The Rape Of Innocence

An autobiographical account of a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant woman who discovered she had been the victim of clitoridectomy as a child in Kansas in the 1950s.

Written for mental health professionals, crisis hot line workers, educators and clergy, this resource discusses how to prevent and recognise child sexual abuse and what to do if abuse is suspected. The content covers many settings in which sexual abuse may occur, including the home, day care and group settings. A special section addresses abuse of minority children and those who are handicapped. The author has also included a glossary of terms relevant to the study and prevention of abuse.

Casper, Wyoming: 1973. Eleven-year-old Amy Burridge rides with her eighteen-year-old sister, Becky, to the grocery store. When they finish their shopping, Becky's car gets a flat tire. Two men politely offer them a ride home. But they were anything but Good Samaritans. The girls would suffer unspeakable crimes at the hands of these men before being thrown from a bridge into the North Platte River. One miraculously survived. The other did not. Years later, author and journalist Ron Franscell—who lived in Casper at the time of the crime, and was a friend to Amy and Becky—can't forget Wyoming's most shocking story of abduction, rape, and murder. Neither could Becky, the surviving sister. The two men who violated her and Amy were sentenced to life in prison, but the demons of her past kept haunting Becky...until she met her fate years later at the same bridge where she'd lost her sister.

Poignant and chilling by turns, The Opposite of Innocent is award-winning author Sonya Sones’s most gripping novel in verse yet. It’s the story of a girl named Lily, who’s been crushing on a man named Luke, a friend of her parents, ever since she can remember. Luke has been away for two endless years, but he’s finally returning today. Lily was only twelve when he left. But now, at fourteen, she feels transformed. She can’t wait to see how Luke will react when he sees the new her. And when her mother tells her that Luke will be staying with them for a while, in the bedroom right next to hers, her heart nearly stops. Having Luke back is better than Lily could have ever dreamed. His lingering looks set Lily on fire. Is she just imagining them? But then, when they’re alone, he kisses her. Then he kisses her again. Lily’s friends think anyone his age who wants to be with a fourteen-year-old must be really messed up. Maybe even dangerous. But Luke would never do anything to hurt her...would he? In this powerful tale of a terrifying leap into young adulthood, readers will accompany Lily on her harrowing journey from hopelessness to hope.

What has happened in the lives of our children in the last few decades? Where is the innocence that many had years ago before the Internet, social media and videos. This book gives in-depth knowledge of what the fashion industry, music and the modeling industry have done to take away the innocence of our children.

A deeply reported, gripping narrative of injustice, exoneration, and the lifelong impact of incarceration, Beyond Innocence is the poignant saga of one remarkable life that sheds vitally important light on the failures of the American justice system at every level In June 1985, a young Black man in Winston-Salem, N.C. named Darryl Hunt was falsely convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a white copyeditor at the local paper. Many in the community believed him innocent and crusaded for his release even as subsequent trials and appeals reinforced his sentence. Finally, in 2003, the tireless efforts of his attorney combined with an award-winning series of articles by Phoebe Zerwick in the Winston-Salem Journal led to the DNA evidence that exonerated Hunt. Three years later, the acclaimed documentary, The Trials of Darryl Hunt, made him known across the country and brought his story to audiences around the world. But Hunt’s story was far from over. As Zerwick poignantly reveals, it is singularly significant in the annals of the miscarriage of justice and for the legacy Hunt ultimately bequeathed. Part true crime drama, part chronicle of a life cut short by systemic racism, Beyond Innocence powerfully illuminates the sustained catastrophe faced by an innocent person in prison and the civil death nearly everyone who has been incarcerated experiences attempting to restart their lives. Freed after nineteen years behind bars, Darryl Hunt became a national advocate for social justice, and his case inspired lasting reforms, among them a law that allows those on death row to appeal their sentence with evidence of racial bias. He was a beacon of hope for so many—until he could no longer bear the burden of what he had endured and took his own life. Fluidly crafted by a master journalist, Beyond Innocence makes an urgent moral call for an American reckoning with the legacies of racism in the criminal justice system and the human toll of the carceral state.

Is it possible to stop the generational cycle of sexual abuse? The story between the pages of this book proves that the answer is “yes”. In Rape of Innocence, Leland Page unflinchingly explores the sexual abuse that he experienced at the hands of his mother, its devastating effects that resulted in addictions and a downward spiral, and how he in turn continued this cycle of abuse with his daughter. Yet juxtaposed to a dark account of his childhood and young adulthood, amazingly, is a tale of light and hope. In a beautiful tribute to the woman who taught him how to love others and himself, Leland shares how his life was saved by the love of another. For with this love came healing and a journey to rekindle a healthy relationship with both the woman who abused him and the daughter he abused. Ultimately, this true story is about the power of unconditional love and forgiveness; if this is something you don’t believe in…you will by the time you finish this book.