Articles labeled: child molesters

The only thing really noteworthy about this story is that it took an act of legislation to put this in place — really, shouldn’t the various school boards already be taking this sort of action?

The [Utah] House Education Committee on Tuesday unanimously passed HB286, which would permanently revoke the license of any teacher who molests a student or any other child. Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said he sought the bill after Frank Laine Hall, a Riverton teacher, was convicted of molesting his students.

He said the odds of Hall returning to teaching already are miniscule. The Utah State Board of Education revoked Hall’s license for 25 years.

But Wimmer wants to make sure there is no chance of that happening.

Unfortunately we don’t believe in hell, but if it turns out we’re wrong, hopefully there’s a special place there for scumbags like Kenneth Parnell. Parnell, 76, died of natural causes (damn) yesterday in Vacaville state prison, where he was serving time for trying to buy a 4-year-old boy. That’s right, “buy”. But what he’s most famous for is the kidnapping and imprisonment of Steven Stayner. Stayner’s 7 year ordeal was the basis for the Lifetime staple, I Know My First Name is Steven.

Parnell, a former motel clerk who served three years in prison for molesting an 8-year-old Bakersfield boy in 1952, denied he had abused Steven.

Parnell was convicted of kidnapping, sent to state prison and paroled in 1985. He was not charged with any sex crimes because under the law at that time, the additional charges would not have added any time to his sentence.

Parnell returned to state prison in April 2004 for soliciting a felony in connection with the attempt to buy the 4-year-old boy. Berkeley police arrested him after a woman who made deliveries at his house said he had sought her help in procuring an African American boy, along with a birth certificate.

Woo hoo!

MySpace is here to chew bubble gum and kick some pedo ass, and they’re all out of bubble gum!

MySpace has reached an agreement with several states and will be enacting worlwide restrictions:

Among other measures, MySpace agreed to:

Allow parents to submit children’s e-mail addresses to MySpace to prevent anyone from misusing the addresses to set up profiles.

Make the default setting “private” for 16- and 17-year-old users.

Respond within 72 hours to complaints about inappropriate content and devote more staff and resources to classify photographs and discussion groups.

Strengthen software to find underage users.

Create a high school section for users under 18 years old.

While law enforcement and parents are left scratching their heads as to why there has been a noticable increase in teachers sexually assualting children, one needn’t look past the reason why predators are teachers in the first place. It’s all about access. Occam’s razor. Predators choose professions that give them access to children. The question is, should parents be concerned? The answer is YES! The Boston area has similar findings with the epidemic that is teacher/coach predation in our schools:

It’s a parents’ nightmare. And it’s one of 30 accounts of sexual misconduct by licensed teachers and school employees recorded from 2001 to 2005 in Indiana, according to a review by The Associated Press.

Sexual misconduct was reported in all types of schools — urban and rural, rich and poor, private and public. Victims were girls and boys, from 17 years old to as young as 8. Crimes included child molesting, sexual battery and child pornography. And the teachers involved were often those who spend time with students outside the classroom — band directors, choir teachers or coaches.