Biden order makes sexual harassment in US military a crime

Yahoo – AFP, January 27, 2022 

An executive order signed by US President Joe Biden that makes sexual
harassment a crime in the military includes provisions on domestic violence
and the wrongful broadcast or distribution of intimate visual images
(AFP/Nicholas Kamm) (Nicholas Kamm)

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday making sexual harassment a crime under the military justice code, in an attempt to relieve a long-term issue with which the Pentagon has struggled. 

The move, called for in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagon's annual budget package, pays homage to Vanessa Guillen. 

The 20-year-old army soldier was murdered by a fellow soldier in 2020 after being sexually harassed and telling her family she did not trust the military command to follow up on her complaint. 

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the order "honors the memory of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen," whose death is "catalyzing national attention to the scourge of sexual violence in our military and helping advance bipartisan military justice reform." 

Biden tweeted earlier in the day that he was "signing an Executive Order to make sexual harassment an offense in the Uniform Code of Military Justice." 

The order is also meant to "strengthen the military's response to domestic violence and the wrongful broadcast or distribution of intimate visual images," he said. 

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had previously appointed an independent commission to submit recommendations as to how best to deal with perpetrators of sexual violence in the armed forces, and how to prosecute them more effectively. 

The commission concluded that removing decisions about prosecuting sexual assault from the military chain of command was the only solution. 

Instead of incurring administrative sanctions as was previously the case, perpetrators may receive prison time.

Canada bans assault weapons in wake of worst-ever mass shooting

Yahoo – AFP, May 1, 2020

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ordered a sweeping ban on many
assault weapons after a deadly mass shooting (AFP Photo/Dave Chan)

Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced an immediate ban on military-grade assault weapons, responding to a mass shooting and arson spree that left 22 people dead earlier this month.

"These weapons were designed for one purpose, and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time," Trudeau told a news briefing.

He said his government has approved a decree banning the sale, purchase, use, transport and import of 1,500 models of military-grade assault weapons and variants of them.

"There is no use, and no place for such weapons in Canada," Trudeau said.

The killing spree, the worst in Canadian history, began on the night of April 18 in Nova Scotia and led to a 13-hour manhunt for the shooter, who was eventually shot dead by police.

Authorities have said the assailant -- identified as 51-year-old denturist Gabriel Wortman -- was wearing a police uniform, driving a mock police car, and had several guns with him including at least one assault-style weapon.

Trudeau said there will be a two-year amnesty for people who currently own assault-style weapons to protect them from liability, and parliament will eventually pass legislation to compensate them for turning in their guns.

"For many families, including indigenous people, firearms are part of traditions passed down through generations, and the vast majority of gun owners use them safely, responsibly, and in accordance with the law, whether it be for work, sports shooting for collecting or for hunting," Trudeau said.

"But you don't need an AR-15 to bring down a deer," he added.

Mass shootings are less common in Canada than in the US "but the heartbreaking truth is, they're happening more often than they once did," the prime minister said.

He mentioned for instance a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City in 2017 that left six dead and 19 wounded.

Trudeau made banning assault weapons part of his campaign for elections that brought him to power in 2015. He repeated it in the campaign for the October 2019 elections in which he won another term.

Nearly four of five Canadians back such a ban, according to an Angus Reid poll released Friday.

Outcry as Jeffrey Epstein found dead in jail, FBI investigates

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, August 10, 2019

In this undated handout photo obtained July 11, 2019 courtesy
of the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey
Epstein (AFP Photo/HO)

New York (AFP) - US financier Jeffrey Epstein, awaiting trial on charges he trafficked underage girls for sex, was found dead in his prison cell Saturday from an apparent suicide, officials said.

Political leaders and law enforcement officials quickly expressed shock that a high-profile detainee who had already apparently tried to end his life in late July and would presumably be under close watch could manage to commit suicide. The Justice Department and the FBI launched investigations of the jet-set hedge fund manager's death.

Epstein, a convicted pedophile who befriended numerous politicians and celebrities over the years, was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Correctional Center from "an apparent suicide", the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

The disgraced financier was discovered around 6:30 am (1030 GMT) and rushed to hospital in New York where he was pronounced dead, it added in a statement.

Attorney General Bill Barr said he was "appalled" to learn of Epstein's death and had instructed the justice department's inspector general to probe how he could have died while in federal custody.

"Mr Epstein's death raises serious questions that must be answered," Barr said in a statement.

The FBI is also investigating the incident, said the DoJ.

The New York Times and other media quoted officials as saying Epstein hanged himself.

The city medical examiner's office confirmed Epstein's death but not what caused it.

It came a day after a tranche of sealed legal documents were released for the first time providing new details about what prosecutors allege was Epstein's sex-trafficking operation.

