There is no longer any room for doubt.

The worldwide policies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses on dealing with child abuse are actively endangering children.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and child abuse: The facts.

Angus Stewart, senior council at the Royal Commission, has delivered damning summary findings detailing Watchtower’s mishandling of child abuse

In the past three years alone we have seen three damning investigations from two different expert organisations; Case Studies 29 and 54 from the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, and the UK Charity Commission investigation report into New Moston.

The investigations looked into how Watchtower, the organisation which governs the Jehovah’s Witness religion worldwide, handles internal accusations of child abuse.

The investigations report horrifying discoveries, including;

  • Child molesters being allowed to confront and interrogate their victims in closed-off religious courts.
  • Accusations of child molestation being dismissed out of hand because there were not two witnesses to the attack.
  • At least 1006 molesters in Australia never being reported to the police, despite many having multiple accusations and in some cases even confessions.
  • Female victims being interrogated by all-male tribunals in oppressive, star-chamber style religious courts.
  • Survivors being pressured not to report their abuse so as not to “drag Jehovah’s name through the mud.
  • Survivors being cast out of the congregation and shunned, whilst their attackers were forgiven and allowed to remain.
  • Survivors being told they must forgive their attackers and share congregations with them.
  • Attempts by the Watchtower organisation to deceive and mislead official investigations.
  • Attempts by the Watchtower organisation to shut down official investigations.

And these are just the highlights; the list of damning findings goes on and on, recounting a horrifying list of wilful and deliberate actions on the part of Watchtower to withhold information about child abuse from authorities, to enact policies that allow many abusers to act with impunity in the congregations, and to greatly exacerbate the suffering of the abuse survivors.

In the words of Justice Peter McClellan, who presided over Case Study 29 and 54 of the ARC hearings:

We’ve not encountered any organisation that has the flaws of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and child abuse: In court.

Candace Conti speaking at a news conference in 2013

Additionally, we have seen multiple court cases where abuse survivors successfully sued Watchtower due to these flawed and dangerous policies. Landmark cases brought by the brave survivors include;

Candice Conti

Jose Lopez

Stephenie Fessler

Victim C

These cases confirmed again the findings of the ARC and Charity Commission reports, and provide legally established proof that Watchtower’s policies are enabling abuse, traumatising survivors, and hampering the authorities ability to tackle the molesters.

And there more many more cases on record as either settled or won, currently in court, or in the pipelines The legal floodgates of decades of past abuse are opening up, but compensating survivors is a poor substitute for stopping abuse that should never have taken place.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Child Abuse: In the press.

Investigative Reporter Trey Bundy has published detailed reports of Watchtower’s child abuse mishandling and coverups

The media have been increasingly realising, and reporting upon, the shocking scale of Watchtower’s abuse problem and coverup.

Googling “Jehovah’s Witnesses child abuse” will render scores of hits from reputable news sources such the BBC and the Times. One award winning investigative website, Reveal News, has dedicated an entire section to the efforts of Investigative Reporter Trey Bundy to uncover and bring to light the shocking depth and scale of this scandal. Bundy shows in detail how, even now, Jehovah’s Witnesses are refusing a US court order to turn over a list of potentially thousands of secret child molesters to the authorities. 

Additionally, an international conference was recently held in London, organised by Reveal News, in which professionals from all relevant fields gathered to discuss Watchtower’s child abuse scandal. The information presented there was truly disturbing, and prompted further media reports on the scale and depth of the problem

This simply cannot be tolerated anymore. Urgent action is required from governments to address Watchtower’s failings, strip charity status if necessary and introduce criminal sanctions where appropriate.

In the UK, the government has set up an wide-ranging inquiry into how various secular and religious institutions investigate child abuse, very similar to the landmark Australian Royal Commission which is currently coming to a close in Australia. This UK investigation is referred to as IICSA (Independent Investigation into Child Sexual Abuse) and is expected to produce results similar to the one carried out in Australia.

There is however, one key and shocking difference between the ARC, and IICSA.

IICSA have not announced any plans to investigate the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jehovah’s Witnesses – IICSA must investigate!

Legal expert Kathleen Hallisey has called upon IICSA to urgently investigate Watchtower

This decision is very difficult to understand, given everything we have discussed above. To make matters even more astonishing, Watchtower has already defied IICSA over the matter or records retention; when IICSA first begin its work, it advised all religious groups in the UK to retain their records on child abuse, in case IICSA wanted to review them.

True to form, it appears that Watchtower may have ignored IICSA, and destroyed vital records, as reported by the BBC

In a recent BBC interview, legal expert Kathleen Hallisey, who was the first UK solicitor to win a legal case against Watchtower on behalf of an abuse survivor, called for IICSA to urgently address the Watchtower organisation in its review.

I urge you to listen to Hallisey’s interview; she leaves listeners in no doubt as to the urgency and severity of the risks currently posed right now to children in the UK as a result of Watchtower policies.

We at JW Survey agree: IICSA needs to urgently make clear that it intends to investigate the Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

We call upon Professor Alexis Jay OBE, who is the current chair of the IICSA, to announce that the Witnesses will be included in their investigations as a matter of urgency.

We pledge to do our upmost to get IICSA to do the right thing, but we will need your help.

You can make a difference!

Professor Alexis Jay – Chair of the IICSA Inquiry

There are two things you can do right now to pressure IICSA investigate Watchtower.

The first is to click this link and sign the petition that has been set up to ask Professor Alexis Jay, who currently leads the IICSA, to include the Jehovah’s Witnesses in her inquiry.

At the time of writing this petition has over 350 signatures, but this is an effort where numbers count. Ideally, we need to get thousands of signatures to get the attention of the media and IICSA.

Please share the petition far and wide – if possible, please ask your friends and family to sign. Explain to them what we are trying to achieve, and how high the stakes are if IISCA let Watchtower slip away.

You don’t have to be in the UK to sign – signatures are acceptable from all over the world, to let IICSA know the world is watching how it responds to this issue.

