Our first Predators Survivor Hero award goes to a special woman we met in Texas just over two years ago, Tracey Ross. Her fierce strength, positive attitude, and endless energy have touched our hearts. Tracey (not her real name) contacted us through our web site predators.tv. She told us her painful story about being drugged and raped after she agreed to go out with an old acquaintance. When the rapist learned that Tracey had a child as a result of the rape, he filed a paternity suit for joint custody. Unbelievably, in the state of Texas, a rapist can be entitled to custody!
Tracey fought a custody battle against the rapist and his wealthy family to maintain custody of her son. She heard from experts across the country that her case was "impossible." However, Tracey, guided by her faith and belief in God, went on to win her case. As a result of the custody battle, in addition to Tracey's tenacity and research of the legal system, the rapist relinquished all his rights to the child.
When we asked Tracey if she had any wisdom to pass along to other victims she stated, "You are responsible for you and your family - you take the time to figure out where to look to get the answers you need. When my case was going on, the Internet didn't have a lot of information, what it did have was a copy of the state laws or statutes on the State of Texas web site. I used that and anything I could get a hold of. Also, some courthouses have legal libraries and you can check local colleges, university and City libraries. Knowledge truly is power. And prayer is great too! Just be open to the answers -- sometimes they take a while. For me, if I hadn't done the research I did I would never have understood the answer when it came. I had to build that point of reference before the answer made sense. Look outside of the box, search and search otherwise you can't make an informed decision. Without an informed decision of your own, you are giving someone else power over your life."
Tracey has written a screenplay and book about her life entitled Compassion Overruled.
We are proud to know this brave soul. Tracey is a truly a hero and survivor!
Are you a Predators Survivor Hero? Do you know someone that was a victim of crime and has moved beyond his or her situation to make a difference for others? If so, we want to hear from you about this true survivor! Please send your suggestions to us via our Contact Us page.
Dr. Eric Hickey's Predators of Children Warning List
Parents must be vigilant in protecting their children against sexual predators. The more commonly discussed child predators are pedophiles and child molesters. These two types of offenders have some similarities but many differences as well. Please educate yourself by reading information posted on www.Predators.tv where I discuss how these offenders think and prey upon children. The following is a Predators of Children Warning List to guide you in protecting your children. Everything on this list is a product of my 25 years of teaching and researching sexual predators including interviews with dozens of offenders. More Predator Lists will be posted both online and in the Predators.tv newsletters.
When in public never allow your children to be alone or out of your sight. This includes stores, arcades, and parks. Remember, predators go where children can be found and approached.
Never allow a child to enter a public restroom alone.
Be suspicious of men (especially acquaintances) who are persistent or overly eager to baby-sit your children.
Just say no to men (particularly acquaintances, school teachers, pastors, neighbors) who want to take your child to the movies, out to lunch, for a hike, etc. where they will be alone with your child. It may seem harmless at the time and your child is eager to go but remember: most healthy men (non-predatorial) do not want to be alone with your children.
Be prudent in allowing your child to go to a sleep-over. If you do not know the parents you should consider holding the sleep-over at your house.
Closely supervise your children's internet and email activity. Predators like to instant-message children and engage them in chat-rooms. (No chat-rooms are safe from predators).
When your child must walk home from school he/she should have one or more friends who will be walking with them.
Teach your children that if they are approached by strangers asking for help or directions, offering them candy or wanting to take their pictures, or telling them that they have come to escort them home, that they must immediately walk away/run away from these people.
Be suspicious and report occurrences of men loitering around school yards before and after school as well as during recess.
Be suspicious and investigate situations where your child is frequently visiting the home of a male neighbor (single, widowed or divorced) who has no children of similar age living in the home.
Intimate Partner Violence by Tracey Ross Does Intimate Partner Violence affect you? The answer is: Yes.
Considering that private insurance paid an average of 47% of the medical and mental health costs for victims of Intimate Partner Violence in 1995*, no one escapes this costly crime.
Intimate Partner Violence is defined as violent acts committed by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, or sexual partner against another. The Institute for Health & Aging, University of California, San Francisco estimates the cost of intimate partner violence against women in the U.S. in 1995 to have been $5.8 billion dollars. Inflated to 2003 dollars that number is an even more staggering $8.3 billion (more recent costs of inflation were not available). The analysis used the latest available national survey data from the National Violence Against Women Survey, as well as the Medical Expenditure Panel survey to estimate the costs for 1995. Details are available on the The Center for Injury and Prevention and Control's web site.
The year the UC, San Francisco's study was performed, almost 5.3 million victims of IPV including physical assaults, rape and stalking were treated. (Murders committed by an Intimate were not included in this number.) This study shows that whether or not you physically experience IPV in your lifetime, you are a secondary victim of this crime. With 47% of the treatment costs of physical IPV victims being paid by private insurance, it looks like consumers lose three times. Higher health insurance premiums, higher medical care costs due to uninsured victims, and higher taxes to pay for state funded victim's projects and state insured victims.
Surveying the far-reaching effects of this crime, we should urge our state and federal legislators to create tougher penalties for Intimate Partner Crimes. Tougher penalties do deter perpetrators. You can easily contact your legislators through www.governmentguide.com. Include a reference to The Center for Injury and Prevention and Control's web page given in this article to support your request. Together, we can make a difference in our communities.
*Source: NVAWS
Do you have a question or comment about a particular type of crime?
to the Predators Crime Prevention Specialist - Retired Officer Carl Duke!
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Safety Tip: Before you move to your new home, check to see where the sex offenders are located. A good web site to check out: nsopr.gov
Those Are My Private Parts!
An excellent children's book about the important issues of body awareness, self-esteem and self-assertive behavior. It helps to educate children even at a very young age to protect themselves and address their questions to people they can trust. I highly recommend this book to parents, caregivers, nursery school teachers, family counselors and child psychologists. www.thosearemyprivateparts.com
"After the conviction, a victim should contact the prison and get on a notification list for any parole hearings. The victim should attend any hearing and tell the parole board that he should not be released. They should also get the prosecutor on board to do the same, but they need to understand that the prosecutor has other cases, so the victim will have to make the calls to persuade the prosecutor to oppose the parole." Former Assistant D.A. Tom McCauley
They say hindsight is 20/20. If you've been victimized and have suggestions for keeping others safe from crime - please post your suggestions on the predators.tv message board. Help us help others…
The United States Postal Inspection Service has produced a series of FREE DVDs on Fraud Prevention. All DVDs feature a Spanish-language option. Click here to order.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
We would like to thank Matthew Upton at MNM WebWorks for sponsoring this newsletter and the Predators web site.