The death also comes just over two weeks after the 66-year-old was found unconscious in his cell with marks on his neck after an apparent suicide attempt.

Epstein did not appear to be showing any visible signs of injuries when he appeared in court on July 31 following that incident, to be told that his trial wouldn't begin before June of next year.

'We need answers'

The wealthy hedge fund manager had been charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

He was denied bail last month in a New York court because he was deemed a flight risk.

Epstein denied the charges and had faced up to 45 years in prison -- effectively the rest of his life -- if convicted.

The Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal facility in Manhattan that is often used to house suspects awaiting or during trial, is considered one of the most secure penal establishments in the US.

The infamous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman spent more than two years there before being convicted and transferred to a federal prison in Colorado.

Epstein's death quickly raised questions about whether Epstein was in fact on suicide watch.

"We need answers. Lots of them," tweeted New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the Justice Department, said an investigation must "determine who is responsible."

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who heads the Senate's judiciary oversight committee, said the government had failed Epstein's alleged victims "yet again."

"These victims deserved to face their serial abuser in court," he said.

On Friday, two thousand pages of documents focusing on testimony by a victim who claimed she was a "sex slave" of Epstein were released by a New York court.

In them, Virginia Giuffre, now an adult, claims that she was forced to have sex with well-known American political and business personalities. They have all denied the allegations.

Sexual massages

Prosecutors said Epstein sexually exploited dozens of underage teenagers, some as young as 14, at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.

They claim that Epstein was "well aware that many of the victims were minors."

The girls were paid hundreds of dollars in cash to massage him, perform sexual acts and to recruit other girls, prosecutors allege.

They say Epstein had an army of recruiters, often not much older than their targets, who would approach vulnerable teens.

Epstein is also accused of paying off possible co-conspirators to "influence" them, US media have reported.

Epstein, whose friends have included President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew, was convicted previously of paying young girls for sexual massages at his Palm Beach mansion.

They have all denied knowing anything about his alleged crimes.

Epstein avoided federal prosecution under a plea deal that required him to admit to a single Florida state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor and register as a sex offender.

He served 13 months in a county jail before being released in 2009.

Last month, Alex Acosta resigned as US labor secretary amid a backlash over the deal that he negotiated with Epstein in that case while he was a federal prosecutor in Florida.

Related Articles:

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“McCloud-3 Linear Reflections Part 1”, McCloud, California, US(5), June 28 – July 1, 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Pope Francis issues sweeping sex abuse legislation

DW, 29 March 2019

At the Vatican, Pope Francis has issued wide-ranging new sex abuse legislation that covers all Vatican personnel as well as those who work for the Vatican diplomatic corps. It aims to be a model for the church globally.

   

Pope Francis issued sweeping new sex abuse legislation on Friday for Vatican personnel and diplomats that requires the immediate reporting of abuse allegations to Vatican prosecutors.

For the first time, the law provides an explicit Vatican definition for "vulnerable people," who are entitled to the same protections as minors under church law.

The Vatican amended its canon law covering sex abuse to include "vulnerable adults" in 2010, but never defined it.

It is a policy shift aimed at being a model for the Catholic Church around the world.

While limited in scope, the mandatory reporting provision marks the first time the Vatican has put into law requirements for Catholic officials to report allegations of sex crimes to police or face fines and possible jail time.

Vatican City State

Francis also issued child protection guidelines for Vatican City State and its youth seminary. The move comes after the global sex abuse scandal exploded anew last year, and The Associated Press reported that the headquarters of the Catholic Church had no policy to protect children from predator priests.

While the new legislation only covers Vatican City State, affiliated institutions and the diplomatic corps, they were still symbolically significant and were welcomed by a former seminarian whose case helped spark the reform.

"I see this as something positive," Kamil Jarzembowski told the AP.

Vatican's new definition

According to the new definition from the Vatican, a vulnerable person is anyone who is sick or suffering from a physical or psychiatric deficiency, who isn't able to exercise personal freedom even on occasion and has a limited capacity to understand or resist the crime.

The new legislation applies to all who work in the Vatican

The new law covers all personnel who live and work in the Vatican as well as the Holy See's vast diplomatic corps.

The issue of whether adult seminarians, religious sisters or other adults who are emotionally or financially dependent on clergy can be considered "vulnerable people" has come to the fore in the wake of the scandal over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a once high-ranking American cleric accused of molesting seminarians, and revelations of priests and bishops sexually preying on nuns.

Vatican ambassadors have figured in some of the most scandalous cases of sex abuse in recent years, with papal representatives accused of groping, distributing child pornography and sexually abusing minors in their far-flung posts.

