where more work could be done within the current system.
In late 2011, the Australian Institute of Criminology, the Australian Institute of Family Studies and Victoria Police hosted the two-day national Truth, Testimony and Relevance symposium to discuss these issues with police, legal officers, the judiciary, academics and researchers. There was agreement that while it was dangerous to have juries reasoning outside the evidence presented, and beyond the caveats provided through jury directions, it was also the case that juries would fill in the gaps in the story by drawing on their own, not always accurate, understandings about child sexual abuse. This is particularly the case in relation to victims' behaviours and reactions in relation to the defendant that appear counter-intuitive (e.g., calling the defendant or making a time to see the defendant).
The collective expertise across these sectors highlighted that there are a number of ways in which the gap between the empirical picture of child sexual abuse and the evidential picture can be closed. However, while there was shared agreement about the importance of comprehensive "whole-story" investigation practice, there were questions about how far this approach would be able to shift practice at later stages of the criminal justice process. That is, there are barriers at the trial stage that preclude this evidence from being heard by a jury. The symposium debate on this pointed to organisational and systemic factors such as:
- Building a whole-story case enables the prosecution to create a narrative in the courtroom. However, there is rarely feedback to police investigators as to the way in which this information can be used, especially at trial.
- Further, much of this information is not identified or capitalised on to its full potential, especially as far as police and government prosecutors are concerned.
- The point was made on a number of occasions by participating members of the judiciary that there is capacity for prosecutors to use evidence law to a greater extent than is being currently exercised. It may be that entrenched or formulaic practices of both prosecution and defence in sex offences cases have limited the capacity of this legislation to be explored.
In response to these issues, a number of areas for improvement and innovation were identified. One key avenue relates to the legislative and jurisprudential aspects of criminal law. A second avenue relates to practice within the justice system. Suggestions here included:
- pre-trial "capacity building" for juries, as is occurring in New Zealand, so that jurors are better able to assess the evidence;
- better integration and feedback mechanisms from the prosecution to the police as to how the brief can be prepared so that it can be used more effectively in cases, regardless of plea; and
- strategic litigation to define and evaluate the principles and parameters within the Uniform Evidence Act.
While some effort has been made to provide courts with an empirically informed understanding of child sexual abuse through expert evidence provisions, there remains a sense that social science evidence and the law are "rival systems" of knowledge. Yet, the hidden nature of both adult sexual assault and child sexual abuse indicate that specialist knowledge and access to empirically based information would assist both legal professionals and the fact finder in their deliberations.
The harms associated with child sexual abuse are now well recognised. Moreover the particular contexts in which child sexual abuse occurs, perpetrators' grooming strategies and their many tactics of normalisation, silencing and denial are becoming increasingly well understood by the agencies charged with investigating these offences.
However, the efficacy of "front-end" reforms and improvements take place in the long shadow cast by judicial decision-making. That is to say, assessments of "reasonable prospects of conviction" made by the Director of Public Prosecutions and, further downstream, by police, are informed by what happens upstream in the realm of judicial interpretation and creation of case law. While the evidence gathered in investigation may situate the sexual abuse in its full context, providing a comprehensive understanding of how the abuse occurred, only select types of evidence are admissible in court. The consequence is that the front end of the system may wonder at the purpose of gathering such evidence if it is not presented to the jury.14
A question to consider is to the extent to which increased specialisation and collaboration among "first responders" and investigators about the dynamics and strategies of perpetration and the behaviours of victim/survivors in response to this has occasioned a deepening chasm between an empirically informed understanding of sexual abuse and what will be heard in the court by the fact finder. The idea of a chasm between the reality of what sexual victimisation looks like empirically and what the law imagines is not new. Significant feminist research has theorised the ways in which sexual assault against women has been reimagined and reconfigured in the law according to masculinist, patriarchal and Anglo-centric systems of logic (Heath & Naffine, 1994; Kaspiew, 1995; Naffine, 1991; Young, 1998). Many of these have been diluted through law reform. What remains, however, are the rigors of the laws of evidence in which narratives are carved up such that the whole circumstance of sexual abuse by a caregiver, guardian or relative is fragmented. Crucial information - at least from the point of view of an empirically informed picture of sexual abuse - is absented through exclusion rules, tests and balancing acts. In other words, the very things that make prolonged sexual abuse possible and hidden, and the victim silenced and cooperative, are in opposition to many of the principles of the laws of evidence.
Closing this gap will become increasingly pertinent. Not only is criminal law an important plank in effective prevention (in that it reflects prevention messages and actions at the community level), but, as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse progresses, there will be increasing expectations that the criminal justice system can respond to particular charges. While developing, implementing and evaluating alternative justice practices is important, there are many avenues within the criminal justice system that can also be explored.
