Philippine News Digest 54
Week: April 8 - April 30, 2003
Contents:
US
appeal over sex offences sentence
Senate
approves bill versus trafficking of women, children
US prisons hold 2M inmates
US appeal over sex offences sentence
US legal authorities have decided to appeal against what they claim
is the unduly lenient sentence handed down to the former head of the
Ulster Scots Agency in the North of Ireland. Stan Mallon, 62, was
convicted in America for child sex offences. He received a 21-month
sentence after he was arrested in a sting operation by police officers in
Chicago last year. He had been due to attend St Patrick's Day receptions
at the White House but traveled to Chicago in a bid to procure a
14-year-old girl for sex. The girl he made contact with via the internet
was a police officer posing as a teenager. The appeal, which normally
takes up to six months, is likely to be fast-tracked as Mallon is due for
release by the end of this year.
Senate approves bill versus trafficking of women,
children
The Philippine Senate approved on third and final reading Senate
Bill 2444 or the Anti-Trafficking Act of 2003 that will criminalize the
act of trafficking in persons,
especially women and children, locally or internationally. Several
non-governmental organizations, including PREDA Foundation, the Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women, Women LEAD, Women's Legal Bureau, Third
World Movement Against Exploitation of Women, Women's Health, Samaritana,
Buklod-Olongapo, and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.
The PREDA Foundation uses theater presentation to bring this
serious issue to the attention of policymakers. The musical drama “Once
There Was a Dream” presents how children are induced to prostitution and
human trafficking as a result of poverty in many third world countries.
This year, the theater production will be presented in key cities in
Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Ireland upon the invitation of church and
civic organizations in the said country.
US prisons hold 2M numbers
The population of US federal, state and local prisons has surpassed two million people, consolidating the US lead over China, Russia and Belarus in both absolute numbers of inmates and the rate of incarceration. This number does not include those in the INS, the territories, military jails, the Indian country and juveniles facilities, totaling 130,000 people. According to the report, the 50 states along with the District of Colombia and the Federal Government held behind bars as many as 1,355,748 people as of June 30, 2002 while 665,475 individuals were under lock and key in municipal and local jails. Source: Agence France Press report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 April 2003.
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