  • You can also contact IISCA directly
    • You can email IICSA at contact@iicsa.org.uk
    • You can tweet IICSA at @inquiryCSA
    • You can contact their Facebook page
    • You can write to IICSA in the UK at using the following free post address on your envelope: Freepost IICSA INDEPENDENT INQUIRY.
    • You can also, if outside the UK, use the address:  Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, PO Box 72289, London, SW1P 9LF

Please outline the reasons as to why you feel the Witnesses should be investigated. Please be calm, and avoid angry or bitter language in your email. Be professional, include information to support your request, such as some of the findings of the ARC or the New Moston investigation. Let IICSA know why Jehovah’s Witnesses are of special concern amidst all the other groups that IICSA needs to consider.

Please act. 

Please help hold Watchtower to account for its appalling neglect and deliberate concealment in the area of child abuse.

Follow me on twitter @covertfade

Follow JW Survey @jwsurveyorg

Follow IICSA @inquiryCSA

78 thoughts on “Support the campaign to make IICSA investigate Jehovah’s Witnesses.

  • August 1, 2017 at 6:30 am
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    I sent an email to IICSA regarding the above three days ago, and received a reply today saying they will be considering an enquiry into Jehovah’s Witnesses. So I guess the more emails that are sent to them, the more likely they will realize it is a massive problem in the religion and needs to be investigated.

    • August 1, 2017 at 7:05 am
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      Get involved, for the sake of the little children. One child sexual abuse victim is already too many. The wall of silence in the WT organization must come down.

      • August 4, 2017 at 10:01 am
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        A friend of mine just recently got marked in the congregation for talking bad about the org…she told a few people about the child sex abuse scandals at ARC and Candace Conti. The screws are tightening people, they don’t want to ripple the waters!

        • August 4, 2017 at 5:11 pm
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          Our leaders are complete mongrels. Who does this? Which other organization stops people talking about reality?

          I went to the elders some years ago about some slander that a family were saying about me. The elders didn’t want to do anything about it. Their reply: You can’t stop people from talking.

          Another mongrel, when I complained about his lack of assistance, said, “There are things which elders expect from publishers, but we get disappointed when publishers don’t do what we hope. So, too, there are things publishers expect from elders, but they get disappointed when elders don’t do what they hope. It is all a part of give and take.”

          Well, elders, you can’t stop us talking about the child sexual abuse in the organization. And we aren’t going to do what you hope. It’s all a part of give and take.

        • August 8, 2017 at 1:19 pm
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          I Live close to the area of Candice Conti (which is in Fremont, CA USA).
          This is a joke beyond jokes. the Elder that was involved in this court situation Just recently passed away and he wasn’t that old.
          perhaps the stress took its toll on him.

          • August 18, 2017 at 11:28 pm
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            I am glad he is dead.

          • August 19, 2017 at 3:57 am
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            Thelma Jean, can you tell us why you feel this way about this man?

  • August 1, 2017 at 8:30 am
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    done and done

  • August 1, 2017 at 9:01 am
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    Done

  • August 1, 2017 at 9:40 am
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    This is so important. Even active jw’s who are reading this should want this investigation to happen. If the Org has done nothing wrong then this will prove it. But if it has something to hide then let’s help to get that uncovered. Surely protecting children is much more important than protecting the ‘good name’ of a self-confessed imperfect organisation. Things need to change.

  • August 1, 2017 at 9:41 am
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    Done.

  • August 1, 2017 at 10:03 am
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    The link in the article makes this super easy…Done.

  • August 1, 2017 at 10:23 am
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    Petition signed, letter to follow and spreading the word!

  • August 1, 2017 at 10:27 am
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    Petition signed and e mail sent

  • August 1, 2017 at 11:41 am
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    Sent an email. I hope it helps if we all implore the commission to investigate. Aloha

  • August 1, 2017 at 11:56 am
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    email sent

    Dear Commission,

    I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States. I am also a public school teacher which makes me a mandated reporter of child abuse. Like you I’m aware that Watchtower’s (Jehovah’s Witnesses’) child protections policies need improvement. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like that will happen to a degree to sufficiently protect Jehovah’s Witness children unless the Watchtower organization is forced to improve its policies by organizations of governmental oversight such as yours. Therefore, I hope you investigate Watchtower and force improvements that are necessary to protect our children.

    A friend of mine and elder in a congregation I attended informed me he sat on a judicial committee investigating allegations of sexual child abuse against the grown son of another elder in our congregation. I was told the abuse occurred. The elders there, including my friend, failed to report their finding to police or the local child protection agency. Also, no congregational action was taken against that child predator. Of course this is just one among many of similar incidents inside the Watchtower organization, thus the reason for my concern.

    I hope you find time to investigate Watchtower. I also wish you force them to change those destructive policies and stop intentional cover-ups. Mandatory reporting laws if possible to institute might go a long way towards helping to protect our children.

    Thank you very much for considering my request.

    Sincerely,

    included name

    • August 3, 2017 at 6:46 pm
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      I received the following reply on Aug 2nd, but it was on an official letterhead and Included the Director of Operation’s signature.

      Dear Mr.———–

      Thank you for your email of 1 August expressing your concerns around the Watchtower’s
      child protections policies. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is investigating institutional failure to protect children from sexual abuse in the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. In June 2015 it issued a retention order covering documents of interest to the Inquiry to the leaders of 18 prominent religious organisations, including the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

      The Inquiry is also commissioning research into child sexual abuse in faith communities,
      which will lay the groundwork for any new investigations relating to other religions. Following this, we will consider calls for a Jehovah’s Witnesses specific investigation carefully, as the Inquiry’s work progresses.

      Thank you for contacting us.

