Wealthy Child Molester Gets Probation, Wouldn't Fare Well In Prison

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

So for those of you have experience at the protective services, counseling, etc. end of the spectrum, what is your instinct on this issue?

My instinct is that child abuse is wildly under-reported, and being a rich guy in no way means he's necessarily innocent, but as soon as you throw divorce into it I suddenly become much more leery of the facts of the case. Which leaves me back at no side taken.

It was many years ago but I worked as an Occupational Therapist in inpatient psych on a 5-12 year old unit for several years. In my experience, with children at very young ages who have been abused, they typically had knowledge of things that most children of that age would not have. The therapists usually used a lot of play therapy and children tend to imitate what they have experienced or seen through their play. Additionally, most children who are molested at that age had physical signs of the abuse. Their parts are small and adult parts (even fingers) are not and often do some damage. Proving WHO did it can be very difficult, but whether abuse had happened was pretty obvious. 95% of the kids who were on our 5-12 y/o unit had been physically or sexually abused.

I don't know what a lawyer would advise, but if I was absolutely innocent of a crime, I don't think I would accept a plea bargain. I would trust that since I was innocent, there would not be evidence to convict me.

[DrPhil]

Many "innocent" people take plea bargains because they or the people who are officially or unofficially advising them believe there is a high probability of conviction. Of course, they would rather have the charges dropped but the plea bargain is the lesser of the two evils when dropping charges isn't an option.

This is especially the case for certain charges and defendants of particular demographics. Saying "if you're not guilty you wouldn't take a plea bargain" doesn't work for many people in the system.

[pbear19]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I don't know what a lawyer would advise, but if I was absolutely innocent of a crime, I don't think I would accept a plea bargain. I would trust that since I was innocent, there would not be evidence to convict me.

I used to think this too. Unfortunately it's just not reality for many people. Unless you have a lot of money, it can be absolutely debilitating to fight charges. And innocent people are charged, often because they trust the system and trust that there won't be evidence since they are innocent. Evidence comes in many different forms, and innocence is not the protection that it should be.

As for the rest of the thread, I hope that everyone who us ganging up on Kevin can see how much kettle they are to his pot. I don't agree with how he has stated his opinions, but there are others who have been his equal on many levels.

[DrPhil]

DubaiSis, what I'm wondering is do "we" always hold on to the "innocent people are sometimes found guilty" theme? If "we" do, what's the point of guilty verdicts?

Originally Posted by pbear19

As for the rest of the thread, I hope that everyone who us ganging up on Kevin can see how much kettle they are to his pot. I don't agree with how he has stated his opinions, but there are others who have been his equal on many levels.

The thread seems to be moving beyond Kevin so if you take issue with this back and forth don't hypocritically perpetuate the back and forth.