High-profile cases give victims courage

December 26, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA

Since the child sex-abuse scandal broke at Penn State in November, victims of sexual abuse — many of whom had remained silent about their suffering for years — have been speaking up across the country, seeking counseling, calling hot lines and contacting attorneys.

An unprecedented increase in reports of abuse seems to have been inspired by the fall from grace of the university’s revered football coach, Joe Paterno, and the school’s president, Graham B. Spanier.

“If the powerful come down, the powerless really do feel they have a shot,” said Marci A. Hamilton, a lawyer from Bucks County and author of “Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children.”

The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network reported that in November, after the Pennsylvania State University scandal broke, its online hot line providing confidential support for victims (www.online.rainn.org) had the busiest month since it started in 2006. The average of 2,500 sessions a month jumped to 3,100.

Jeff Herman, a lawyer in Miami who represents victims of sexual abuse, says his website, which ordinarily receives 5,000 hits a month, got 15,000 in November.

In recent weeks, two Pennsylvania politicians have come forward as victims.

During testimony Dec. 5 before the state Committee on Children and Youth, Rep. Louise Williams Bishop, D-Phila., said that when she was a child, she endured eight years of sexual abuse by two uncles.

Four days later, at a debate among Pennsylvania Republicans hoping to win a seat in the U.S. Senate, Vietnam veteran Dave Christian said he had been abused sexually when he was 7. Shortly after, a second candidate, retired Army Sgt. Robert Mansfield, said the issue was personal for him as well, but he would not elaborate.

“Whenever high-profile predators in a particular occupation or setting are exposed, especially in rapid succession, some victims abused in the same setting or by the same type of perpetrator come forward out of hope,” said David Clohessy, executive director of The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.