sexual abuse

The U.S. military has proposed historic changes to its justice system in the wake of concerns about the sexual assault of service members, ProPublica's T. Christian Miller reports. However, the proposed reforms don't address the power of senior commanders to decide whether to press charges, select juries and to vacate court martial convictions. 

The changes would include the issuance of sentencing guidelines for military crimes and having military judges, not juries, determine sentences. 

Charles Erdmann, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, told ProPublica "'these would be the biggest reforms in 30 years.'"

A federal judge has ruled that Minnesota's civil-confinement program for sex offenders violates the constitution, The Star Tribune's Chris Serres reports. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank opined the civil-commitment program "'is a punitive system that segregates and indefinitely detains a class of potentially dangerous individuals without [legal] safeguards.'"

One issue is that there are no periodic assessments to determine whether offenders are dangerous enough to be confined, Serres reports.

More than 700 men have been locked up after serving their prison terms. Minnesota civilly commits more sex offenders per capita than any other state, Serres reports.

MintPress News' Christine Graef reports on how a revised Violence Against Women Act is putting tribal authorities in charge of cases of abuse and violence against American Indian women: "The reauthorized act extends tribal jurisdiction to non-Native Americans who commit acts of violence or sexual assault against their Native American spouse or partner. While such incidents often go unreported, the amount that are reported reflect a disproportionate number of Native American women will be raped, stalked or physically assaulted compared to their non-Native American peers." According to the Indian Law Research Center, more than 88 percent of violent crimes committed against American Indian women are committed by non-American Indians over which tribal governments lack jurisdiction.

The amendment goes into effect next March.

There are limitations to the amended law. Tribes must have a criminal justice system that provides legal counsel to defendants, provide non-American Indians in a jury pool and inform defendants of their right to file federal habeas corups petitions, Graef writes. Federal prosecutors will continue to prosecute crimes for tribes that don't have their own justice systems. And jurisdiction only applies to cases in which the perpetrator and the victim were in a relationship.

United Nations Special Rapporteur James Anaya said at a meeting earlier this month that one of the challenges for indigenous peoples' health is "how indigenous women living near oil, gas and mining operations are '"vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, which are often introduced with a rapid increase of extractive workers in indigenous areas,'" The First Perspective, Canada's source for news about indigenous peoples, reports. Anaya, who is the rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, also noted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires "'in its articles 21, 22(1), 23 and 24 a framework for protecting and promoting indigenous peoples’ health. Together, these articles affirm indigenous peoples’ equal right to the 'highest attainable standard of physical and mental health' (art. 24); their right to improve their economic and social conditions (art. 21); and their right to 'determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development' (art. 23)."

The greater level of child abuse, domestic violence, and violence against women on American Indian reservations is horrifying. One of the recommendations of the nine-member Indian Law and Order Commission in "A Roadmap to Making Native America Safer" to improve that situation is to allow tribes to opt of currently existing law enforcement systems in favor of their own--along with the establishment of a "U.S. Court of Indian Appeals to which a defendant could appeal on the grounds that his 4th, 5th, 6th or 8th amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution had been violated," Indian Country Today Media Network reports. The report argues for an American Indian law-centric circuit court '"because it would establish a more consistent, uniform, and predictable body of case law dealing with civil rights issues and matters of Federal law interpretation arising in Indian country."'

The localism of such a system reflects the strand in American polity that favors smaller government and also would promote the sovereignty of tribes at the same time. Commission Chairman Troy Eid, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, told Indian Country Media Network,  the commision's report '"is not to tell anyone what to do, but it's also to say, 'Local government works best; it's the American way.' It's emphatically a better way to prevent crime…. It's clear that many Native governments, even those with not a lot of means, want to and will sacrifice in order to put sovereignty into action through enforcing their own criminal laws."'

Two Pennsylvania institutions--Penn State University and the Catholic Church-- were shown to have severe institutional problems of failing to protect children from sex abuse due to two criminal prosecutions. The guilty verdicts were reached the same night against ex-football coach Jerry Sandusky for sexually abusing multiple victims and against Monsignor William Lynn, the first Catholic Church official in the country to be convicted of a crime related to the sexual abuse of youth who were directly abused by other clergy. Appellete arguments in both cases coincided the same day too. Here's a roundup of coverage of the legal arguments before separate panels in the Pennsylvania Superior Court in both cases:

Sandusky:

Allentown Morning Call- Sandusky lawyer cites delay in victims reporting abuse in reasoning for new trial: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-penn-state-jerry-sandusky-appeal-0...

Harrisburg Patriot-News- Jerry Sandusky gets his day in appeals court: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/09/jerry_sandusky_gets_h...

Scranton Times-Tribune- http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/justices-to-decide-new-sandusky-trial-1...

Lynn:

The Legal Intelligencer- Superior Ct. Hears Arguments In Priest Sex-Abuse Case:

http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202619567790&Superior_Ct_...

Philadelphia Inquirer-Convicted monsignor's lawyer questions law's application: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20130918_Convicted_priests_la...

Associated Press- Pennsylvania Appeals Court Hears Monsignor Lynn’s Endangerment Case: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/09/17/pennsylvania-appeals-court-h...