Tag Archives: kidnapping

October 25, 2026 · 1:00 am

Child Brides

Child bride “Taketu”, married at age 14 in Ethiopia, Image Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/14727787123/, Image Author UK Dept. for International Development, (CC Attribution 2. 0 Generic)

The 2026 Annual Report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom confirms that the forced religious conversion and marriage of abducted, underage, Hindu and Christian girls to adult Muslim men is an ongoing practice in Pakistan [1][2][3A][4A]. This occurs, also, in Somalia [11A].

Child Marriage

Child marriage, where one party is a minor, is common in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia [5A]. Niger has the highest rate of child marriage at 76%, followed by Bangladesh at 56%, India at 47%, Nepal at 37%, and Afghanistan at 33% [6][7]. Over 700 million women in the world were married before the age of 18 [9A].

Negative Impact

“Girls married young are far less likely to stay in school, impacting their economic independence and decision-making, at higher risk of physical and sexual violence, and face more complications in pregnancy and child birth and infection with HIV/AIDS [8A].”

Child marriages are often arranged by family in impoverished locales where birth and death rates are high, and access to education and healthcare is low [9B]. Child marriage can be viewed as a financial strategy, particularly when exchanged for goods or resources to support other family members [9C]. Cultural norms play a major role [5B][9D].

But the impact on girls forced into such marriages is negative on many levels [8B][9E].

Islamic Law

There is no minimum marriage age defined under traditional Islamic law [5B]. In classic Sunni jurisprudence, the appropriate age for consummating marriage to an underage girl was determined by the bride, groom, and the bride’s guardian since medieval jurists held that the age of fitness for intercourse was too variable for legislation [10].

The Prophet Muhammed is reported in the Hadith to have wed his third wife, Aisha, when she was around 6 or 7 y.o. and thought to have consummated the marriage when she was around 9 or 10 y.o. [5C].

Forced Conversion

Pakistan and Somalia are two of the Islamic nations that have taken child marriage a step further [3B][4B][11B]. Here thousands of Hindu and Christian girls are either lured from their homes and families via grooming or kidnapped outright from schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces then coerced into converting to Islam through a combination of threats and rape [3C][4C][11C].

Police frequently take no action in such cases, while courts acquit the perpetrators on the basis of falsified age documents and statements claiming that Islam has been voluntarily adopted. These forced conversions and marriages are, thereby, given the color of “consent”.

The child brides have no say in the matter.

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[1] US Commission on International Religious Freedom, “USCIRF Releases 2026 Report” Exposes Egregious Religious Freedom Abuses from Key Nations”, 3/4/26, https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/uscirf-releases-2026-annual-report-exposes-egregious-religious.

[2] US Commission on International Religious Freedom, “2026 Annual Report: Pakistan Chapter [Download]”, https://www.uscirf.gov/annual-reports?country=63.

[3A, 3B, and 3C] Maha Muni Modi, “Systematic Persecution of Christian and Hindu Girls in Pakistan under the Pretext of Religion”, https://www.mahamunimodiji.com/post/systematic-persecution-of-christian-and-hindu-girls-in-pakistan-under-the-pretext-of-religion.

[4A, 4B, and 4C] FrontPage Magazine, “Crisis of Protecting Minority Girls in Pakistan” by Faraz Pervaiz Rashan, 8/15/25, https://www.frontpagemag.com/crisis-of-protecting-minority-girls-in-pakistan/.

[5A, 5B, and 5C] Wikipedia, “Child marriage”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage.

[6] Child Marriage Data Portal, “The Global Race to End Child Marriage”, https://childmarriagemonitoring.org/.

[7] World Atlas, “Prevalence of Child Marriage Around the World”, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/prevalence-of-child-marriage-in-various-regions-of-the-world.html.

[8A and 8B] Save the Children, “A Girl Marries Every 30 Seconds in Countries Ranked Fragile and Child Marriage Hot Spots – New Report”, 10/11/24, https://www.savethechildren.net/news/girl-marries-every-30-seconds-countries-ranked-fragile-and-child-marriage-hotspots-new-report.

[9A through 9E] Their World, “Child marriage”, https://theirworld.org/resources/child-marriage/.

[10] Brown, Jonathan (2015). Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy. Oneworld Publications (Kindle edition), pp. 3090–3110.

[11A, 11B, and 11C] European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI), “COI Query Response: Somalia – Al Shabaab Forced Marriage” by Refugee Documentation Centre of Ireland, 2/13/24, https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2106974/2024_02_Somalia_Al_Shabaab_Forced_marriage.pdf.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT: https://alawyersprayers.com

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January 11, 2026 · 1:00 am

Literacy, Rousseau, and Unschooling, Part 2

We continue our examination of unschooling, a controversial educational philosophy praised on TikTok and elsewhere [1][2].

Literacy in the US

The current literacy rate in the United States is no more than 79% [3].  Most Americans can read at a 7th or 8th grade level.  Approximately 35 million read below a 6th grade level.

But 66% of 4th grade children cannot read proficiently.  Statistically, 2 out of 3 children who cannot read well by the 4th grade end up on Welfare or in prison.

One teacher recently lamented that 3rd graders do not know their parents’ names or phone numbers; do not know their home addresses; do not know the year they were born; cannot use a dictionary; cannot count physical money; and have difficulty following multi-step directions…all of which makes them enormously vulnerable to kidnapping and trafficking, not to mention difficult to teach [4].

