I understand the Constitutional differences outlined in the 'separation of church and state.' However, how can regular United States citizens avoid prosecution for criminal acts even though they claim a priest status? If I was a priest could I violate another human abd civil and criminal rights just by wearing a priest's collar? Does anyone know what loop hole in the criminal allows these monsters to remain out of prison and deters the State's Attorney General from prosecting???
2007-01-02 20:46:31 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
OK here's the deal its not only priests its minsters teachers judges lawyers bankers politicians and every other walk of life that's doing this and i resent the priest thing.what needs to be done is these people all of them need to find themselves on the wrong side of the iron bars for a very long time for this.
2007-01-02 20:58:15 · answer #1 · answered by warr31 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The separation of Church and State has nothing to do with it. The period of time involved was between the early 1960's and early 1980's. The statute of limitations has generally run out. The reporting was in some cases decades afterwards. Statutes of limitations are in place to make both prosecution and defense possible. Imagine being arrested for a crime committed in 1962, but just reported today. It is difficult to document your activities in the last 12 months let alone 40 years ago. It is also very difficult to gather objective evidence 40 years later. Although it may be in the interest of justice to prosecute all crimes, prosecution of crimes that old are very expensive, unlikely to succeed and difficult. Statutes of limitations limit the responsibility of the state by limiting prosecution to winable cases.
In the more standard rape case, only 1 in 100 rapes results in a successful prosecution, which is 3% of reported rapes. Further, once the FBI began DNA testing on ordinary rape cases, they determined that fully 1/3rd of all primary suspects identified by witnessess and other objective data, are unrelated to the crime. The dangerous implication is that prior to mandatory DNA testing 1/3rd of all people convicted of rape were in fact innocent.
I did a calculation once, based on a class of statistics called survival statistics, they are used to estimate incidence of cancer and such things based upon how many actually get seen by doctors and the fact that they are seen at various stages initially and are not always followed by doctors to the end. Based on that, the Catholic Church has about 1/6th the incidence of pedophiles as exists in the general population. The problem came because of the handling of the cases.
Two conflicting issues occured. First, psychologists at the time believed pedophilia was one of the most treatable mental illnesses out there. At the time though, all they saw were people who voluntarily presented themselves for treatment. They didn't learn until much later that people who were forced into treatment had one of the lowest success rates out there. So the bishops took the advice of the psychologists.
The second conflicting issue comes from the nature of canon law. It is unlike America's system where everything is made public. In most times in history and still today, in many areas of the world, if a woman publically accused a man of rape, she herself was ruined and may be subject to honor killing. Canon law keeps all accusations, whether rape, pedophilia, embezzlement etc private. It is not treated as a societal problem, but as occuring to the parties directly involved. In an open society like the United States, that just makes it easy for predators to continue preying on people. Futher, they are master manipulators working with a group woefully unprepared to encounter them.
They remain out of prison because, generally, either the statute of limitations ran out, or there simply is no evidence to prosecute. Anyone can make an accusation and in fact quite a number of people have been caught making such accusations to make money. They had a couple of cases where people made up accusations, but did so in very stupid ways.
It is an horific crime and the Church failed it people terribly. It is true as above mentioned that quite a number of denominations have worse problems. Pedophiles go anywhere there are children, whether Scouting, schools, soccer and baseball or Churches, but that does not absolve the Church of stupidity, mismanagement or a lack of caring.
2007-01-04 11:30:12 · answer #2 · answered by OPM 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In some states the laws on the statute of limitations have been changed to allow for prosecution of these scumbags long after the old statute ran out.
Separation of Church and State does not prevent prosecution for violation of laws.
2007-01-02 22:44:12 · answer #3 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Neither. like another guy - possibility. it somewhat isn't any longer a issue interior the priesthood. it somewhat is international. there's a greater robust proportion between married Protestant ministers. a mind-blowing larger proportion between mom and dad - sure mom and dad! and a mind-blowing larger proportion in faculties. most of the molestations in Catholic church homes weren't, through definition pedophilia. through definition, pedophilia is the urge in direction of sexual intercourse with prepubescent little ones, who're commonly age 13 or youthful. most of the offenders molested older boys. some situations in touch person ladies. infrequently fits the class. A pedophile, commonly speaking, has those urges from early on. yet would possibly no longer act on them with the aid of fact they understand they are irrelevant. interior the situations of abuse in our faculties - all in touch have been fingerprinted and run interior the process the dep. of Justice database. so as that they have not have been given any priors in the previous they are employed. basic possibility. we've become one in each and every of those self-based society, human beings only take take take, while given the possibility.
2016-11-26 00:17:09 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You do realize thatthere are just as many and probably more pentecostal and southern baptist preachers who are pedophiles as there ae ctholic priest pedophiles, don't you? Yet you all continue to only bring up the few priests who do it. You sicken me.
2007-01-02 20:55:42 · answer #5 · answered by judy_r8 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
priests recieve no special protection
2007-01-02 20:56:33 · answer #6 · answered by Dashes 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