      Yours sincerely
      Steve Long
      Director of Operations
      Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

      Tel: 0800 917 1000 | Website: http://www.iicsa.org.uk | PO Box 72289, London SW1P 9LF
      Email: contact@iicsa.org.uk

      • August 6, 2017 at 12:47 pm
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        A fine letter, messenger. You’re a decent bloke. Shame about the fundamentalist views though. Any chance you could work on that?

    • August 5, 2017 at 1:36 pm
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      You do realize that even if obligatory reporting by elders or the org is mandated by law, they will probably just come up with the scripture in Acts that says….”we obey God as ruler rather than men”?
      And voila! They won’t be able to sidestep the Bible’s command, hence no reporting will be done :/ I’m sure they will wiggle out of the mandatory reporting somehow.

      • August 6, 2017 at 12:11 am
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        Not necessarily. If WT butts are hanging over the fire I believe they’ll agree to reporting. I don’t think they lied to the ARC about that point, if the laws are changed. The consequences would be too great if those weren’t obeyed. Consequences would include jail time for the mandated reporters which would include elders and those at Bethel. WT knows it couldn’t get enough elders to go along with serving jail time for that reason.

        It doesn’t seem like these governments right know will be enacting strict mandatory reporting laws for clergy like the ones governing medical and educational personnel. That might happen in the future. Who knows when.

        • August 6, 2017 at 12:14 am
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          know should be now

      • August 6, 2017 at 5:07 pm
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        I recall that Geoffrey Jackson said at the Australian Royal Commission that if the government made it mandatory reporting that it would make it easier on JWs. I would think that some of you heard that too.

        • August 6, 2017 at 6:17 pm
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          yeah, I heard, Markie. Thats an admission from Jackson. Mans a fool.

    • August 15, 2017 at 6:40 pm
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      So, you lied. You are not one of Jehovah’s witnesses. My wife and I did specialized foster care for many years. What was the most common theme? The kids were all sexually abused. Oh wait, it was done by worldly people. You know the ones. They molest 20% of all children. Lets calculate that. If Jehovah’s people were compaired to worldly people. Had an averge of 3 kids. Let’s see. 8 million witness. ( we’ll say 5 million adults) 20% worldly molestation percentage= 1 million children. Hmm. Over the past 50 years ,would literally be millions of children ( based on worldly molestation %). Where’s your outrage! Better start spying on those 325 million Amercans , which I’m guessing 200 million are adults ( at least) That’s 40 million children molested by 16). Oh wait, no story here. Their not witnesses. Bunch if hypocrites.

      • August 15, 2017 at 7:58 pm
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        If Witnesses were who they claimed, over and over, the number of abused children in their congregations would be ZERO. So who’s the hypocrite? Having any abused children at all exposes the lie in spectacular fashion. The lies have come home to roost.

        • August 15, 2017 at 8:23 pm
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          Not even the 1st century Christian congregation was immune to wolves in sheep’s clothing. 40 million in the world is 99 times more than in the truth.You look at the few who will not be overlooked by Jehovah. Yet, you ignore the 40 million that have suffered under Satan’s control. That’s why I call you hypocrites. Jehovah will clean out the congregations ,as he has done over the years. I know that, I’ve seen it with my own experiences. Why don’t you go to Washington and protest for the 40 million who have suffered. I took in ” worldly children” and saved many of them from a life of suicude and drug abuse. Oh wait, witnesses don’t help wordly peope according to you.

          • August 16, 2017 at 4:11 am
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            Devin, you are absolutely right!!! One in four children will be molested or raped by the time they are 18 years old!!! You speak out of both sides of your mouth. You say that you have taken in many children who have been molested and so you know how high the statistics are but what we are talking about is how did you know they had been molested???? Obviously somebody turned them into the authorities and those children were taken out of their homes and put into a safe home where they would not be hurt anymore.

            If you are familiar with the Australia Royal Commission’s look into the JW religion, there were at least 2,000 cases of child abuse by Jehovah’s Witnesses in the last 65 years AND NOT EVEN ONE OF THOSE CASES HAD BEEN REPORTED TO THE AUTHORITIES WHERE THOSE CHILDREN COULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN OUT OF THEIR SITUATIONS AND PUT INTO A SAFE PLACE!!!

            Why was that?

            In a “normal” situation, when a child comes home and tells their parents that somebody tried to touch them or had tried to rape them or did rape them, the parents would want to confront the molester or rapist but that is the worst thing they can do. They should take the child to the hospital for an examination first and foremost and the authorities need to know right away so that they can go to that home and see if there’s child porn or anything else that can tell the authorities whether or not the child is telling the truth but in the Witness religion, the first thing a Witness parent would do is go to the elders to see what they should do and the elders will call the branch lawyers to see what can be done etc. etc. and in the meantime, the molester has time to clean out his home and whatever else they need to do to come up with a story.

            Watchtower doesn’t care about the child who is being molested by their own parent. Watchtower puts the blame on the victim by implying that it was the way the child dressed or it was because they didn’t say no and on and on. Just read any of their literature and you will never see where the child or the parents are encouraged to go to the proper authorities or even to counselors to help them with their mental pain.

            I was attacked when I was 8 years old and I fought off my attacker but my attacker was a child from a family who were close friends of my parents and I will take that incident to my grave before I tell anybody about what had happened to me that day and I am sure that that is the case in many cases where a child was attacked and especially in the Watchtower Organization where it is like a large family.

            I would guess that at least one in four children in the Watchtower Organization has experienced a case where they were molested and never told a soul because they didn’t want to bring reproach on the congregation or they didn’t want to embarrass the person who tried to take advantage of them when they were in a vulnerable position and or the girl or boy blamed themselves by thinking they “led” the person on or maybe they didn’t dress properly enough or whatever reason it was or they didn’t want the person in the congregation to lose his position or whatever reason it was or maybe it was their own brother or their father and they didn’t want to break up the family.

