Free Republic

A retired Sycamore Junior High School drama teacher who was on trial for allegedly molesting five of his students apparently took his own life as his attorney and a prosecutor were preparing to begin closing arguments Wednesday morning. David Michael Bruce, 68, was found dead in his home in an unincorporated area of Anaheim, said Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, admitted nothing was done about the “very entrenched” child sex exploitation in his region following the first warnings over 10 years ago because the girls were then seen as child prostitutes not victims. ... abusers were able to carry on with “impunity” across South Yorkshire and particularly in Sheffield and Rotherham. Dr Heal said she was once told by a senior officer that “it was awful but burglary and car crime were policing priorities set by the government.”

A German advisory council on ethics has told the government it should decriminalize incest between consenting adults. But Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democrats have wasted no time in rejecting the advice. On Wednesday the National Ethics Council voted, by a two-to-one margin, to call for the decriminalization of incest. “Criminal law is not the appropriate means to preserve a social taboo,” the council explained in a statement. “The fundamental right of adult siblings to sexual self-determination is to be weighed more heavily than the abstract idea of protection of the family.” Many might deem the “fundamental right…to sexual self-determination”...

EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. -- A teacher in Eagle County was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust with a pattern of sexual abuse. Lauren Redfern, 25, is a physical education teacher at Basalt High School. Redfern is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old male student over a duration of 4 months, deputies said. She is being held without bond until she makes her first appearance before a judge.

By Max Zimbert Published: Last Updated Tuesday, March 9, 2010 9:06 PM PST A Burbank Unified School District teacher turned herself in Monday for having sex with a 14-year-old student from March to September last year, police said. Amy Beck, 33, a sixth-grade teacher at Jordan Middle School, surrendered Monday afternoon to Burbank police with her lawyer, and was being held on $400,000 bail, Burbank Police Sgt. Robert Quesada said. “We’re still trying to piece everything together, what happened, where, what kind of sex acts, how many, and how long it’s been going on,” he said. “She walked in with...