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- Ellis, R. (2007). Evidence in prescribed sexual offence cases. In Judicial Commission of New South Wales, Sexual assault trials handbook. Sydney: Judicial Commission of NSW. Retrieved from <www.judcom.nsw.gov.au/publications/benchbks/sexual_assault/ellis-evidence_in_prescribed_sexual_offence_cases.html>.
- Finkelhor, D. (1986). A sourcebook on child sexual abuse. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
- Gavrielides, T., & Coker, D. (2005). Restoring faith: Resolving the Roman Catholic Church's sexual scandals through restorative justice (Working Paper I). Contemporary Justice Review, 8(4), 345-365. doi:10.1080/10282580500334205
- Goodman-Delahunty, J., Cossins, A., & O'Brien, K. (2011). A comparison of expert evidence and judicial directions to counter misconceptions in child sexual abuse trials. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 44(2), 196-217. doi:10.1177/0004865811405140
- Hamer, D. (2008). Admissibility and the use of relationship evidence in HML v The Queen: One step forward, two steps back. Criminal Law Journal, 32, 351-367.
- Hamer, D. (2010). Trying delays: Forensic disadvantage in child sexual assault trials. Criminal Law Review, 9, 671-689.
- Heath, M., & Naffine, N. (1994). Men's needs and women's desires: Feminist dilemmas about rape law "reform". Australian Feminist Law Journal, 3(3), 30-52.
- Herman, J. (1992). Trauma and recovery: From domestic abuse to political terror. New York: Basic Books.
- Hulme, R. A. (2009, 27 November). Admissibility of tendency and coincidence evidence in the Uniform Evidence Act (PDF 390 KB). Paper presented to judges of the County Court of Victoria. Retrieved from <www.supremecourt.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/agdbasev7wr/supremecourt/documents/pdf/rahulme271109.pdf>.
- Judicial College of Victoria. (2013). Uniform evidence manual. Melbourne: Judicial College of Victoria. Retrieved from <www.judicialcollege.vic.edu.au/publications/uniform-evidence-resources>.
- Jülich, S. (2006). Views of justice among survivors of historical child sexual abuse: Implications for restorative justice in New Zealand. Theoretical Criminology, 10(1), 125-138. doi:10.1177/1362480606059988
- Kaspiew, R. (1995). Rape lore: Legal narrative and sexual violence. Melbourne University Law Review, 20, 350-382.
- Kogan, S. (2004). Disclosing unwanted sexual experiences: Results from a national sample of adolescent women. Child Abuse and Neglect, 28, 147-165.
- Leberg, E. (1997). Understanding child molesters: Taking charge. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Luhmann, N. (1987). Closure and openness: On reality in the world of law. In G. Teubner (Ed.), Autopoietic law: A new approach to law and society (pp. 335-348). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
- Mouzos, J., & Makkai, T. (2004). International violence against women survey: Australian component. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
- Naffine, N. (1991). Windows on the legal mind: The evocation of rape in legal writings. Melbourne University Law Review, 18, 741-767.
- Neave, M. (2012). Improving the justice response to sexual offending. Keynote paper presented at Truth, Testimony, Relevance: Improving the Quality of Evidence in Sexual Offence Cases symposium, Melbourne.
- Nicholson, J. (2008). Four key sexual assault directions. In Judicial Commission of New South Wales, Sexual assault trials handbook. Sydney: Judicial Commission of NSW. Retrieved from <www.judcom.nsw.gov.au/publications/benchbks/sexual_assault/nicholson-four_key_sexual_assault_directions.html>.
- Nugent, P. M., & Kroner, D. G. (1996). Denial, response styles, and admittance of offenses among child molesters and rapists. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 11(4), 475-486. doi:10.1177/088626096011004002
- Paine, M. L., & Hansen, D. J. (2002). Factors influencing children to self-disclose sexual abuse. Clinical Psychology Review, 22(2), 271-295. doi:10.1016/S0272-7358(01)00091-5
- Quadara, A. (2008). Responding to young people's disclosure of sexual assault: A resource for schools. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
- Smallbone, S. W., & Wortley, R. K. (2001). Child sexual abuse: Offender characteristics and modus operandi (Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice No. 193). Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
- Staller, K. M., & Nelson-Gardell, D. (2005). "A burden in your heart": Lessons of disclosure from female preadolescent and adolescent survivors of sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 29(12), 1415-1432. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.06.007
- Stathopoulos, M. (2012). Sibling sexual abuse (ACSSA Research Summary). Melbourne: Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault.
- Success Works. (2011). Sexual assault reform strategy: Final evaluation report. Melbourne: Department of Justice.
- Tanford, J. A. (1990). Limits of a scientific jurisprudence: The Supreme Court and psychology. Indiana Law Review, 66, 137-173.
