On September 29, 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1386 into law, enhancing California’s Rape Shield Law. This critical amendment, introduced by Sen. Anna Caballero, aims to protect survivors of sexual assault by preventing courtroom inquiries into their...
AM&G
Child Sexual Abuse
Roman Polanski Back in Court: But will he Return to the United States?
Roman Polanski, a French-Polish film director responsible for movies like Rosemary’s Baby and The Pianist, is currently hiding out in Europe. He has refused to return to the United States because he fears arrest — and rightfully so. The award-winning director faces...
California takes big step to support child sexual abuse survivors in 2024
We are learning more about how we process trauma. We know we often set traumatic events aside as a means of survival; that we may take years or even decades before we can open ourselves to those traumatic memories and attempt to process what happened. We are even...
Court revives sexual abuse lawsuits against Michael Jackson’s estate
More than 14 years after Michael Jackson died, a pair of lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse of minors have been revived. The lawsuits come from two men who say Jackson abused them as children. Their stories were featured in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland....
California Jury Awards $26M to Special Education Student over Sexual Assault
In May 2016, three male students at Focus Point Academy in Pasadena sexually assaulted an 11-year-old special education student. More than six years later, in response to a 2018 lawsuit accusing the district of negligence, a jury awarded the student $26 million in...