Candace Conti sex abuse case against Jehovah's Witnesses

[Coldwinterskies]

For those who don't already know, one of the most odious aspects of the Jehovah's Witness religion is their treatment of allegations of sexual abuse within their congregations. As that site explains, they believe that they have a Biblical basis for taking absolutely no action against sexual abuse by people in their congregation unless there are at least two witnesses to the abuse (hence this is often called "The Two Witness Rule"). Obviously, the problem with this is that most pedophiles and rapists do not try to do such things in view of witnesses. Horribly, there have been cases where JWs who have been abused by someone else in the congregation have been punished within the congregation for going to the police about sexual abuse. The JW organization really believes that they can handle sex abuse on their own without any help from outside police.

This has resulted in numerous lawsuits against the JWs over the past few years by people who were sexually abused as children growing up JW.

 

One of the most high profile cases of this type has been the case of Candace Conti, who was repeatedly molested as a young girl by a fellow JW. The JW congregation elders were aware that the man who molested her had already molested two previous girls and still didn't try to protect her from him. As a result, Conti ended up being awarded a multi-million dollar verdict ( more details on the background here ).

 

However, it isn't over yet, since the Watchtower decided to appeal the verdict and just presented their argument to the court. This is the latest update on the Appeal from someone who is in court for it

 

How likely do you think it is that justice will actually be done in this case? I find it amazing that the JWs have for so long gotten away with treating victims of child sex abuse so poorly when there have been so many headlines about the Catholic Church sex abuse (and many JWs smugly believe that their organization is immune to those kinds of problems).

 

Considering what we know about the Doug Phillips scandal, do you think that the rate of sexual abuse in these types of high control religious groups is higher than it is in the general society, or is it just that it gets more attention when there is the blatant hypocrisy of someone religious doing such awful things?

[KittenMitten]

I just couldn't read the links. I hear about child sexual abuse at work often and don't want awful visions in my head today. These are my thoughts to your question about rates of abuse in controlled environment vs rest of society. I really don't know. We will never know the rates of sexual abuse in these communities. They are so shaming and blaming, it would be so hard for a victim to report. It wouldn't be safe, emotionally and perhaps physically. I think the hypocrisy amongst these Conserative group would make the news more then secular society. And I'm glad to see it in the news. On one tiny encouraging note, I worked with a teen a bunch of years ago and family attended Assemby of God, if I recall correctly. Anyway, step dad molested this girl. Since mom was angry at step dad about something else she decided to call police. Happy to say he was prosecuted and spent time in jail. Mom decided to forgive husband and expected daughter to forgive him also. And she wanted to attend church together(I don't remember what was up with order of protection). Anyway, minister told mom, rather forcefully, that daughter did not have to forgive this guy and that he may not attend services when she is there. It shocked me that the minister stood by the victim.

Anyway, that brings me to sexual abuse outside of these circles. I think there is almost as much silencing and blaming in regular society. I work with tons of adults that were sexually abused as children but never told or told but weren't believed. On the other hand, kids outside these circles, who attend schools, or extra curricular activities or have friends might feel safer reporting abuse. Or the adults, which may include mandated reporters, or the child's friends may notice unusual/concerning behavior which may bring abuse to light. I hope.

This is all so heartbreaking.

[Coldwinterskies]

KittenMitten, Thank you for doing such difficult but necessary work trying to help children who have been abused.

You make a good point that even in "normal" society a lot of times it is hard for people who have been abused to get people to listen to them and so a lot of cases don't get reported even without the restrictions of religious fundamentalism.

I find it very disturbing when I hear about people actually seriously accusing children of "seducing" adults and other such things (which I have heard). I wish I knew how to combat these types of attitudes. I think it is disgusting.

[KittenMitten]

Thank you Coldwinterskies for your kind words. I do get to see kids and adults learn to cope and live happy lives. The amazing thing about my job is getting to see the resilience that people have. That is the (sorry about the phrase) saving grace.

It is revolting that they blame 'seducing' children. The only thing I do is explain calmly and respectfully, well in my 25 years of experience, kids don't seduce adults...some people actually hear a tiny bit of it. Most tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

In thinking about this some more, in the secular world there is education about abuse and how to get help. The abused person may not report the abuse, but a friend might. I've had more than one kid/teen tell me that their friend is being abused (or suicidal). It is understood that if I am worried about someone's safety I will act on it. Safety trumps confidentiality. And they are relieved when I do so. Of course it is not enough by far, but the secrecy and blame is less than in the fundie world.

[DGayle]

My concern is how much of what happens is protected by religious freedom. This is why I'm in strong favor of tightening religious rights laws. One of my best friends is an ex-JW, and she calls it ESCAPING for a reason. And she's talked about sexual abuse she knew about, but that no one would do anything about, and the kids who were abused didn't go to the police since there wasn't a witness to it. She wasn't sexually abused, but she's still haunted by what went on, and she's said it's a lot.

Sadly, I think the JW cult will come out on top in this case.

[Shirley Blest]

I've known of men being disfellowshipped for reports of sexual abuse...one was my uncle. Yes I believe he did it. No he was never reported to the police.

There is a lot that goes on behind closed doors...a can of worms I can't open. Thankfully I've worked through enough to not be triggered by this stuff...

[Coldwinterskies]

My concern is how much of what happens is protected by religious freedom. This is why I'm in strong favor of tightening religious rights laws. One of my best friends is an ex-JW, and she calls it ESCAPING for a reason. And she's talked about sexual abuse she knew about, but that no one would do anything about, and the kids who were abused didn't go to the police since there wasn't a witness to it. She wasn't sexually abused, but she's still haunted by what went on, and she's said it's a lot.

Sadly, I think the JW cult will come out on top in this case.

That is absolutely horrible that your friend apparently encountered a lot of situations like this. If she is still in contact with anyone who was abused, you may want to pass on to her the name of the attorney who is trying to go after the JWs on this currently: Irwin Zalkin http://www.zalkin.com/what-we-do/sexual-abuse-cases/

Do you have any thoughts on how we could revise the laws to stop cases like this where people use religion as cover to hurt people without people protesting about how their religious rights are being trampled?

[DGayle]

That is absolutely horrible that your friend apparently encountered a lot of situations like this. If she is still in contact with anyone who was abused, you may want to pass on to her the name of the attorney who is trying to go after the JWs on this currently: Irwin Zalkin http://www.zalkin.com/what-we-do/sexual-abuse-cases/

Do you have any thoughts on how we could revise the laws to stop cases like this where people use religion as cover to hurt people without people protesting about how their religious rights are being trampled?

I just messaged her that link. She's active in a lot of online JW-recovery groups. She probably knows someone now within the statute of limitations as well.

If you know a kid is being abused and you don't stop it, or, worse, try to help conceal it, which the "witness" rule is for, you're guilty of accessory to the crime, and religion doesn't matter.