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U.S. Man vs The Pope

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As if you haven't heard enough about sexual abuse allegations against the Vatican, a Wisconsin man is filing a lawsuit against the Pope and the Vatican. The plaintiff is going by the name of John Doe 16 and his lawsuit is aiming to place blame on higher level individuals of the Roman Catholic Church. JD16's claim is that the Vatican controls fundraising efforts, doctrine in general, and leadership, all the way down to the lowest levels of the church.

JD16's lawsuit is being filed on behalf of an Illinois man who claims he was abused in the 1960's at the Catholic parish he attended. The unique part about this lawsuit is that the suit is intended to prove that the Vatican is a "business" and global empire. The lawsuit also claims that the Catholic Church practices in "commercial activity" in Wisconsin as well as across the United States by holding "unqualified power" over each diocese. 

The Vatican's U.S. based lawyer, Jeffrey Lena, says that the lawsuit is a "publicity stunt with no merit" and that the theories brought up in the suit were introduced to the Vatican some twenty years ago, therefore could not be held liable. There are certain issues that other defense lawyers say will hinder and progress with this lawsuit. One issue is that the lawsuit would claim that the Vatican actually has "a employment relationship" with its priests. A big issue facing this suit would be overcoming the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which includes rules in which limits U.S. legal action against sovereign nations and this includes the Vatican.

Cases such as this are important in the advancement of psychological issues in regards to witness memory, deception, wrongful convictions, and defamation of character. The Catholic Church has had to deal with allegations of sexual abuse for decades. One concern I have with witnesses coming forward twenty to thirty years later is the idea that as a young child, they remember (memory and cognition) being abused by a certain priest over X amount of time. I would like to think that the majority of these individuals are in fact being honest in their allegations because otherwise it opens up all sorts of room for error in law. Priests blamed for these crimes (whom might be 100% innocent) are dragged through the muddy media reports, and community "gossip". Not only does this affect their job as a holy person, but it affects their own psychological well being. If these cases are in fact deceptive and falsified, it puts more pressure on the legal system, the Vatican, and local dioceses to not "screw things up" and place innocent people (and entities) behind bars (and/or labeled a "black sheep" in their community). 


Domestic Abuse Signs

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http://www.helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_types_signs_causes_effects.htm

I found a website about domestic abuse and what you are to look for if you are in a domestic abuse situation. Sometimes it is hard to notice that you are in an abuse situation, because you love that person and you make up excuses for their behavior. Everyone else in your life will notice that they are treating you bad or belittling you, but you will not notice. This website shows the signs of all the different kinds of abuse and the different ways that your significant other is treating you. There is also a hotline to call if you or someone you know is being abused.

There are many differnt types of domestic abuse, and most of them, such as emotional and psychological abuse, are hard to recognize. There are so many cases that go unresolved and so many people do not report the abuse.

You don't have to live in fear:

Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-787-3224


Some people may not know about this case and others may have heard a little about it. I had never heard anything that I can remember about this case until we were talking about domestic abuse in my night class.  My professor then talked about the Tracy Thurman case. What we were told was that she had previously gotten a restraining order on her abusive husband. However he broke the contract several times. She had repeatedly called the Torrington, Connecticut police to inform them of her husband's acts and they still ignored her. On one particular day June 10th of 1983 he stabbed Tracy repeatedly around her chest, neck, and throat, I believe it was close to 17 stab wounds all together.

A police arrived 25 minutes later but did not arrest her husband even after her husband threw their son on top of her and then repeatedly kicked her in the stomach and head.

Because of this Tracy Thurman sued the city of Torrington claiming she was denied equal protection under the law. She won the battle and was awarded 2.3 million. Also because of this it lead to actions such as during domestic abuse disputes a person that is seen as the abuser is taken into custody for the night.


The first website is a cite that has some details about the case on it and is where most of this information was received from. The second one is a clip of a video that was created after the case as a true story. The third is a synopsis of what the movie was about.


http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2074/Domestic-Violence-Laws-Courts-LANDMARK-LEGAL-DECISIONS.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UzpxcbBqe4 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097132/plotsummary

Animal Abuse Laws Enforced

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http://www.wcfcourier.com/news/politics/article_51982555-5faa-540a-9608-b61fee165caf.html

This is an article from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. In March of 2009 there was a law passed that allowed families to ask for protection not only themselves from their abusers but also for the family pets.  The threat of a family pet being harmed is seen as an issue in abuse case. I personally wouldn't want any of my animals harmed so i think its only human nature that we want to protect of animals from abuse.

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