            The difference between “worldly” incidents of child abuse and JW abuse is that in the JW religion, the molester can appear before a committee and plead their case and they can question the victim and imply that they victim led them on or they were drunk or they thought the victim wanted it or who knows what else they can come up with and as long as the victim does not have a 2nd witness, the molester can say they didn’t even do it and the molester is off the hook and that child has to go to meetings and face their molester every time they go to a meeting, knowing that there is a molester in the congregation and they are not allowed to even tell anybody about what happened to them, on the threat of being expelled from the congregation and labeled bad association etc. etc.

            A man can appear before a committee and can plead his case alone but the victim has to have her molester there when she pleads her case. When he gets to talk to them without the victim present, he can lie all he wants and blame the victim and imply the victim is lying but the victim does not have the same privilege because she is not there to defend herself, because the victim is usually a female and females do not have the same privileges as males in the JW religion.

            When you speak like you do, you are exposing yourself that you do not care about the victims. You are looking for excuses for the JW religion, like it’s wolves in sheep’s clothing who have come into the congregation, but what we are talking about is not wolves who have come into the congregation to molest children, but wolves who are being protected by the JW religion because the JW religion wants to protect it’s reputation as the cleanest organization and religion on the earth.

            They do not care about the victims. What Watchtower will do is make it look like all those people want is money and they do deserve all the money they can get from that religion because when they needed somebody to listen to them, they were turned away in favor of the molester and rapist and punished for even trying to get some help.

          • August 16, 2017 at 7:48 am
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            Devin. If you think the congregation should be cleaned of any wrongdoers, I’m assuming you’d then support an IICSA investigation into Watchtower to help that happen, right?

            If not, why not?

          • August 17, 2017 at 4:53 am
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            Devin, I don’t know how old you are or how long you have been associated with the “truth”, I have been where you are and I am sure almost everyone commenting on here have been where you are and would have said the very same thing as you are saying before they “woke” up from being under the illusion that God chose the Watchtower as his one and only organization in 1919.

            Most of us did not know anything about the Bible when we started studying with the Witnesses and we became quickly convinced that only they had a correct understanding of what the Bible “really” says and we were convinced that the Watchtower Society was so perfect in every way and even if we didn’t quite see eye to eye with what they were teaching, we felt that it was still God’s true organization and eventually Jehovah would fix whatever wrong they were teaching or we’d come to understand why we had an incorrect understanding.

            I was baptized in 1966 and stopped going to meetings in 2014 but it took me several months before I realized that we were all being fooled into thinking it was chosen by Jehovah in 1919. I still believed in the Society and I still believed that God was directing it, no matter how many the imperfections of men. Now I think differently.

            Now I go back and I look at those videos and books differently with a critical eye instead of my “forgiving” eyes like I did before.

            If you watch the Society’s videos and books about how to prevent child abuse, you will see that the Watchtower never encourages children to report child abuse to the authorities. They have a cartoon video where they have a little girl in a dress who is saying to her would be attacker “NO” like that is supposed to be enough but look at it critically.

            What is wrong with this video cartoon?

            First of, it should not be a video. It should be real people telling children what exactly is abuse and what is “playing” around as you describe what happened to you as a child. I also had my brother try and pull up my dress when I was 6 and he was 7 and I would never call the police over something like that.

            Children should be told what is abuse by somebody other than their parents because what if it’s the parent who is abusing the child? If the child is abused from very young on, they will not even know they are abused until they get older and somebody else out of the family describes abuse to them.

            The Society puts the blame on the victim and makes it look like even little children dress to entice the abuser. Watchtower has many articles where they actually say that when a man rapes his victims, it’s because of his “passion” instead of labeling it as a crime.

            Watchtower has a long history of sweeping crimes of rape within the Organization under the rug in order to protect it’s reputation of being the cleanest religious organization in the world.

            Watch some of Alexandra James videos and you will see how females are treated in the Organization and it would not be further from the “truth”. It protects the abusers in order to protect it’s reputation. It does not care about the welfare of it’s children, no matter how much you would want to think it does.

            We were all told over and over again how proud we were to be Witnesses because of the way we dress but that was the most important thing. How we dressed. Watchtower wants the world to think that we are the cleanest people in the world by how we look when we are in service and going to the hall. That is why all the women have to wear dresses and not to short of dresses and skirts and men can’t have beards and they can’t have too tight of pants and on and on. What they care about the most is how we “look”. It doesn’t matter to the Society about how “clean” it is internally. Only what it looks like outwardly and unfortunately that is why Watchtower is not in the radar.

            The world is judging Watchtower by how it’s rank and file look when they go from door to door. They do not look internally because the rank and file are brainwashed to think just as you think and that it is the cleanest organization on the face of the earth but internally every congregation is run by Watchtower Society and that is drilled into them that they must be united if they are to be the “one” true religion and so they all follow the party line and that is to protect the reputation of the Organization (God) first and foremost.

            That is to protect it’s reputation by not dragging Witnesses through the mud when they might be turned into the authorities for child abuse. The Watchtower has trained it’s elders to try and fix the problem internally first and that is why not even one of those 2,000 cases of child abuse was turned over to the authorities in Australia.

            Sure it was over 65 years but not even one was turned over to the authorities. I am sure if it was any other religion, the reputation of the religion would not have been first and foremost and if those children had not been in that religion, you have to ask yourself, why not even one of them not being reported to the police???

            You need to read “Crisis of Conscience” by Ray Franz and you need to watch the Australia Royal Commission videos where they interviewed those elders and how they did not care about the abuse victims when they came forward to the elders when they were being abused and see the callus attitude of those elders and the callus attitude of Geoffrey Jackson when he testified.

            They do not care about child abuse within the Organization and I believe they don’t care about it even outside the Organization.

        • August 16, 2017 at 4:21 am
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          @Devin,
          You still haven’t explained why our organization is keeping this so quiet. Why is the Child Protection Policy (which says that elders will inform the authorities of any accusations of child abuse [after contacting the branch] and that any witness can also inform the authorities) just for Australia, not the rest of the world? Why is compulsory reporting not being done worldwide, but only in Australia? How does Jehovah feel when his reputation is dragged through the mud by the inept handling and institutionalized silence of the Governing Body?

