Woman let off hook for mutilating daughter

I was so angry about this story I couldn't start on this entry for days.

In Naples, Florida, a woman who forced her 13-year-old daughter to have her genitalia mutilated to make it uncomfortable for her to have sex has been acquitted of aggravated child abuse. The acquittal came even though there wasn't even any disagreement that she had her daughter mutilated. In fact, the defendant had gotten another woman to carry out the act, and that woman got sentenced to a year in jail for it - which itself is a slap on the wrist, considering the severity of the crime.

The mother of the 13-year-old had also forced the girl to shave her head.

These incidents followed the discovery that the girl was having sex with the mother's boyfriend. So why didn't the mother report the fact that the man was having sex with the girl? And why wasn't the so-called mother charged for not reporting it?

Of course, the acquittal might not be much of a surprise when you consider what a right-wing county it is. For starts, the county has willfully refused to do anything about housing costs. Even worse, the county approved a plan by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan to build his own right-wing Jonestown within the county. That's a real indicator of what the pulse of the county is like.

It's an area where children are considered property, and where authorities have little interest in protecting children. It's one of these places where the violent adults rule, and the kids must shut up and obey. Because a child there is usually considered property, the system isn't likely to convict an adult for doing what they want to a child. Nationwide, one of the biggest problems with the system is that child-hating idiots are allowed to serve on juries. (These are the same type of right-wing morons who serve in Congress and refuse to approve an international children's rights document that almost every other nation has approved.)

I passionately hate child abuse of all forms. America needs to start treating adults who support child abuse as pariahs.

I would bet you the defendant in this story is some sort of right-wing religious fanatic. In fact, if I was a gambling man, I would wager my entire life savings on it. In other major child abuse cases, this usually turns out to be the case.

(Source: http://www.courttv.com/news/2007/1026/pierce_ap.html)