- Tasmanian Institute of Law Reform. (2006). Warnings in sexual offences cases relating to delay in complaint. Hobart: Tasmanian Law Reform Institute.
- Taylor, N., & Joudo, J. (2005). The impact of pre-recorded video and closed circuit television testimony by adult sexual assault complainants on jury decision-making: An experimental study (Research and Public Policy Series No. 68). Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
- Van Dam, C. (2006). The socially skilled child molester: Differentiating the guilty from the falsely accused. Binghampton, NY: Haworth Press.
- Young, A. (1998). The wasteland of the law and the wordless song of the rape victim. Melbourne University Law Review, 22(2), 442-446.
1 In Australian legal systems, much effort has been directed towards closing the "attrition gap" and improving victim/survivors' experiences. This includes increased specialisation among investigating officers in relation to both the dynamics of sexual offending and in the techniques used to gather this evidence in their investigations, specialisation among prosecutors (in some cases), greater collaboration and interagency responses to investigating sex offence matters, and using processes and protocols to minimise the distress associated with giving evidence. This is in addition to legislative reforms to judicial warnings on corroboration and delayed complaint.
2 By "laws of evidence", I am referring to the Acts, legislative provisions, case law and jurisprudence by which "legal evidence" - as opposed to medical, scientific or empirical evidence - is constituted, and the manner in which it can be used in proving a charge.
3 The criminal law remains a highly symbolic and powerful system of meaning. Its task is to assign criminal liability for incidents such as homicide or rape, which subsequently results in the loss of liberty (and historically, death). As such, in addition to the rules of due process (including the burden and onus of proof), judicial interpretation of seemingly pedestrian concepts such as relevance, harm, fault, causation and intention sets the bar very high. One consequence of this is that criminal law has developed as a relatively closed, self-referential knowledge system (Cover, 1986; Luhmann, 1987). Concepts of harm or intention from other knowledge systems, including empirical social science, are thus not easily integrated.
4 I am predominantly referring to abuse perpetrated by an adult family member or mature minor (i.e., 15+ years of age). Siblings constitute a significant proportion of intra-familial perpetrators; however, the circumstances of their abusive behaviours are not entirely commensurate with adult offenders (Stathopoulos, 2012). Young people displaying sexually abusive behaviours are sometimes themselves victims of child abuse, including sexual abuse. For these reasons, criminal justice and therapeutic responses increasingly distinguish between adult and adolescent perpetrators.
5 Note that there is no standard definition of what constitutes "historical" or "delayed".
6 It is difficult to obtain an accurate picture of what specific proportion of historical child sexual abuse cases are filtered out of the justice system, as such cases tend not to be disaggregated, either from data on child sex offence cases (which include child complainants) or adult sexual offence data involving all adult complainants (including adult survivors of child sexual abuse). The information could be included in both.
7 Police clearance refers to the point at which police have ceased the investigation, which may or may not result in charges being laid.
8 Nationally representative statistics for 2006 show that approximately 90% of girls and 80% of boys who had been sexually abused knew the perpetrator, with girls being more likely to have been sexually abused by family members. Fathers, step-fathers and other male relatives (including siblings) made up more than half (52%) of perpetrators against females, and one-fifth (21%) against boys (ABS, 2006; see also Mouzos & Makkai, 2004).
9 Reviewing the research on grooming, Craven, Brown, and Gilchrist (2006) provided the following definition: "A process by which a person prepares a child, significant adults and the environment for the abuse of this child. Specific goals include gaining access to the child, gaining the child's compliance and maintaining the child's secrecy to avoid disclosure" (p. 297).
10 These jurisdictions are the Commonwealth, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. Uniform evidence law has been a long project, and legislation has been introduced in a staggered fashion across the different jurisdictions. The overall legislation applies to both civil and criminal law and codifies some aspects of the common law (i.e., it puts into statute principles the common law has developed over time). However, it also diverges from the common law (Hulme, 2009).
11 These thresholds are helpfully set out in the Victorian manual to the Evidence Act, the Uniform Evidence Manual (see Judicial College of Victoria, 2013).
12 The threshold test is whether there is a logical connection between the evidence and a fact in issue (Papakosmas v The Queen (1999) 196 CLR 297, [81]). In addition, the evidence is relevant not just because of this connection, but also because the evidence presented rationally affects how the overall evidence of the case is assessed (Washer v Western Australia (2007) 234 CLR 492 (HCA), [5], n 4).
13 In Crofts v the Queen (1996), the complainant reported that she had been sexually assaulted by a family friend over a period of six years, and made a complaint six months after the last assault.
14 This was a significant element of discussion on day two of the symposium.


text:
Eddie's pilgrimage saw him walk 800Km from the borders of France and Spain (Roncesvaux) to Santiago de Compostela
St. John's is an Evangelical Anglican church in Woodley, Berkshire, with the vision to share the Life and Love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Thames Valley.