          It seems you are quite freely throwing the term hypocrite around, but you are not directing the term to our leadership. Why not?

          • August 16, 2017 at 7:12 am
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            Ricardo, you keep referring to the JW religion as “our” religion. Do you still think it is the one “true” religion that Jehovah has chosen as His spokesman to mankind in 1919 even though this religion lies about it’s history, lies about 607, covers up for child molesters, lies about how it shuns those who want to disassociate, treats women as second class citizens, treats males as second class citizens if they are not ministerial servants by the age of 23, courses it’s children to get baptized to inflate it’s numbers and then has their families kick them out of their homes when they realize they were tricked into getting baptized???

          • August 16, 2017 at 8:20 am
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            Caroline,
            I think Ricardo says “our” organization because technically he still is a member of the organization if he hasn’t written a letter of disassociation. I remember when my mother had to write her letter to the church to sever her connection to Babylon the Great.
            Wouldn’t that be awesome if ALL faded and disfellowshipped persons of the JW’s sent in their letter of disassociation to the headquarters in Warwick?!
            Because technically, even if disfellowshipped, you are still in their archives…something to think about ;)

          • August 16, 2017 at 12:43 pm
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            Shibboleth, I would like to have Ricardo speak for himself since he still goes to meetings, in service and assemblies and takes his 11 year old son with him.

            All the years I went in service, I didn’t go by myself but with others in the congregation and I can’t imagine him being able to preach his own message and not direct his calls to the Kingdom Hall like he says he doesn’t do but he goes to the hall himself.

            Every time he goes to the Kingdom Hall and out in service and to assemblies, he is giving the rest in that congregation the idea that he believes it’s God’s organization and that it’s the organization that Jehovah is using to spread the word before Armageddon. If he is as open about criticizing the Society as he says he is, they would not let him go from door to door. Not from my experience with the Society. People in the Kingdom Hall would have had me marked a long time ago.

            I realize that all Kingdom Halls have their own personality, but his sounds really far out to me. In my Kingdom Hall you talk the party line and nobody, and I mean nobody complains about the Organization if you don’t want to get yourself marked.

          • August 16, 2017 at 4:49 pm
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            Oops, I did the same thing as Ricardo in my last comment. I said in “my congregation” instead of my “former” congregation. My bad. I am sorry Ricardo for calling you on saying “our” religion.

          • August 16, 2017 at 7:24 pm
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            First and foremost. When I was 6. I was taking into a tent by some older biys, where they pulled down my pants and felt me up. Do you want to call that abuse? Should I go back in time and contact the authorities? They were good young boys that went to my church. Ok. It evidently affected me because I still remember it, like it was yesterday. Fortunately, I moved on. Maybe some people can’t. Secondly, when I did specialized foster care, the reason the kids were found being sexually abused was because they were being beaten. They neighbors turned them in. ( as I mentioned 20% of all children will be abused, very few will be caught till later in life, if at all). I can be confident in saying that no where near 20% of abuse occurs in halls. I’d put the percentage at 1%. Then, you ask about bringing up abuse in halls that their saying happened from the 50’s till now! How on earth would anyone know who did what over 60 years? The organization didn’t have the manpower or the knowledge of how prevelent abuse was in the world. Then you have people coming into the truth from the world. Do we know everyone’s background? Well, if we go by the numbers. 20% of all people coming into the truth were abused. What is known that people who were abused have a tendency to abuse. So, this puts the organization in a dilemma. Many if the abusers may gave left the truth. Been disfellowshipped, or died. The organization has come out strongly in the past 10 years to try to help people spot abusers ( which, if they’re clever ,can still fly under the radar). The only person who will solve the problem, is Jehovah himself. That’s a fact. As long as wicked men control this system abuse will continue at the same rate. ( To be honest, the more news I read, the worse people are becoming).This system is on its last legs. The next financial crash will devour mankind. You will not be worried about the organization anymore. You will be worried about food and shelter and your life. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to go through it to. It’s much closer than you think and literally can take down the entire world economy in a matter of months. But, people on here don’t see it, because they don’t see the whole picture. I wonder why? 2 cor:4:4. Tells it all.

      • August 16, 2017 at 8:47 am
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        Devin, no need to get so upset. It’s a very sad and terrible thing, we know that child sex abuse occurs in almost every organization…BUT, the problem gets blown sky high when that organization claims to be THE ONLY true religion, God’s spokesman to humankind, THE FUTURE foundation of the new world, etc., etc. By darn! With those claims that org is going to have to hold up to some serious scrutiny! And I am sure many feel that way, hence the outrage at what is being shoved under the rug in this organization. When people are threatened with marking, or disfellowshipping because they are shocked at what is going on and telling others, I ask myself “what is wrong with this picture?”
        So it’s one of two things, it’s Gods org and now is time to pay the piper and pay the consequences, which by the way, are much deserved and long overdue. Or, it’s just another religion like all the others. Whichever, the repercussions and effects will be felt around the world and for a very long time. Hold onto your hat, it’s going to be a rough ride.

  • August 1, 2017 at 9:58 pm
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    Hey this article showed up when I went to Google! There is a built in news feed below the search bar and it will sometimes pick up stories from places I’ve lived….. But just now, this article is in my newsfeed with the IICSA logo…. Pretty substantial seriousness….

  • August 2, 2017 at 4:03 am
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    I think that the different title of the petition (one including that it is related to child abuse) should be used. Most people absolutely do not care about Jehovah’s Witnesses and do not know about their practices.Therefore, if they see the title they will not bother to read the reason behind this investigation. However, if they see directly from the title that it is related to child abuse, there is a bigger chance that they will sign. Just my opinion. Please, consider this.

    Signed!

    • August 2, 2017 at 4:32 am
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      One more suggestion for the author of this petition :). Please, add some links to this petition for people who have no idea about child abuse among Jehovah’s Witnesses, so they can check information for themselves. Thanks.