Scientific Literacy

The issue of scientific literacy adds another layer of complexity.  A Pew Research survey found that many Americans can answer at least some questions about science concepts [5].  But other concepts are more challenging – and this in an age of explosive scientific growth.

Moreover, scientific literacy requires more than a simple knowledge of the facts [6]. It requires thoughtful analysis and judgment.  These are the same processes required for life decisions. Continue reading →

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September 10, 2017 · 1:00 am

Protective or Not?

Las Vegas Strip, Author David_Vasquez (PD)

Hotel clerk, Danielle Jacobsen, expected a routine shift.  The middle-aged woman approaching her desk looked like any other Vegas tourist.

But Virginia Paris was decidedly out of the ordinary.  Explaining that she had been kidnapped, Paris asked that Jacobsen contact police without alerting her kidnapper who was standing nearby [1A].

“She was like, ‘Uh, I need help.  I’ve been abducted.  I’ve been missing since Friday.  It’s pretty serious, can you please pretend like you’re checking me into a room please and get the cops on the phone and get them here?’ ”

-Danielle Jacobsen on her encounter with kidnapping victim, Virginia Paris [1B]

Despite an Order of Protection, Paris had been kidnapped by her former boyfriend, Joseph Hetzel.  Jacobsen managed to contact Security inconspicuously.  Paris was taken to a room for safety, and Hetzel later arrested.

Orders of Protection

An Order of Protection from Abuse (also, known as a Restraining Order) limits or forbids the subject’s interaction with a particular person.  Such orders commonly arise from allegations of domestic violence, harassment, and/or stalking.

Statistics on Protective Orders have not been publicly available.  But there are thought to be over 1 million in effect in the United States on any given day [2].

Experts disagree on the effectiveness of Protective Orders.  A 2010 analysis in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law concluded that they do serve a role in managing threats of violence [3].

However, an earlier analysis had determined that Protective Orders were violated an average of 40% of the time.  Some women maintain they were beaten for having obtained a Protective Order. Continue reading →

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December 6, 2015 · 1:00 am

Happy Ending

This will be the first Christmas in over a decade that Julian Hernandez and his mother get to spend together. The 18 y.o. was kidnapped at the age of five by his father. The young man only learned of his abduction when he found his Social Security number invalid, on applying to college [1].

The Hernandez case illustrates the lengths to which parents will go in custody disputes. Nearly one in ten missing children have been kidnapped by a family member [2]. Frequently, the intention in these cases is to prevent contact by the other parent or permanently alter custodial arrangements, rather than cause physical harm to the child.

Over 200,000 children are kidnapped by family members each year [3]. The figure may actually be higher. It is estimated 40% of family abductions are never reported to police. Younger children are at greater risk of such abductions than older ones.

The situation is complicated when children are taken across state and national borders.

The larger context for family abductions is the dysfunctional family setting. The Hernandez case had a happy ending. Not all abductions do.

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[1] Complex – Pop Culture, “Teen Finds Out He’s Been Missing for 13 Years When He Applies to College” by Debbie Encalda, 11/5/15, http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/11/missing-teen-discovers-he-was-abducted-13-years-ago-when-applying-for-college.

[2] Polly Klaas Foundation, “National Child Kidnapping Facts”, http://www.pollyklaas.org/about/national-child-kidnapping.html.

[3] US Department of Justice, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children (NISMART II), “Children Abducted by Family Members: National Estimates and Characteristics” by Heather Hammer, David Finkelhor, and Andrea Sedlak, October 2002.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT: http://www.alawyersprayers.com

 

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July 28, 2013 · 1:00 am

Monster

A monster pled guilty to his despicable acts in open court this week.

To avoid the death penalty, Ariel Castro – the man who held three young women in Cleveland captive for 10 years, who brutally beat, raped, and starved them, killing one of his children in the womb – pled guilty to 977 counts.  Castro was sentenced to life in prison plus 1000 years.  The plea deal spares the women from testifying at trial.

Castro attempted to lay the blame for a decade of voluntary, heinous acts on supposed sexual abuse in his own past and an addiction to pornography.  This was nothing less than slander against the many child abuse survivors who would give their lives rather than harm a child.

According to Childhelp[i], about 30% of child abuse and neglect victims abuse or neglect their children.  This tragic figure tends to mask the fact that 70% of victims do not abuse or neglect their children.

Evil is, in other words, a result of choice.

The Abel study of non-incarcerated sex offenders (those offending against both child and adult victims) found individuals from every walk of life, and all levels of education; 80% between the ages 20 – 49; 53% married, formerly married, or at some point in a partner relationship; and the majority employed[ii].  In some 59% of cases, intense interest in sex with a non-consenting person (child or adult) began in adolescence[iii]  apparently without a trigger.

In studies of juvenile sex offenders, Johnson and Schreir reported prior physical or sexual abuse by 66%; Longo reported prior abuse by 47%[iv].  To the extent these figures are accurate, they suggest 34% – 53% of juvenile sex offenders were never themselves abused.

Admittedly, many factors influence our choices.  But the choices remain in our control.  Monsters make themselves.

[i] Childhelp, National Child Abuse Statistics, http://www.childhelp-usa.com/pages/statistics.

[ii] The Future of Children, Judith V. Becker, PhD, Princeton University http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/04_02_09.pdf.

[iii] As above.

[iv] As above.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT: http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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