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"Brooklyn DA Hynes Under Fire For Handling Of Abuse Cases In Orthodox-Jewish Community
CBS 2 Calls Hotline To Report Incidents, But More Often Gets A Recording
May 14, 2012
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The handling of sexual abuse cases in the ultra-Orothodox Hasidic Jewish community has drawn increased criticism.
The criticism focuses on a special program that the Brooklyn District Attorney has established to deal with such cases because of religious considerations.
CBS 2′s Chris Wragge examined the program to find out whose needs are being served.
In the Hasidic Jewish community all matters, including sexual abuse, are handled internally, but the wall of silence may be crumbling.
District Attorney Charles Hynes told CBS 2 that in recent years there have been nearly 100 sexual abuse-related arrests in the community. Unlike other district attorneys, Hynes has not released the names of the accused.
“It’s a civil rights statute that precludes us from identifying the people,” Hynes said.
Hynes said that releasing the names of alleged abusers could result in the accidental identification of the victims inside of a tight-knit community. Some members of that community said that Hynes is being influenced by politically powerful rabbis.
“I think that he is behaving very badly in the name of keeping his job,” Ben Hirsh said.
In 2009 Hynes formed a program called “Kol Tzedek,” which is Hebrew for “Voice Of Justice,” to deal with Orthodox Jewish abuse cases. The program included a hotline manned by social workers.
CBS 2 called the hotline over a period of several days, at different times of the day. Out of a total of 25 calls, only two were answered. The rest went straight to a recording.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind told CBS 2 that this type of inconsistency could mean that victims are not getting help.
“We might be losing people who finally have the courage to make the phone call, and they’re not gonna call back,” Hikind said.
A spokesman for Hynes said that the hotline is operated “24 hours” and is manned during some of those hours by a licensed social worker. The spokesman could not explain why earlier calls from CBS 2 went unanswered.
Hynes said that the hotline has resulted in 95 cases being brought to his office’s attention, but some of those cases were actually brought by advocates or police.
The DA’s office claims to have helped Mordechai Jungries when his son was molested, but Jungries said that this is not true.
“We were alone, looking for a therapist, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, everything on our own. No help from the DA,” he said.
In response to Jungries’ comments, the spokesman for Hynes said that, “It’s really our decision what is part of Kol Tzedek.”
CBS 2 plans to appeal the district attorney’s refusal to release the names of alleged abusers."
CBS News
"Brooklyn DA Responds To Criticism Of His Handling Of Sex Abuse Cases In Jewish Orthodox Community
May 12, 2012
NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) — Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said that the Mayor and others have unfairly criticized his handling of allegations of sexual abuse in the Ultra Orthodox community.
WCBS 880 Reporter Alex Silverman spoke with DA Charles Hynes…
[recording]
“You know I really, ya know, welcome the opportunity to set the record straight,” Hynes told WCBS 880 reporter Alex Silverman.
Hynes said that it was accurately reported that he would not interfere with a witness or victim’s decision to speak with a Rabbi about an alleged incident, but that he still expected that criminal activity would be reported to the appropriate authorities.
Along with the assistance of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, Ohel, and other Jewish agencies; Hynes created a program called “Voice Of Justice.”
The program includes a 24-hour hotline and social worker access, as well as a direct link to Hynes’ office.
“Ya know, had he bothered to reach out, I would have explained that I didn’t object to someone going to see a rabbi..but I certainly expected that they would report promptly any allegations of sexual abuse,” he said.
Hynes defended his office’s policy of not revealing the names of Jews charged with sex crimes.
“Once they identify the victim, they harass and intimidate.”
Hynes added that any member of the Orthodox community found to be obstructing an inquiry about sexual abuse would be prosecuted and punished.
How do you think cases of alleged abuse within the Orthodox Jewish community should be handled? Leave your thoughts below…"
CBS News:
"Report: Brooklyn DA Gives Special Treatment To Ultra-Orthodox Defendants In Sex Abuse Cases
May 11, 2012
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes takes pains to conceal the names of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish defendants in sex abuse cases as part of an effort to reach out to alleged victims, according to a report.
WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond On The Story [recording]
This policy is not followed by the city’s four other district attorneys.
Sex crime experts like Cardozo School of Law professor Marci Hamilton, who wrote the book “Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect its Children,” are troubled by the report.
“The system that’s been concocted by the DA’s office is a system that’s woefully inadequate to children, putting them at risk on a daily basis,” Hamilton told WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond. “Frankly, I don’t know how he sleeps at night.”