  • August 2, 2017 at 4:19 am
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    I gladly signed the petition.

  • August 2, 2017 at 6:14 am
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    Most smart think to do is informing other religions about JW exclusion from the IIC investigation. They will do the right political pressure on IIC to force them to include JW int the investigation.

  • August 2, 2017 at 8:40 pm
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    Done

  • August 2, 2017 at 10:24 pm
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    Done…easy to do, even with my ol clunker of an ipad!

  • August 3, 2017 at 2:03 am
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    done – this has to stop

  • August 3, 2017 at 6:50 am
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    Lloyd your new JW Broadcast with Tony Morris III rebuttal is spot on. Watchtower is like the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Governing Body are the Pharisees doling out the plethora of rules that do not exist in the Bible in the first place.

    Remember, Jesus Christ detested all these rules that the Pharisees placed on his people. Jesus referred to these Pharisee rules as a burden. Jesus has only 2 rules for his followers. Only 2.

    Watchtower continues this Pharisaical practice and has become a burden to its people and has violated Jesus main principles while Jesus was on Earth.

    • August 3, 2017 at 12:31 pm
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      After reviewing your latest JW Broadcast rebuttal, I would agree with most of what you have stated. We went from a process where every financial decision had to go through a vote of publishers to a no vote process. A worst case scenario is that a Kingdom Hall would need a renovation and money was collected for it, but there was no renovation being done at the Kingdom Hall within 3 years.

      In this case, something is wrong with this picture. How would are brothers feel if money got diverted to another hall or as you’ve stated Lloyd by paying large settlements. Therefore, I told my relatives not to invest money into their construction at all.

      Do you think any financial advisor would buy into this new process? Or, would he/she give fair warning?

    • August 3, 2017 at 12:42 pm
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      I am glad my donation to help build Kingdom Halls instead went to buying Anthony Morris III his cuff links for July 2017 JW Broadcast. Does that sound like a good investment to you?

      • August 6, 2017 at 12:58 pm
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        That’s right, Doc. They should try the humble approach and start appearing in rags.

        • August 7, 2017 at 4:14 am
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          Yes Doc, I agree, Tony needs to cut down on the full english every morning and start doing some field service or get on the janitor roster.

          Does anyone know what emblem is on the gold ring that most of these jokers wear?

          The conspiracy theorist in me is screaming – the family crest of Henrietta Riley!

          https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/54708/watchtower-cigarette-company

          Quite a showy display of ones means me thinks.

  • August 4, 2017 at 5:41 pm
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    The Gb are a crooked Lot…no matter what kinda decorations they hang on themselves. Let your adornment be…..cuff links! ? See when the cong. see the glam…they look at that and forget to listen to what he is saying, and he can subconscientiously wind and twist ones mind….and get cha clapping in agreement, and you do not know even what he told you…woolies over eyes again. Good job, the sister who said what she did…getting marked for speaking the Truth about the Truth! We can not stop spking about the things we have seen, heard and experienced etc….Everything is openly exposed to God…GB does not believe in Him…They are a moffia of type…shut up a person by whatever means possible. Hope this sister does not let their lame judgement affect her….talk even more!!!! In support of her and all others who are brave enough to speak up about all the wrong within the JW. ORG being approved of…Let’s get our chinz waggin even more! ;). What is the saying…Loosey lips sink ships! This ship is stinking…only ratz gonna stay.

  • August 7, 2017 at 8:23 am
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    Done. I signed up.From Ecuador.

  • August 7, 2017 at 11:52 am
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    The real question is this… Is the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society loyal to Jehovah?

    • August 7, 2017 at 8:27 pm
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      Another real question is: Who are Jehovah’s Witnesses more loyal to? Watchtower Bible and Tract Society or Jehovah?

    • August 7, 2017 at 8:44 pm
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      How often I wanted to gather you together, as a hen gathers her chicks…anyone familiar with farm life will know how Motherly an ol cluckin hen can be to her chicks, hatched from the eggs she, herself laid…also ones from other hens, one may have slipped under her…even duck or goose eggs….even though just a chicken, she attempts to do the best she can to look after and protect those in her care,and they feel safe under her wings. Supposedly Jehoavh used this illustartion as to how He cares for us….Have any of us felt this kinda love from the JW.org? The treatment they met out, has left many of us in the “molting” looking and feeling mode!

  • August 7, 2017 at 8:51 pm
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    Whoops…unwantedly spelled…Jehovah and illustration wrong…my bad…:)

  • August 8, 2017 at 4:11 am
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    You have a voice sign and hope.

  • August 8, 2017 at 4:29 am
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    SIgned!

  • August 8, 2017 at 10:17 am
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    The JW Broadcasting network featured a man with a bow tie. To me with all this jewelry on men, tuxedos, and now bow ties, the JW Broadcast network should be renamed JW Gentleman’s Quarterly broadcast network, or JW GQ.

    Let’s see which brothers can be more GQ than the others. Are we sure these men that appear on this broadcast are living a simple life? No wonder their morals are going down, Watchtower is turning to the pages of GQ to get their moral standards.

    Watchtower’s men are starting to look like Mr. Waylon J. Smithers, Jr. on The Simpsons.

    • August 8, 2017 at 11:02 am
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      Excellent analogy! That guy always creeped me out…! I thought they admonished us not to dress or act in a way as to draw attention to ourself and distract from the important life saving message we are suppose to be delivering cuz end is here? Sparkling cufflinx and bowties more like ones going to a party, or an awards event…perhaps …Telly Awards? Or perhaps competeing for…”Best dressed man of yr”? I, personally, always was like Homer…Not till I read your comment that I clued into how much that show reminded me of how the JW.org is run…We had an elder in the cong. that looked exactly like Homers boss! Religions of all kind have by their actions etc., turned many a good person away from …God…Billy Carringtons song….God is great…beer is good…people are crazy!

