February 28

Events

• Current events

• 1995 - Megan's law = persecution - The first "Megan's Law" was passed by the New Jersey state legislature on October 31, 1994. The law required public notification when sex offenders were about to be released from confinement. One of the first court tests of the law came on this date when U.S. District Judge Nicholas H. Politan ruled that the community notification provision of the law was unconstitutional. A notification requirement, ruled Judge Politan, amounted to a second form of punishment - one to which the offender had not been sentenced. The judge, however, upheld New Jersey's requirement that sex offenders must register with local authorities in areas where they reside. The judge enraged Megan's law supporters when he asked whether requiring public notification upon the release of sex offenders was similar to the Nazi practice of making Jews wear a Star of David during World War II.

• 1997 - Attempting to frame his fearful symmetry - The Australian ran an article on this date saying, "International pedophile networks were operating on the Internet and successfully 'brainwashing' Australian children into leaving home," and, "in one recent case a young boy was 'stolen' away from home after pedophiles made contact with him in cyberspace." This case was proof, many Australians presumed, of the assertion that pedos were trying to "pick up" children on the Internet. This is remarkably surprising, because the only "victim" in question, a 16year old going by the name "Tygyr", was a boylover, a pedo activist and even identified himself as a "manlover" during his boyhood. Tygyr spoke against the unsubstantiated connection between abuse and pedophilia at the Australian Institute of Criminology's Conference on Pedophilia in April of 1997. He said, "I was at first quite surprised to discover that the media had gone so far as to make allegations about me being 'led astray' without first even consulting me on the issue! It was never a point of question that I had been 'led astray' - on the contrary, I have hard copy writings, diary entries and the like which prove that I had formed all my views before ever even entering onto the Internet. A brief examination of the facts - even a review of my Web page! - would have clearly revealed the falsity of the allegations, but 60 Minutes never let research come in the path of a good story, and relied instead on unsubstantiated wild stories of pedophile rings."

• 2000 - Do 6 year olds really like "Perry Mason" moments? - Scout leader Michael Tuck confessed to six indecent assaults and six charges of indecency against a total of six different children - five boys and one girl. These events started in 1972 and continued for 17 years before he finally sought psychiatric help. Tuck was sentenced to five years in prison on this date. Remarkably, the parents of one boy he had sex with were not happy that he pleaded guilty. Because Tuck admitted his crimes, the full evidence of his crimes was not heard in court. Parents said they wanted a courtroom showdown with him. One mother of a 6 year old boy said that her son felt "cheated" because he had not had the chance to tell the full horror of his story. Of course, her claim is hard to believe, especially given that no child ever complained about Tuck over the 17 years. He was arrested only when a friend of one of the "victims" wrote to the police. The prosecuting attorney even said Tuck bought the children presents and took them on day trips and camping holidays and generally treated the kids and their families well.

• 2002 - "Yeah, well if your postcards turn me on, does than make them child porn, too?" - On this date the Guardian published a story about efforts to combat child porn on the Internet. The story reported that according to UNICEF, 80% of pedo-related investigations involve more than one country, and 90% involve the Internet. these numbers suggested a particular focus of law enforcement - online picture traders and chat room users picking up kids. Smart pedos looking to stay well and truly clear of law enforcement took the hint. Smarter pedos never even needed the hint.