Current law

The law currently requires any Vatican public official who learns of an allegation of abuse to report it to Vatican prosecutors "without delay." Failure to do so can result in a fine of up to 5,000 euros ($5,615) or, in the case of a Vatican gendarme, up to six months of prison.

The mandatory reporting provision, however, is significant, since the Holy See for decades has justified not having a binding reporting policy for the universal church by arguing that accused clergy could be unfairly persecuted in places where Catholics are a threatened minority. Since that is not a risk in the Vatican, it is now law.

"With this document the Vatican wants to send a message that it takes these crimes seriously, wants to prosecute them, to avoid cover up, and also to create an atmosphere that prevents these crimes from happening in the first place," said Ulrich Rhode, a canon law professor at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University.

The legislation requires that victims be welcomed, listened to and provided with medical, psychological and legal assistance, and sets the statute of limitations at 20 years past the victim's 18th birthday.

In a statement accompanying the new law, the Vatican's editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, said while very few children actually live in the Vatican City State, Francis decided to make the legislation and accompanying guidelines a model.

Death penalty may be on the way out in US: report

Yahoo – AFP, Sébastien Blanc, December 21, 2016

Executions in the US declined to 20 this year, the lowest since 1991 and well
below the 1999 peak of 98 executions, stoking hopes for opponents of
the death penalty (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS KAMM)

Washington (AFP) - The days of capital punishment may be numbered in the United States, with sharp reductions in new death sentences and executions carried out amid waning public support, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, said statistics point to a continued record decline in the use of killing as punishment.

"America is in the midst of a major climate change concerning capital punishment," said Robert Dunham, DPIC's executive director and the author of the report.

"Whether it's concerns about innocence, costs, and discrimination, availability of life without parole as a safe alternative, or the questionable way in which states are attempting to carry out executions, the public grows increasingly uncomfortable with the death penalty each year."

Though two-thirds of US states still allow the death penalty, this year is expected to end with 31 new death sentences, the DPIC said in a year-end report.

That would be a steep 37 percent drop even from 2015, when 49 death sentences marked a 40-year low.

Executions declined to 20 this year, the lowest number since 1991 and well below the 1999 peak of 98 executions, stoking hopes for opponents of the death penalty.

The 2016 executions would be the fewest since 1972, when the US Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional. It reinstated the death penalty four years later.

Public opinion polls measured support for capital punishment at a four-decade low this year, the report said.

Still, the possibility that the Supreme Court will once again outlaw the death penalty faded after Republican Donald Trump was elected president last month.

Trump, who takes office on January 20, is expected to fill the vacant seat on the nine-seat Supreme Court with a conservative judge, tipping the court to a conservative majority.

'Just five states'

Notably "just five states" of the 31 where the death penalty is legal have executed a prisoner this year, the report said.

Georgia led with nine executions, followed by Texas with seven, Alabama with two, and Florida and Missouri with one each.

For the first time in more than 40 years, no state reached 10 executions. And it was 1983 when such a small number of states carried out executions.

From 2015 to 2016, the number of executions dropped 29 percent due to a confluence of factors, including a shortage of the drugs used in executions and prolonged appeals processes.

Still, the November 8 election showed continued divisions on public views on capital punishment.

In state referendums, voters in three states -- California, Nebraska and Oklahoma -- approved measures to keep capital punishment.

But over the course of the year, abolitionists scored court victories, such as in Florida and Delaware, where death penalty statutes were declared unconstitutional.

And, in several states, Americans elected governors, judges and prosecutors known more for their defense of human rights than their support for the death penalty.

"This year's events signal a continuation of the United States's movement away from the death penalty," the DPIC report concluded.

"As the public grows increasingly skeptical of capital punishment and courts strike down outlier practices that have inflated the numbers of executions and death sentences, the death penalty's failures become ever more evident."

In this context, 2017 promises to bring highly charged issues to the fore, including questions over what constitutes the humane execution of prisoners.

At least two states, Ohio and Virginia, are planning to carry out death sentences by using midazolam, a drug that acts as a sedative but is not an anesthetic.

"In executions, midazolam is intended to put the prisoner under anesthesia, which it's not an appropriate drug to do," Megan McCracken, a leading lethal injection expert at Berkeley Law School, told AFP.

"We have seen in several executions that prisoners who are given midazolam subsequently either remain conscious or regain consciousness and struggle, gasp, and show signs of pain and suffering," she said.

A Manila crime scene where two alleged drug dealers were gunned down by

unidentified men in October

Related Article:

Duterte executions plan is barbaric: Philippine critics

UN Security Council approves EU anti-trafficking mission

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution allowing EU naval forces to intercept and seize vessels smuggling refugees on high seas. The migrants should be treated with "humanity and dignity," the document says.