  • August 9, 2017 at 6:32 am
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    I found the circuit overseer Anthony was referring to when he made the comment that Watchtower is the best imperfect company on Earth.

    Here is the Circuit Overseer.

    • August 9, 2017 at 12:26 pm
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      ha ha, yeah, and with child abuse numbers being many times higher than all the other imperfect organisations and still even higher again than the general population which is supposed to be sliding into hell as we speak.
      Psst!….wanna create a dysfunctional society?….just be the only ones following the bible.
      A society which fails to protect it’s children is doomed to failure.
      A society is judged by the way it looks after it’s sick and silly. What does the WT do with it’s sick and silly who have no material use?

  • August 9, 2017 at 12:32 pm
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    To Whom It May Concern:

    As a former 22 year member of the Jehovah’s Witness religion I am in a unique position to affirm the seriousness of Watchtower’s abuse of power. While envy, political opportunism, and disloyalty are realities of every organization, abusers of children avoiding justice courtesy of entirely impractical policies should not be!

    You have expressed a desire to investigate and expose the mishandling of child abuse in religious organizations. Many people, including myself, applaud your heroism. However, to not include Jehovah’s Witnesses in that investigation would be a great disappointment to thousands of Watchtower victims whose lives have been ruined for no other reason than that they wanted to “make Jehovah rejoice”. Help them know that not only what happened to them but the insult added to injury by Watchtower after the fact was NOT THEIR FAULT and that their being able to trust people in positions of authority is still possible.

    Emailed today.

    • August 10, 2017 at 6:08 am
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      A nice email.

  • August 9, 2017 at 3:07 pm
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    In the August broadcast, the brother hosting it had wanted to be a doctor when he was young and then he started studying with a sister who told him that there would be no need for doctors in the new world. I wonder how many years ago that was….I think it is shameful to make a kid feel ashamed for wanting to be a doctor when they grow up.

    • August 10, 2017 at 3:16 am
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      I guess there must be a big need for window cleaners in the new system because that’s what most pioneers are doing. Or used to be doing. The window cleaning pioneer who came from Australia to the congregation I was in while in an Asian country decided he liked jumping into bed with the local girls and going to nightclubs more than he enjoyed going to meetings with his wife.

      I wish a non-pioneering non-pioneer had come. Or even a doctor. He may have been of use to the congregation.

  • August 10, 2017 at 7:33 am
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    This may be off topic, but probably touches on
    charity, or lack of it towards women. A 64 year old
    grandmother from West Sussex UK has just retired
    after 24 years of piloting Jumbo Jets all around the
    world.

    It’s quite probable that in her long career she has
    ferried gb, members on their business class trips
    across the Atlantic. If such is the case or even not,
    the irony is that this intelligent woman, in control of
    air craft costing over 378 million $, if she were to
    become a JW would not be deemed worthy of
    handling the KH sound equipment.

    It’s sad that the women who are in the religion have
    been brainwashed into accepting a decadent system
    that belongs to another age and had little merit even
    then. Incidentally, it’s certain that no Man has ever
    accomplished what our lady pilot has,- Given birth
    and flown a 747.

    • August 10, 2017 at 3:57 pm
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      I’m hearing you, Ted…..’a decadent system that belongs in another age’ The biggest hoax ever hoisted on mankind and we lap it up because it contains all the elements of a story good enough to keep us glued to the TV. Funny, no mention of a Mrs God in the story, so it’s a corrupt Man story even before it begins and interestingly, it’s mostly women who get sucked into it…..probably because they admire a strong figure and need to be treasured and protected and so they turn a blind eye to the contradictions and horror……just like a battered wife who clings on in the vain hope he will change. Sad indeed.

  • August 10, 2017 at 9:33 am
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    The only way to possibly get WT managers (elders and above) to report all incidents of child abuse suspicions is to make them mandated reporters. In CA, USA all public school educators along with other public school personnel must complete a training program dealing with child abuse annually. I just finished one and copied something from it, so that you folks can see the consequences mandated reporters in CA might receive for failing to report reasonable suspicions of child abuse.

    The course trains us how to recognize a reasonable suspicion of various types of child abuse (emotional, neglect, physical, sexual). And it instructs us what to do once we suspect an incident of abuse has occurred. It also informs us of other related matters such as laws that prevent employers from hindering reports, laws that hinder supervisors or employers from negatively sanctioning reporters, and laws that prohibit mandatory reporters from being criminally or civilly liable for filing those reports. There are also laws that require annual training of mandated reporters in the area of child abuse. A mandated reporter, by law, cannot merely file a report with his/her supervisors (such as the WT society at Bethel) to fulfill his legal obligation, but he must file it with a police agency or child protection services agency, and must do so immediately on the phone, along with following that within 36 hours with a written report of the suspected incident. He must do it himself or at least make sure the report is filed with the proper governmental authority by an associate who is also aware of the SUSPICION. Proof that the abuse occurred is not the thresh hold which requires a report to be filed, rather reasonable suspicion of abuse is the legal criteria. Failure to report might result in any of the following punishments. Failure to report also exposes mandated reporters to the possibility of civil litigation and the loss of their teaching license (credential) and job. The statements below were copied and pasted from my training session:

    (“Failure to Report

    A person who fails to make a required report is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and/or up to a $1,000 fine (P.C. 11166[c]). He or she may also be subject to a civil lawsuit, especially if the child-victim or another child is further victimized because of the failure to report (Landeros vs. Flood [1976] 17C.3d 399). Educators who fail to report may risk loss of their license or credential (E.C. 44421).

    Legal and Ethical Issues

    All public schools in California are required to adopt a comprehensive school safety plan. The school safety plan must include child abuse reporting procedures (E.C. 32282(a)(2)(A)). These protocols define what information is needed when reporting and who is responsible for making the report. While school protocol may direct teachers, administrators, and other school personnel to refer all suspicions to the school’s designated person who will then make the suspected child abuse report, remember that as a mandated reporter you are responsible for ensuring that the report is made. Furthermore, reporting duties “are individual, and no supervisor or administrator may impede or inhibit the reporting duties, and no person making a report shall be subject to any sanction for making the report” (P.C.11166(i)(1)).”)

