how prevalent is sexual abuse?

[Gargamel]

I was only ever a JW as a child and adolescent and walked away at 16 not really having any clue about sexual stuff - abusive or otherwise. Looking back, I wasn't aware of any child abusers in the congregation at first but the more I thought about it, I can think of some pretty suspicious circumstances around one guy. I can't be certain of course because I never experienced any sexual abuse from him and never heard of it happening to others. Let me run this past people on this forum maybe? When I was very young (maybe under 8) the local congregation did not have a hall. We hired a room in a fairly large local school. Of course the rest of the school was meant to be off limits even though it was closed but being children, we found plenty of play areas. One of the play areas was the changing area used by the school children. Poorly lit and seemingly huge with lots of dark corners, we would run around making a bit of noise etc. It was always the same guy who would intervene. He certainly had "abuser" in him. He would sometimes grab childrens' hair and cause them pain in doing so. He once grabbed my ear and twisted it which hurt. Now it may be that he confined himself to random acts of non sexual bullying - still very wrong of course but would probably be deemed acceptable, especially as I'm referring to the early/mid 60s. It is very easy for me to think of him as being a sexual abuser in more private circumstances - a conclusion that may of course be totally wrong. A few years ago I noticed his name in the obit column of the local paper so he is no longer with us anyway. I can't recall how I know this but he did become an elder eventually.

[MillStone]

i dont have children.i dont know for sure of any in my hall being molesters. if there were they stayed away from my sister and I. my dads a big guy and can be somewhat temperamental. while his irrationality and temper were a pain growing up it might have been the thing that kept us safe from abuse.

i personally suspected one guy who no longer goes to that hall, based on how his children behaved. ive since heard through rumors my suspicions may have been for a reason.

a brother in a nearby hall went to prison for being a molester. i unknowingly shook his hand at the DC. then walking away my mother told me he was in prison for being a pederast. thanks for warning me mom! i wondered why he seemed surprised i shook his hand. *shudder*

another nearby hall a guy molested a boy in a swimming pool at the familys home. the boy told his parents. the "two witness" rule kept anything from happening. the elders i know for a fact discouraged calling the police. i remember overhearing the mother tearfully confiding this to my mother. he continued to have privileges at the hall.

in general walking around at the DC there were definitely some characters that gave me creepy vibes. its seems pedophiles have a bit of a community amongst themselves. i mean, who else would want to hang out with those creepy bastards? maybe they heard JWism is a safe haven?

there really should be harsher punishment for this crime. i don't think the death penalty would be out of order.

[Gargamel]

i dont have children.i dont know for sure of any in my hall being molesters. if there were they stayed away from my sister and I. my dads a big guy and can be somewhat temperamental. while his irrationality and temper were a pain growing up it might have been the thing that kept us safe from abuse.

i personally suspected one guy who no longer goes to that hall, based on how his children behaved. ive since heard through rumors my suspicions may have been for a reason.

a brother in a nearby hall went to prison for being a molester. i unknowingly shook his hand at the DC. then walking away my mother told me he was in prison for being a pederast. thanks for warning me mom! i wondered why he seemed surprised i shook his hand. *shudder*

another nearby hall a guy molested a boy in a swimming pool at the familys home. the boy told his parents. the "two witness" rule kept anything from happening. the elders i know for a fact discouraged calling the police. i remember overhearing the mother tearfully confiding this to my mother. he continued to have privileges at the hall.

in general walking around at the DC there were definitely some characters that gave me creepy vibes. its seems pedophiles have a bit of a community amongst themselves. i mean, who else would want to hang out with those creepy bastards? maybe they heard JWism is a safe haven?

there really should be harsher punishment for this crime. i don't think the death penalty would be out of order.

Severe punishment certainly. Death penalty - no way !!.
Consider this: There was a time when the death penalty existed for rape in the UK. It was abolished because a perpetrator would kill someone to avoid being turned in. This was due to the punishment for rape and the punishment for murder being identical. For this reason, and probably only this reason, it is right that the punishment for sexual offences should usually* be less than the punishment for murder i.e. it saves some victims' lives. Please don't misread this. I'm on the side of the victims here.
Having written that, if someone abused a child who was close to me, he would be fortunate if the police found him before I did.

* Obviously the public should not be re-exposed to serial sexual offenders.

[MillStone]

Severe punishment certainly. Death penalty - no way !!.
Consider this: There was a time when the death penalty existed for rape in the UK. It was abolished because a perpetrator would kill someone to avoid being turned in. This was due to the punishment for rape and the punishment for murder being identical. For this reason, and probably only this reason, it is right that the punishment for sexual offences should usually* be less than the punishment for murder i.e. it saves some victims' lives. Please don't misread this. I'm on the side of the victims here.
Having written that, if someone abused a child who was close to me, he would be fortunate if the police found him before I did.

* Obviously the public should not be re-exposed to serial sexual offenders.

this makes a lot of sense. i hadn't thought of it like that. im still of the opinion that the punishment isn't severe enough in many cases. time off with "good behavior" is BS. also 5 years imprisonment for ruining someones life and childhood is not enough. its sad you have to ease up on the law and societal standards to prevent people from being murdered.

im in the same mode of thinking as you. if a child i care about is made a victim of someone like this, and i knew it for a fact, calling the police wouldn't be my first action.

[dudemanjones]

I was sexually molested by Jonanthan Lightfoot in Lubbock, TX in 1982-3; Lou LaBeau's boys, also from Lubbick, TX, were molesting their little brother. I knew of other pedophilia going on in St. Louis, MO, but not having witnessed it myself, I won't reveal names. In Bakersfield, CA, three boys convinced my then 3 year old to take off his clothes wity them in their room while I was visiting their parents. By the point I went to check on him, they were all diwn to their underwear. In Lake Murray congregation, a 9 year old boy, known by the elders to have issues with sexual abuse, was caught touching my then 4 year old's genital area during a convention cleanup at Qualcomm stadium.

[RNewman123]

I suppose there are just way too may of them...if every one of them were reported...
JW might be labelled as Pedocult...