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Child Sex Abuse Victims Take Years to Report. States Now Give Them That Time
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All Blogs & AnnouncementsMassachusetts Attorney General’s Report Details Clergy Sexual Abuse and Calls for Elimination of Statute of Limitations
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s report released on September 30th about clergy sex abuse in the three Catholic Dioceses of Worcester, Springfield and Fall River confirms what survivors have been telling us for decades. Nearly 1,000 children were sexually abused across these dioceses by 270 members of the clergy. Sadly, church leaders chose to protect the abusers rather than the children.
But issuing a report alone will not provide justice. The findings of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s report shows that many of these cases can never be prosecuted because the clock ran out, and too many survivors are still locked out of the courthouse by an arbitrary deadline. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse often need decades before they can speak about what happened to them, and Massachusetts law should not punish them for that. Read more –>
AI-CSAM Ruling: What the Seventh Circuit’s Anderegg Decision Means for Child Safety
Generative artificial intelligence can now produce virtual sexual depictions of children (AI-generated child sexual abuse material, or “AI-CSAM”) that are nearly indistinguishable from images documenting the abuse of actual children. A recent federal appellate court decision has brought into sharp focus the tension between that technology and a legal framework developed long before such imagery was possible. The headlines were alarming, but the AI-CSAM ruling is considerably narrower than they suggest—and it does not make AI-CSAM broadly legal.
In the recent AI-CSAM ruling, United States v. Anderegg, federal prosecutors charged a Wisconsin man with producing, distributing, possessing, and transferring sexually explicit AI-generated depictions of children. According to the government, Anderegg used Stable Diffusion, a generative-AI program, to create more than 13,000 realistic sexual images of prepubescent children. Read more –>
Enough Abuse Launches a New Campaign To Prevent Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
One in 5 children are estimated to be victims of in-person or online child sexual abuse, grooming, sextortion or deepfake sexual imagery. It’s especially difficult for busy parents and the public to keep up with the growing threats to children on so many online platforms. Two-thirds of parents, in fact, don’t feel knowledgeable or confident enough to talk to their children about vital online safety concerns.
To support them, Enough Abuse is launching a three-part campaign to educate parents and the public on how to challenge those with unfettered online access into our homes and our children’s lives. Learn how prevent online child sexual abuse and exploitation, including how to communicate crucial messages to children that will protect them and keep them safe from grooming, sextortion, deepfakes, and online exploitation. Read more –>