Come and join us at any of our Sunday Services or contact us for more information about our weekly activities.
Would you like to send a message of congratulations to Eddie for completing his pilgrimage?
Complete the following and a message will be sent directly to him.
St. John the Evangelist, Church Road, Woodley, Berkshire, RG5 4QN
Registered in England & Wales Charity No. 1129449

subset: commoncrawl


text:
There are certain simple steps that you need to follow, if you wish to get Australians to say yes to any given agenda. If you follow these steps to the letter, you will have an easy time getting the Australians to say yes to the agenda you have in mind – whatever it is. Conversely, if you fail to follow the steps I am just about to outline to the letter, you are likely to face a lot of resistance. You may actually end up in a situation where the people simply say no to the agenda you have: even if it is an agenda that is otherwise beneficial to them. I witnessed such phenomenon several years ago in Florida, USA: where there were some folks who were against the setting up of the SunbizFlorida website. This was in spite of the fact that the website (which was eventually established at Sunbiz.org) was meant to make things easier for them.
To get Australians to say yes to any given agenda, you have to start by getting the opinion leaders to buy into the agenda. Then you need to introduce the agenda to the masses in the right way: by simplifying it, and showing them how it is likely to be beneficial to them (as individuals). You need to be ready for resistance: even if what you are trying to introduce is something as beneficial as an Australian banking tribunal. When you encounter such resistance, as you are bound to, you need to deal with it in the right manner. The key to success in that regard is to ensure that you don't become hostile to the people who are resisting the agenda you are trying to introduce. On the contrary, you need to present cogent arguments, to win over the minds of the masses. In other words, you need to focus on the ideas that are presented in opposition to the agenda you are trying to push. Fight the idea, don't fight the people presenting the ideas. If you follow these steps, you will have an easier time getting Australians to say yes to the agenda you have in mind.


text: discuss document export feedback print share gallery-landscape Search results New search Next record Previous record Mus musculus Scientific Specimen › land mammals/land vertebrates Export Core details PlacePureora Ecological District Other NumberLM1730 Accession numberLM1730 Collection arealand mammals/land vertebrates Record richness Add to My Collection Natural Science Specimen Classification ClassificationMus musculus ClassificationLinnaean (Linnaean System) › Animalia (Kingdom) › Chordata (Phylum) › Vertebrata (Subphylum) › Mammalia (Class) › Rodentia (Order) › MURIDAE (Family) › Mus (Genus) › musculus (Species) Kind of specimenskull Sexfemale Storage methodDry storage Field collectionPureora Ecological Distri, Western Volcanic Plateau, North Island Ecological R, NZ Eco Region, New Zealand Pureora: site 22; trapline DR Collection period: 29 May 1984 Collected by: University of Waikato Record created18 January 2019 Object tags Auckland Museum tags Visitor tags Contribute Contribute more detail to this record by adding your own names, classifications or categories via a tag. Tags also make this record more findable on search. Related items Results from DigitalNZ Mus musculus iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao Mus musculus iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao Mus musculus iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao Mus musculus iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao House Mouse (Mus musculus) iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao Other items The development of the Auckland War Memorial Museum online collection is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided. Search results New search Next record Previous record


text:
With a wide range to choose from and extensive quality checks, PMS Nissan is the ideal place to search for a used car.
We aim to see our customers leave the showroom happy and continue to enjoy their Nissan for years. Every car has a 12-month parts and labour warranty, and an MOT for your peace of mind. These come on top of the checks our technicians have carried out on every single car we sell.
In our selection, you will find models such as the Micra, Juke and Qashqai. Search through the range today on this page and contact us to arrange a test drive and discuss part-exchange.


text:
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text:
Research Project
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
The main objective of this project is to establish the optimal design and operation conditions for the step-feed anoxic-oxic activated sludge process. To achieve this objective, we conducted four kinds of research work, (1) review of experimental reports, (2) stoichiometrical analysis, (3) laboratory experiment and (4) numerical calculation. Then, the following results are obtained :(1) In the work of literature review, more than one hundred experiments were collected from journals and conference proceedings, and the quantitative relationships between nitrogen removal efficiency and many design/operation conditions were obtained.(2) In the stoichiometrical analysis, chemical and biological reactions in reactors were simplified to make all chemical changes the mathematical functions of substrate, DO,NH_4-N,NO_3-N and alkalinity. Then, effluent water quality were formulated with such water quality concentrations in influent and operational conditions such as step ratio and recycle ratio. Consequently, the operational conditions which make the effluent T-N minimum were proposed.(3) To verify the above theory, laboratory tests were conducted more than 20 times with artificial sewage. In a series of experiments, step ratio, recycle ratio and influent intensity were selected as experimental parameters and changed in each run. The experimental results approximately supported the above theory, although some gabs remained a little.(4) Numerical calculation was conducted to explain the gabs between experimental results and theoretical values. The models used for this calculation have 18 variables and express many types of water quality items. The simulation showed the gabs are mainly caused by the reactions related to activated sludge, which were not included in the theoretical analysis.Finally, it was demonstrated that the equations obtained from the stoichiometrical analysis are available to know the optimal conditions for step-feed anoxic-oxic activated sludge process.