    • August 10, 2017 at 4:15 pm
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      I guess this is what Geoffrey Jackson was asking for at the ARC which was a totally pathetic thing to do and highlighted the delusion which the GB and Witnesses are under. To think that Gods visible organisation, the most moral in the entire world, gods chosen people, happiest congregation, lowest divorce rate, everyone else is doomed, etc etc goes and asks Satans wicked worldly courts to force them to be moral is beyond contempt.
      Any Witnesses out there who cannot understand the vitriol coming at them should examine their corrupt leaders and themselves instead of shooting the messenger and then sticking their heads in the sand.

    • August 11, 2017 at 7:07 am
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      @Messenger,
      Why is Watchtower paying $4,000 each day in fines? Didn’t the court order WT to hand over the database of child abusers? I am asuming that WT is being fined for not cooperating. But if that is so, then WT is not submitting to the superior authorities. And we are told to always obey the superior authorities unless it breaks God’s law to do so. Can you explain what is going on there please, because I don’t get this whole case with Campos and Lopez. Has Lopez actually been paid $13.5 million by WT, or is it still being appealled? Or did WT cop the $4,000 a day fine instead?

      • August 12, 2017 at 9:29 am
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        Ricardo

        What WT is doing is exactly what you described above. It is not complying with court orders to turn over documents which might include might include the WT data base containing all files on sexual child abuse.

        This is how that Campos case has play out up to the point I last heard. Some of the actual court docs are posted online. The appellate court’s decision is posted online.

        During the initial superior court trial WT refused to turn over some docs when ordered to by the court during the discovery process of the Campos trial. The judge issued a “terminating sanction” against WT rather than apply a lesser sanction, which could have been used in an attempt to force WT’s hand. The definition of a TERMINATING SANCTION is:

        “A punishment for grossly improper litigation behavior that ends the offending party’s participation in the case, usually consisting of a default or dismissal.”

        The judge(s) in the appellate court decided that the first judge’s ruling was too harsh and that he/she should have first applied a lesser sanction on WT, in an attempt to force WT’s compliance. Therefore the appellate court removed the $13.5 million judgment and sent the case back down to superior court.

        Some laws governing terminating sanctions center around the public’s interest in availability of less drastic sanctions. Henry, 983 F.2d at 948. For dismissal to be proper, the conduct to be sanctioned must be due to “‘willfulness, fault, or bad faith.'” Id. at 946 (quoting Fjelstad v. American Honda Motor Co., 762 F.2d 1334, 1337 (9th Cir. 1985)). Due process concerns further require that there exist a relationship between the sanction, the violation and its relationship to the litigation Phoceene Sous-Marine, S.A. v. U.S. Phosmarine, Inc., 682 F.2d 802, 806 (9th Cir. 1982) (holding default entry violated due process where the sanctioned party’s deception was wholly unrelated to the merits of the controversy).

        But in support of the plaintiff the appellate court decided WT must still, under court order, turn over the discovery documents that were order by the first court. And the appellate court sent the case back down to superior court where the litigation originated. Once back in superior court WT still continued to disobey the court order to turn over the docs. So, the judge in superior court placed two fines on WT, each for $2000 a day. One is WT gets fined for every day it doesn’t turn the docs over, and I cannot remember the exact nature of the second fine, but it’s relating to the first. The second fine might be a fine every day WT is not working on production of the docs, I’m not sure.

        I do think the plaintiff’s attorney requested the entire dated base on child sexual abuse with victims names redacted. Another thing I believe happened is WT did turn over some docs that were so highly redacted those were useless in the court case; so the judge didn’t consider that as compliance. One of the points WT attempted to argue is that it didn’t have personnel enough to compile all the documentation in a reasonable amount of time.

        The bottom line is WT is not complying with court orders. I don’t think it will in this instance unless the court starts throwing some of its officials in jail for not doing so. I don’t think they’ll go to jail for that reason, at least not to stay for very long.

        There are the actual court papers online somewhere. You can google it. I just looked at those once, and that was some time ago.

        I read the law firm handling this case, which is based in San Diego where the case is being decided, was instrumental in obtaining two huge settlements from one or two Catholic archdiocese. I read one was for 200 million and the other 600 million. That suggests the most likely reason is money that WT will not turn over it’s data base unless some of its officials face jail time.

      • August 12, 2017 at 9:42 am
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        @ Ricardo

        The plaintiff might be Lopez as you suggested. I know the Zalkin Law Firm is handling both those case, included in about a dozen similar ones for JWs or ex JWs. But you are right the case you mentioned is either Lopez or Campos.

        When Zalkin won those very large settlements against the Catholic archdiocese(s) he was handling class action cases. In one of those there was about 100 plaintiffs. Against single individual JW plaintiffs WT’s best legal tactic is to not give out much information, stall, and then pay as small a settlement as those plaintiffs will accept. Looks like that’s the legal advice WT is following.

      • August 16, 2017 at 4:59 am
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        @Messenger, thanks for that, but something is still not clear. WT was ordered to pay Lopez $13.5 million in Campos v Lopez. Did this actually happen? I just cannot get to the bottom of this, looking through all the web reports. Is that $13.5 million final, or can it still be appealled?

        And, as the fine of $4.000 a day hasn’t worked, is the court not able to subpeana that information on the database, or take further action?

  • August 14, 2017 at 4:29 pm
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    But, Will, how do we know that this Catholic problem is not all part of Satan’s scheme that seeks to drag the WT in as well and so besmirch the name of Jehovah and the WT and causing people to lose faith in the WT?
    See how the deluded mind can work? It will always find a way when required.

Comments are closed.