Deutsche Welle, 9 Oct 2015

The resolution, which the council approved on Friday, can be militarily enforced under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.

By approving the British-drafted document, Security Council provided international backing for the EU initiative to stem the flow of refugees from Libya to the European coast.

Earlier this week, EU-members sent several warships to international waters off the coast of Libya with orders to board and search smuggler's boats, arrest human trafficking suspects and transport any migrants to Europe.

The resolution provides UN authorization for one year and asks for the refugees found on the ships to be "treated with humanity and dignity."

Hope for Libya

British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft welcomed Friday's decision, saying that smugglers must not be allowed to "profit from others' despair."

"Action against smugglers on the high sea won't solve this crisis alone," he said. "But it will send a message that people cannot profit from this evil trade with impunity. It will save lives."

The original draft of the resolution would also allow the EU forces to sink smugglers vessels after seizing them. The final document, however, says that action on disposal must be taken "with due consideration of the interests of any third parties who have acted in good faith."

The EU also initially wanted a naval operation in Libyan territorial waters and along its coast, but Libya objected.

The north African country is only beginning to overcome a power struggle between two governments, making political action difficult and leaving a power vacuum used by the smugglers.

Venezuela express doubts

Despite initial doubts from Russia and several African countries on the Security Council, the resolution passed with 14 votes in favor.

Venezuela abstaining from the vote, with its UN ambassador, Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, stating that the humanitarian crisis should not be solved by military action.

"The resolution that has been adopted authorizing use of force in our opinion is a disproportionate action, which sets a dangerous precedent for the treatment of this topic in the future," he said.

While the EU naval mission aims to curbing the influx of migrants coming across Libya, it does not apply to the so-called Balkan route, where refugees sail from Turkey to Greece.

dj/sms (dpa, Reuters, AP, AFP)

Related Article:

Nauru opens gates at refugee detention center

Study links gun ownership rates to mass shootings

A recent study by a US criminal justice expert presents data from 171 countries to show a link between gun ownership and mass shooting rates. It claims to be the first study to provide global statistics on this topic.

Deutsche Welle, 23 Aug 2015

The research reveals that a nation's civilian firearm ownership rate is the strongest predictor of its number of public mass shooters. It also shows that despite having only about 5 percent of the world's population, the United States accounted for 31 percent of public mass shooters globally from 1966 to 2012.

"The United States, Yemen, Switzerland, Finland, and Serbia are ranked as the top 5 countries in firearms owned per capita, according to the 2007 Small Arms Survey, and my study found that all five are ranked in the top 15 countries in public mass shooters per capita," said study author Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, in a press release. "That is not a coincidence."

Lankford's study, which examines the period from 1966-2012, relies on data from the New York City Police Department's 2012 active shooter report, the FBI's 2014 active shooter report, and multiple international sources. According to Lankford, it is the first quantitative analysis of all reported public mass shootings around the world that resulted in the deaths of four or more people.

However, it does not include data on incidents that occurred solely in domestic settings or that were primarily gang-related, drive-by shootings, hostage taking incidents or robberies.

Confirmations and surprises

"The connection between firearms and mass shootings is something people have speculated about for a long time," Lankford told DW in a telephone interview. "This is the first time that empirical evidence confirmed this connection, but the strong association between the two was even surprising for me."

Lankford says the data speaks for itself

Even a country like Switzerland, with its peaceful reputation, reflects the study's findings. "There were only two mass shootings there in the 90s, but given the small size of the population, the resulting rate approaches that of the US," explained Lankford.

The study also found that US shooters were more likely to use multiple weapons. Despite this, the average number of victims per shooter was lower than in other countries.

"That was another surprising finding," said Lankford. "One reason for this could be that the difference in the death toll resulting from multiple weapons as opposed to one weapon in the US is not as dramatic as in other countries. Also, because the US has had so many attacks of this kind, our law enforcement authorities have learned how to respond to these incidents quickly and effectively."

Unclear motives

On the topic of root causes of public mass shootings in the US, Lankford believes that in a country where "many individuals are socialized to assume that they will reach great levels of success and achieve 'the American Dream,' there may be particularly high levels of strain among those who encounter blocked goals or have negative social interactions with their peers, co-workers or bosses."

"When we add depression, schizophrenia, paranoia or narcissism into the mix, this could explain why the US has such a disproportionate number of public mass shooters," Lankford said in the press release.

But whether the study's findings will aid the movement for more gun control in the US is uncertain.

"I didn't come into this study with any gun control agenda - I just let the data speak for itself," Lankford told DW. "Whether people are willing to act on it is another question."