Published: 1994-04-01
Modified: 2016-04-21
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text: We had his crafty cohort down here for Art Basel and now, Snoop Dogg is heading south as his alter ego, DJ Snoopadelic, for a one night only spin sesh, Friday,December 16 at the newly opened hot spot ORA. While there is no cover charge, entrance is solely at the discretion of the doorman, so good luck with that. Or, you can try making a legit reservation on its website and hope that works too.


text:
What is a "Data Breach"?
Data breach refers to the release of data from a system without the knowledge or consent of its owner. Common examples of data breaches include hackers accessing a business' systems to steal information; an employee or ex-employee stealing customer information; or the theft of computer devices (like laptops or USB drives) with consumer information on them. Generally, hackers or thieves are looking for personally identifiable information (PII), financial information, and/or customer data.
1. Personally Identifiable Information: Any data that could potentially identify a specific individual, or that could be used for de-anonymizing data.
Examples: Name, Address, Social Security Number, biometric information, medical information, passport numbers, driver's license numbers.
2. Financial Information
Examples: Credit card numbers, bank account numbers, paypal credentials.
3. Customer data:
Examples: Login information (username/passwords); tracking data; usage data.
Examples of businesses which have failed to secure consumer data and therefore been held responsible for data breach incidents include: insurance companies; medical providers; retail stores; credit bureaus, social networking sites, and employers.
Notification of a Breach
Forty-Eight states*, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have a law which requires some form of notification to consumers when a business has a data breach which affects consumers. Only
A business which fails to notify customers as required by law may be subject to liability to those customers.
The Risks for Consumers
Both Private Health Information and Personal Identify information is highly coveted and a frequent target of hackers. This information is targeted not only for identity theft purposes, but also for committing health care fraud, obtaining medical services under another's insurance. As
the FTC recognizes once identity thieves have personal information, "they can drain your bank account, run up your credit cards, open new utility accounts, or get medical treatment on your health insurance." Further, as of 2013 a Javelin Strategy Study found "In 2013, data breaches became more damaging, with one in three people who received a data breach notification letter becoming an identity fraud victim."
In order to avoid or limit such problems it is necessary for consumers to regularly monitor their accounts for suspicious activity and credit reports for fraudulently opened accounts as well as regularly review any explanations of benefits (EOBs) received from insurers. Further, customers may need to cancel credit cards, close bank accounts, and pay out of pocket for fraudulently charged items or medical services. Some consumers may also enroll in identity theft protection services at a monthly fee.
If Your Data has been Compromised in a Data Breach
If your personal information has been compromised in a data breach, and you'd like to discuss your rights a lawyer who specializes in data breaches and privacy issues may
be able to help. Our attorneys have represented individuals in data breaches against some of the largest corporations in the country.
September 2017
Data Breaches: A primer on data breaches and what it means for consumers.
What is a "Data Breach"?
One of the several professional organizations that I am a member of is the J. Willard O'Brien American Inn of Court (AIC). This organization is a chartered member of the American Inns of Court which is the oldest and largest legal mentoring organization in the country. AlC's mission is to promote professionalism, civility, ethics, and legal skills among members of the bench and bar. It has adopted the English Inns of Court tradition of legal apprenticeship by encouraging less experienced attorneys to learn from more seasoned attorneys and judges in a collegial atmosphere.
Hurricane Season 2017 to Climate Change Deniers: Hold My Beer!
I've written before in this space about climate change deniers President Trump and EPA Chief Pruitt, and how the denial of science in the face of overwhelming evidence discredits our nation and places all of us in environmental danger. From bad policy decisions to the failure of the EPA to protect our water and air, to the crippling of scientific research due to the stripping of funds for such programs, science deniers are forcing the US back into the 19th century.
Congratulations to associate James Barry who was selected as a "Top 40 under 40" attorney by the National Trial Lawyers. Mr. Barry focuses his practice on complex litigation including class actions and mass torts, and has appeared regularly in State and Federal Courts on behalf of consumers and workers. Mr. Barry has also been before the New Jersey Supreme Court and Appellate Division regularly in the last few years, arguing on behalf of consumers regarding the enforceability of forced arbitration provisions and substantive consumer rights under New Jersey law.