“Right now, what we have is a district attorney who has a misguided notion of a need to protect religious groups from themselves and that’s exactly the opposite of what those poor children need,” Hamilton said.
The New York Times also reported that last summer, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel approached the DA’s office to say that he was instructing his people to only report allegations of child sexual abuse to authorities if a rabbi said the claims were credible.
Many in the Ultra-Orthodox community believe that sexual abuse claims are best handled internally.
The Times reported that Hynes did not object to this apparent challenge to his authority.
“Rabbis are wonderful people. They’re respectful people. They are our guide. They are our spiritual leaders,” Mark Appel, founder of the victim’s advocacy group Voice of Justice, told Diamond. “But they’re not trained in this.”
The Times said the DA’s office defended its outreach to victims of sexual abuse in the Orthodox community, adding that Hynes cares deeply about the issue.
Do you agree with the policy? Sound off in the comments section below."
CBS News:
"Victim’s Father Determined To Break Cycle Of Abuse In Brooklyn’s Hasidic, Orthodox Communities
March 28, 2012
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The issue of child sexual abuse cuts across all ethnic and religious lines.
But some say in the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities of Brooklyn, the problem is compounded by religious taboos that make reporting abusers to police very rare.
They say it is a secret and that children continue to suffer.
Mordechai Jungreis said he was victimized twice — once when his son was sexually abused by a member of the community and again when he was shunned trying to get him help.
“I told my wife right away this child is getting molested,” Jungreis told CBS 2′s Chris Wragge. “The perpetrator always got support from the community.”
In the insular, tight-knit world of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews, problems are taken care of internally. In all matters, including sex abuse, a rabbi is consulted.
Jungreis said he called many rabbis, but none helped, even though he said they knew about the alleged abuser.
“They knew how dangerous this guy is,” he said. “They never did anything to get him off the street.”
What made matters so difficult is that Jewish law forbids informing on another Jew.
But two rabbis told Jungreis he could get around that by bringing the boy to a therapist, who would legally have to report the abuse.
But when that happened, Jungreis was blamed.
“You get revenge, hell, torture, ostracized — you name it. What a family and victim is going through if you are reporting a Jew,” Jungreis said.
Ben Hirsch, who runs Survivors For Justice, an advocacy group for sex abuse victims in the Orthodox community, said that scenario keeps many abusers protected.
LINK: Survivors For Justice
“This is a mindset among very many parents of victims they know — that if they step forward to protect one of their children that the entire family is going to suffer serious consequences,” Hirsch told Wragge.
Hirsch said rabbis shouldn’t investigate sex crimes, but rather, the police should. However, Agudath Israel, an Orthodox policy organization, said getting the rabbi’s OK makes it easier to report cases to authorities.
Hirsch said he doesn’t buy it.
“I know of many instances of coverup. I know of many instances where rabbis are stopping people from coming forward,” he said.
In Jungreis’ case, the alleged abuser admitted that as a child he had been molested and, Jungreis said, the cycle of abuse continued with his own son.
“Not only did he victimize him, he learned him how to be a perpetrator,” Jungreis said.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind has been a leader in bringing the problem out in the open.
“People’s lives have been destroyed and we don’t want the next generation to face the same thing that our generation has faced,” Hikind said.
Worst of all, Hirsh said, is the message from community leaders to its children.
“The children who are victims and are perceived to be collateral damage. Their focus is their power base, their focus is the community at large, the greater good, in their view,” Hirsh said.
Jungreis said, despite the cost, he is determined to help break the devastating cycle of abuse.
“You have a right to have a voice, you will have a voice. There’s no such thing as we cannot have a voice,” Jungreis said.
There have been 85 arrests in the community in recent years.
Thursday night, CBS 2 will take a look at why the Brooklyn district attorney is under fire for how some of those cases have been handled.
Share your thoughts in the comments section below…"
It would be good if investigators would drag out all the files from Kol Non-zedek and then review who the abusers lawyer was subsequently after the victim shared info. It would be good for investigators to see how many arrests about to me made didn't happen because "someone" tipped off the folks and had them run to Israel (the guys who gang raped a fourteen year old; the father who raped his children...etc, etc, the list goes on). It would be good for investigators to see how charges got downgraded after a few fixers in the community called in. And it would be great for investigators to figure out how many of the accused perps started off or ended up in Ohel's "therapy" program for abusers.
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