AXJ : TEXAS JUDGE WILLIAM ADAMS MUST RESIGN AFTER CASE OF CHILD ABUSE

AXJ : TEXAS JUDGE WILLIAM ADAMS MUST RESIGN AFTER CASE OF CHILD ABUSE



AXJ ARANSAS TEXAS
11-03-2011

The international civil and political rights organization known as Action For Justice ( AXJ ) has just received a copy of the video showing William Adams beating his 16 year old daughter Hillary Adams with a belt with cruelty.

The mission of AXJ is to protect children and families around the world and this type of criminal physical violence can never be tolerated on younger children. This is the absolute breakdown of our family structure in society.

AXJ members apparently are so disgusted with the video that they are calling for the immediate resignation of that man so that he cannot continue to harm other children in other ways. This is not an isolated case and clearly depicts out of control rage and anger from an elder individual upon a child.

AXJ therefore requests that the county district attorney and Rockport, Texas, police department investigate this matter and file a criminal complaint at once against William Adams, since there is absolutely no justification for this violence against a child.

AXJ refers interested members to join the following website on Facebook:

Prevent Child Abuse America with 36,799 members can be found at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Prevent-Child-Abuse-America/14893558501#!/pages/Prevent-Child-Abuse-America/14893558501

Original posting by Michael Winter on USATODAY

Texas authorities are investigating a family-law judge after his daughter posted a video that shows him beating her legs with a belt when she was 16 years old, according to news reports.

"She's mad because I've ordered her to bring the car back, in a nutshell, but, yeah, that's me, I lost my temper," Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams told KRIS-TV. "Her mother was there, she wasn't hurt ... it was a long time ago. ... I really don't want to get into this right now, because as you can see my life's been made very difficult over this child.

"In my mind I have not done anything wrong other than discipline my child when she was caught stealing. I did lose my temper, I've apologized. ... It looks worse than it is."

The judge added that he informed the Judicial Review board after seeing the 2004 video, which was posted to YouTube last week by his daughter, Hillary, now 23.

The county district attorney and Rockport, Texas, police department are investigating.

KRIS has reaction from Hillary Adams and her mother, who is divorced from her father. Hillary said that she "had held onto the video for so long for the right time" and that it wasn't for revenge. She hopes her father seeks counseling.

Later this afternoon, she told the Associated Press she set up the camera because she knew her father would punish her for illegally downloading music. She admitted she felt some regret for posting the seven-minute clip, which has gone viral since Reddit linked to it Tuesday.

Slate magazine poses this question: "Does Texas Judge William Adams Deserve Internet Vigilantism for Allegedly Beating His Daughter?"

Source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/11/texas-judge-investigated-over-video-of-him-whipping-daughter/1?csp=34news


Beating video sparks talks on discipline of children

By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

A video of a Texas judge punishing his daughter has led to investigations of the belt-wielding father and also launched a national conversation about discipline and spanking.

* Hillary Adams, the daughter of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, practices the piano at her home in Rockport, Texas.

Rachel Denny Clow, AP

Hillary Adams, the daughter of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, practices the piano at her home in Rockport, Texas.

Rachel Denny Clow, AP

Hillary Adams, the daughter of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, practices the piano at her home in Rockport, Texas.

The graphic video of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams hitting his then-16-year-old daughter for seven minutes as discipline for her use of an illegal computer file-sharing program has been viewed on YouTube more than 2.4 million times. Hillary Adams, now 23, posted the 2004 video.

Her father issued a statement saying she posted it after he threatened to end her financial support.

Local police and a state judicial panel are investigating, the Associated Press reported.

"This sort of voyeurism is an interesting situation, because the tape was surreptitiously made by the daughter," psychologist George Holden says. "People may find it fascinating too because spanking is part of our culture, but this is clearly an incident where it's gone way, way wrong."

Holden, of Southern Methodist University, says he is launching a new organization, the U.S. Alliance to End Hitting of Children.

"What that father did is pretty horrific and it's clearly not discipline," says Elizabeth Gershoff, an associate professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas-Austin. "If that judge had done that to any other person … he would have gone to jail."

She says the father wasn't teaching a lesson but releasing anger.

Assault laws vary by state and provide exemptions to parents administering corporal punishment.

"Many people would be surprised at how many teenagers are spanked and whipped. It's more frequent for younger children, but it's not by any means rare for teenagers," says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Sociologist Murray Straus, also at the New Hampshire campus, has been studying spanking since 1970 and says the outrage over the video may push more people in the "no-hitting direction."

Robert Larzelere, a professor of human development and family science at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, supports what he terms "conditional spanking" — two swats with an open hand for children 2-6.

He has not seen the video but says the punishment "was clearly inappropriate on several counts: the age of the child, hitting with a belt, how long it lasted and what she was being punished for."

Finkelhor says digital media can protect kids: "I think thousands if not millions of parents are going to be put on notice that their brutal treatment of their kids could end them up in the public eye."

Source: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/story/2011-11-03/Beating-video-sparks-talks-on-discipline-of-children/51066086/1