I remember the day I became a New Yorker.
I remember the day I became a New Yorker. It was not the day in 1991 when I landed at JFK Airport setting foot on American soil for the first time, a 21 year old Irish law graduate seeking adventure. It was not the day in 1994 when I moved, lock, stock and barrel, from Ireland to a studio apartment in the Flatiron District of Manhattan to live with my new husband. It was not the day I started my first job in a law firm on Fulton Street blocks from the World Trade Center. And it was not the day in 2000 when I was sworn in as a proud citizen of the United States at Federal Plaza. Yes, I lived in New York, I worked in New York, and I loved New York. But I still referred to Ireland as home.
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text:
Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus Christ, with thankful and grateful hearts towards You, because You loved me/us first.
Father, You have proven Your love for me/us, by giving Your Son as a living sacrifice, the innocent, sinless, spotless Lamb of God, who has brought everlasting reconciliation between You and I/us.
Thank You that I/we now have the privilege to sit at Your table and enjoy what You have prepared for me/us.
Please bless it to my body, soul and spirit.
Lord Jesus, thank You that You willingly took the judgments of the Living God upon Yourself, on my/our behalf. As well as all our infirmities, weaknesses and all our miseries.
Thank You for Your eternal victory for me/us, that You have stripped and defeated the evil one forever, and displayed him as an eternally defeated enemy to the entire universe.
Satan has no power, might, authority or territory.
He has been placed under my/our feet forever by the Son of the Living God.
You have also given me/us the opportunity to be part of Your Body, thus I prophecy over this bread this morning, which is actually me/us, because You said that I/we am/are part of Your Body.
Because I am only a part and I need my brothers and sisters in the Body, I now prophecy that the right connections will be made in the Body through the Spirit of God.
One does not have it all, thus I/we should be bound with other parts in the Spirit, and not connections in the flesh.
For these reasons I/we now want to celebrate in Your presence, rejoice and be glad, in Christ Jesus.
If I/we boast, I/we will boast and rejoice in the Lord, because He is the eternal conqueror.
(Now eat the piece of bread, remember, it is bread that's been broken, not cut)
Father, I/we now take the Cup after the meal and bless the Blood of Jesus.
Thank You for the Blood of the everlasting covenant.
It is the Blood of Him who has taken the sins of the world upon Him.
You say that the Blood of the Lamb seals the eternal covenant between You and I/us, even before the creation of the world.
Thank You for the Blood of power and of new life.
Thank You for the Blood that has granted eternal victory for me/us on the cross of Golgotha.
I/we now take this Blood of new life, so that He will become more and I/we less.
I/we also declare that I/we no longer live, but Christ lives in me/us, it is His Blood that flows in my/our veins, His life that lives in me/us, because You say the life is in the Blood.
(Now take the cup)
Thank You Father for nourishing my/our spirit/s with food and drink from Your Heavenly table, which You have prepared for me/us.
I/we give You all the glory, in Jesus Name.
May the Son of God, Jesus Christ, alone be glorified.


text:
The Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing in the Texas Medical Center in Houston hosted the 11th annual Disparities in Health in America Summer Workshop in mid-June. The six-day continuing-education program, offered to healthcare professionals, social workers, students, community members and civic leaders, this year had the theme "Working Towards Social Justice." Lovell A. Jones, who won the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award in 2012, served as the program chairman. Lovell is a professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Houston as well as director of the joint Center for Health Equity & Evaluation Research.
Below are some images from the event courtesy of Jones and Vicky Pink of Houston Style Magazine, which covered the event.
More from the current issue


text: "Developed by VitrA Design Team for ecologically conscious customers, the innovative Q-Line Blueco; reduces your power bill by cutting down energy use... The hi-tech 90° cartridge of Q-Line Blueco only allows cold water flow while the lever is at mid position, sparing your water heater from unnecessary strain and saving enough energy to heat17 tons of water a year. The lever has to be swivelled to the left for hot water. The adjuster pin on the cartridge also allows you to set an upper limit on water flow."


text:
Hi Guys!!! It's that time again. Can you believe September is almost over. Wow! Time is whizzing by.
What's Bloglovin' you ask? Well, only the greatest way to keep track of the blogs that you love. With the discontinuation of Google Friends Connect (GFC) for non-blogger blogs like myself, I decided that I needed to find another way to keep up with all of my favorite blogs that are not hosted by blogger. I stumbled upon Bloglovin' and I am in love! It is very similar to Google Reader, in that you can see the beginning of the post and the first picture attached to the post. Plus, Bloglovin' automatically updates your posts. Another added bonus is there is a Bloglovin' application for IPhone and Android devices. Woohoo! Like I don't spend enough time reading blogs. Now it's a simple touch. Love it!
