The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on increasing coordination between state and federal governments concerning crimes associated polygamy. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said some crimes committed by fundamentalist polygamist groups are almost unspeakable. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) said the crimes include statutory rape, domestic abuse, and child abuse. (more…)
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on offenses committed by polygamist groups, Brett Tolman, a United States Attorney for the District of Utah, reads an exhausting list of varied crimes his office has investigated since 2004, from child abuse to tax fraud. (1:16)
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on crimes committed by polygamist groups, Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lists crimes committed against children and also other crimes like tax evasion. He says the offenses committed are systematic and sophisticated, and “ignored at our own peril.”(0:44)
Tanya Long, a parent from Columbus, Ohio, speaks at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Children and Families Subcommittee hearing on the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). She participated in a CAPTA-funded program to overcome her drug abuse and to provide a safe home for her children. She says that strengthening CAPTA will save thousands of lives. (0:34)
At a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Children and Families Subcommittee hearing on the renewal of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) says that domestic violence is involved in half of child abuse cases. He adds that the youngest children are the most abused.(0:54)
The Senate Health. Education, Labor, and Pensions Children and Families Subcommittee held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Chairman of the Subcommittee, said that the Act provides grants to programs to prevent and treat child abuse, among many other things. He said that rates of physical abuse of children in the past few years have gone down, while rates of neglect have remained high. He added that half of child abuses cases involve domestic violence and that the very youngest children are the most abused and neglected. (more…)