In order to participate in this hop, you need to have Bloglovin set up for your blog. You can find a super easy tutorial here. I promise it'll take you less than 10 minutes and you'll thank me down the road.
There's only a couple of rules:


text:
My Synopsis.
Imagine This: You work with an online magazine. All your boss passes on for you to handle is the shitty assignments. Of course, because you cannot tell her if you want to try on the new sweat-proof panties you'd book a holiday for yourself and go hiking in them. All you want is a column.
You are given a column.
All you want is a column you want to write. Whoever said romance and chivalry was dead must have been looking through the window from his studio apartment to your neighbouring own watching you and your boyfriend, um, co-exist. But then your boss decides to give you a column about romance which you, um, once knew about.
The thing is, you've tried romance, you've tried the jitters, you've tried all the sparks-fly crap. And in the end, it left you signing the divorce papers being divorced from, um, someone who handles divorces for a living. Now all you want is to just be comfortable with someone you love. Or at least think you should love.
Then you meet a sexy author who gets ladies' panties thrown in his face all the time. You hate that he's romantic at all. You hate that he's a successful writer which you bet he slept his way around to get there. You hate that he loves Sleepless In Seattle and says all the things ladies want to hear. Except you.
Except you, right? Because the last thing you want is romance. You are perfectly fine with a boyfriend who keeps turtles he makes you speak for and talks about the mattresses of his previous girlfriends. Isn't that the good life? But for a second, what if you want to take a glimpse at what a perfect life can be?
Molly's life summed up for your entertainment.
It's a nice thing to read about main characters who are writers. But when they are struggling writers, it's just so not hard to fall for the whole story-line of the book. I loved the story-line. Girl hates odd tasks her EIC gives her, Girl has to challenge her inner Nora Ephron to come up with something romantic so a topic of a column could be possibly up for discussion with her boss, Girl wonders just how she could pull this romance thing if she wants nothing at all of it. Fabulous story-line.── ★
Who really, doesn't adore Nora Ephron?── ★★
So you know the main character, Molly, was a winner with me. You would love her voice, her humour, her kill-joy attitude towards anything romance-related. The nicest thing about Molly's voice which I'd love to put across is, she didn't make this book feel like a story, it felt personal, like her life was an opened book in front of you to enjoy and relate to. A star to her.── ★★
Some of the characters in this book made reading it fun. I loved Kristin, Molly's friend going through guys and sex on Match.com and constantly reminding her she's not happy. Angela, the compulsive tweeter who would tweet anything she considers tweetable. Molly's mum who just decided catering for family holidays and being a conventional mum had to go because none of her diners were worthy of slaving hours for. Russel, the OK-boyfriend who would flare up for telling him chiropractors aren't doctors. Cameron, the annoyingly romantic writer who wants to charm the pants off our lead but wouldn't go outright to admit it.── ★★★
Humor, check, check.── ★★★★
My rating: Four stars.
What Nora Knew by Linda Yellin' is available on amazon.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves their chick-lit laced with humour. Anyone who loves Nora Ephron. And anyone who is a (secret) romantic at heart should read this fun, rom-com.
My work not done here. Off to post my review on goodreads.


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This image is an artist's interpretation of Patrick's dream wherein a man named Victoricus delivers many letters, ostensibly from people in Ireland, asking Patrick to return to the land where he'd been enslaved. The image is from the BBC's archived-but-no-longer-updated "Saint Patrick's Journey." Copyright BBC, all rights reserved. Image provided here as fair use for educational purposes.
A few years after he escaped slavery in Ireland, Patrick returned home to his family. Given all he had been through, his parents urged him to stay home. Once again, however, a dream changed his life.
[I]n a vision of the night, I saw a man whose name was Victoricus coming as if from Ireland with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter: 'The Voice of the Irish...' (The Confession of St. Patrick, point 23, available for online viewing at Readings in Church History, edited by Jonathan Marshall, at page 156.)
What could the Irish people possibly want from Patrick? He was a former slave, someone who tended sheep and pigs. Who even knew him? Why would anyone ask for his help?
As I was reading the beginning of the letter I seemed at that moment to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest of Foclut which is near the western sea, and they were crying as if with one voice: 'We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us.' (Confession, point 23.)
Were these people whom Patrick knew before his escape—or—were they people he'd never met? We do not know the answer to that question. One thing is clear. The dream troubled Patrick:
And I was stung intensely in my heart so that I could read no more, and thus I awoke. (Confession, point 23.)
Despite the pleas of his family, Patrick once again left Britain - this time of his own free will. In the ensuing years, he had studied theology and was ready to embark on an entirely new career.
He would respond to his dream and return to Ireland—then a mostly pagan country where Druids held sway—to become an apostle to the Irish people.
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Ideas for Dream Bedroom Carpets
Carpet makes a great choice for a bedroom. It is soft and warm for when you step out of bed and walk around with bare feet. Bedroom carpets generally get less wear, so you can afford to indulge yourself with pale colours and soft deep or velvety pile bedroom carpets. In the bedrooms that are used on a regular basis I would recommend underlay and a better quality carpet, but for guest rooms felt-backed bedroom carpets will be good enough.
For a child's bedroom I would always recommend a stain resistant carpet just for those occasions when the washable felt tip pen decides to have a party on the carpet. Also when choosing the colour of bedroom carpets for children think carefully about how long you want it to last. A Barbie pink bedroom carpet or Sponge Bob yellow carpet may not be appropriate in a few years time!
From a wear point of view laminate and wood can also be used in bedrooms, however the down side of these are that they can be noisy. Not much fun if you are downstairs and it sounds like a heard of elephants are having a stomping party.
If you are looking for ideas for new bedroom carpets in Leicestershire or Rugby don't forget we offer a FREE no obligation home quote to customers in our area. Just give us a call on 01788 860002 or click here to send us email . We supply and fit carpets within a 25 mile radius of our base which is on the borders of Warwickshire and Leicestershire between Rugby and Leicester.


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Whew, it seems like the month of December is always the fastest moving month of the year. We all had a great Christmas and I wanted to get it all down before I forget.
On the day after Thanksgiving, a very special visitor arrived at our house. Our Elf on the Shelf showed up on OUR shelf with a book explaining his presence. You see, Santa sends these elves out to keep track of children during the day. Each night he reports back to Santa and shows up in a different spot in the morning. The kids named our elf Sparkle and we had such a good time getting up in the mornings and looking for him. He sure did hide in some funny places! After a week or two, even NOAH would get up and the morning and say "Where Spah-kle?" Sadly, Sparkle had to report back to the North Pole until the day after Thanksgiving 2009. We all REALLY missed him for a couple of days after he left.
Also on the day after Thanksgiving, we had our second annual Christmas Tree Hunt. We drove to Sparta, found our perfect tree, cut it down and brought it home. We got a great tree this year and enjoyed our time together looking for it.
In early December, we had our hospital stay with Noah. It just so happened that we stayed on a Friday night and my first 5k was on Saturday. Aaron and I both stayed at the hospital and I was able to get up in the morning before Noah woke up and get to the race right around the corner. Cortney, my faithful running buddy and friend, and I finished and were pretty happy with ourselves! (Please pardon my appearance -- after a night sharing a hospital TODDLER bed with Noah (getting NO sleep) and a 3 mile run, I was just ick.)
Later in the month, the kids had a Christmas program at school. They sang songs and had a little party. They also got to visit with Santa while there. They BOTH loved him and let him know they wanted a train for Christmas (whew!).
Grace and I took a girl's day out trip with my mom and my SIL, Melissa to see the Nutcracker. Grace was soooo excited. Well, during the first act anyway. She fell asleep during the second act, but when it was over, we bought her her very own Nutcracker and she loved that. I, of course, forgot my camera, but am hoping my sweet sister-in-law will send me hers. She got some great ones!
On Christmas eve, we went to open gifts with my parents. We had a great dinner and had lots of fun visiting with Nana, Papa, Uncle Andy and Aunt Melissa. We all got some wonderful gifts too!
Christmas day we did our own family exchange and Aaron was able to hook us up via webcam with his family. It was such a neat experience, but I was a little camera shy. Being broadcast across the country in my pjs was a little intimidating. :)
On New Years Eve, I did another run with some friends. It was through the Christmas Light display at a local park and it was pretty neat! This one was 3.5 miles and I struggled through the hills because I had been pretty slack in my training since the last race. But, I made it through. I've signed up for a training class starting later this month and am planning to continue running into 2009!
All in all, we had a great holiday season and hope our friends and family can say the same!
Happy New Year!
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Our Very Happy Holidays!
Whew, it seems like the month of December is always the fastest moving month of the year. We all had a great Christmas and I wanted to get it all down before I forget.
Posted by Melissa at 10:41 PM 1 comments


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Although it's unclear who specifically made the first kite, the earliest recorded reference to kites comes in the work of Chinese philosopher Mozi, who lived around 470-391 BCE. An early prototype design for a wooden kite appears in a Mozi text.
According to China Highlights, Mozi's kite prototype was preserved and passed down by another contemporary philosopher, Lu Ban. These earliest kites were built of light wood and formed in the shape of a bird. These kites typically served military purposes, such as sending distress signals to neighboring towns. It wasn't until nearly one thousand years later that kites built of paper and silk began to appear. These lighter kites were the first to transcend their military origins and serve as leisure items.