Al's Morning Meeting

While arrests for Internet crimes against children are on the rise, the suspicious stranger whom many parents fear the most may not, in fact, be the greatest threat to their young sons and daughters.

According to a study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 38 percent of child abusers were parents, 33 percent were family friends and just 9 percent were the result of online enticement.

Statistics in Virginia show a similar pattern: Of the 4,326 child victims seen by sexual assault crisis centers from 2000 to 2004, just 7 percent were assaulted by strangers, according to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance.

"I think the general public has a misunderstanding about what poses the most threat to children," said Kate McCord, public awareness manager for the alliance. "Not that stranger danger is not something that children should be protected from. But the primary threat to children are the people who care for them on a day-to-day basis."

At least by some measures, things could be getting better instead of worse. After conducting a survey that found one in five children were subjected to an unwanted sexual solicitation online in 1999 and 2000, the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire recently did a follow-up study.

It found that one in seven children had received an unwanted sexual solicitation in 2005. The decrease from five years ago could be due to a greater awareness among young people about the dangers of the Internet and chat rooms in particular. "Many youth described chat rooms as unpleasant places attracting unsavory people," the report stated.

Although online solicitations were down last year, the report found an increase in the number of children -- 34 percent of those surveyed -- who were exposed to unwanted sexually graphic images, either by surfing the Web or in e-mails sent to them.

Coaching in the Web Age

The Cincinnati Enquirer recently ran an interesting story about the life of a coach in these days of blogs and photo-sharing Web sites.

Photos and stories that might have been scrapbook material now are Internet fodder that can cost coaches their jobs.

Beyond the Murder Numbers

Conventional wisdom is often wrong, so I love it when journalists take a shot at disproving popular notions. It is tempting to think that a flat or even a declining homicide rate means our cities are getting safer. But here is a story about the surprising costs of gun injuries that do not cost lives.

I got this note from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Paul Sevart, senior editor/local enterprise and administration:

Most big cities, including Milwaukee, count homicides as the primary indicator of urban violence. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a series this week that turns that on its ear. We found that in a city with roughly 100 homicides a year, another 600 people are shot and survive -- often with life-altering injuries. The quality of trauma care and the lack of police attention to non-fatal gunshot wounds are masking the true extent of gun violence. These shootings are costing tens of millions of dollars a year in everything from trauma care to courts to prisons.

The newspaper's series, "Uncounted: Surviving Gunshots, Paying the Price":

• Part One: City's gun violence goes beyond murder
• Part Two: Still haunted by the past, young shooting victims face uncertain future
  
• Part Three: Gunshot costs echo through economy
• High-caliber care
• How this series was reported
  

The Charity Season

According to The Washington Post, there is some evidence that the public is feeling a little burned by charity scandals. At the same time, financial pressures are pinching giving, too.

Here are some of the best resources that I know about for evaluating charities.

• Charity Check -- You need to know where all the money is going. Every charity that takes in $25K has to file a 990 form. These documents are the mother lode of information and they are open for your inspection. Find them at your local charitable solicitations board, your secretary of state or at GuideStar, a Web site that has almost a million of them on file. Hint: When looking for a specific charity, put the name in quotes.

• Charity Navigator -- Rates charities and non-profits.

• The Better Business Bureau also has a rating service for charities.
  

• Foundation giving by state and year -- A list from The Foundation Center.

• Network for Good -- Financial snapshots powered by the GuideStar database.

• The American Institute of Philanthropy is a "charity watchdog" that offers a rating guide to roughly 500 charitable organizations to its members. However, a list of the top-rated charities is available for free online.

• The IRS provides a page of links to information about state agencies that regulate charities and other non-profits. For example, the Florida Division of Consumer Services offers a database that contains "financial summaries of charitable organizations which are registered with the State of Florida."

• For tax information, IRS Publication 526 [PDF] covers charitable contributions.

Reverse Mortgages Nearly Double in One Year

Reverse mortgages are becoming especially attractive to seniors who can't sell their home for as much as they might have a year or two ago. So instead, they use this tool to draw out the equity just as they once paid it -- month by month.

The Orange County (Calif.) Register reports:

These complex loans let seniors access some of the cash value of their homes without the burden of a monthly payment.

In theory, the concept's a no-brainer. In practice, it's been a long road to create products that ease consumer fears about new debts late in life.

A confluence of events -- from low interest rates to significant increases in house values to smart marketing -- is turning reverse mortgages from simply a safety valve for seniors who are financially strapped to a noteworthy option for a growing flock planning a retirement.

Fresh statistics show that in fiscal [year] 2006, [which] ended in June, reverse mortgages handled by the Federal Housing Administration jumped by 77 percent to 76,351, a fourfold jump from 2003.

Here is the FHA page that explains reverse mortgages.

Should Prisons Dispense Condoms?

It's not like anybody denies inmates are having sex. Why not allow them to have condoms to help control AIDS and other STDs?

Reuters says:

The National Minority AIDS Council advocacy group, backed by U.S. black lawmakers and medical leaders, issued a series of recommendations aimed at U.S. policymakers to slow the epidemic among blacks, 10 times more likely than whites to have AIDS.

[...] With U.S. black men seven times more likely than whites and three times more likely than Latinos to be imprisoned, the council's report said incarceration has become "one of the most important drivers of HIV infection among African-Americans."

More than half of new U.S. HIV infections are in blacks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, more than 40 percent of U.S. prisoners are black. The AIDS rate among prisoners is three times the rate in the general public.

[...] The report urged prisons and jails to make available condoms, along with HIV prevention education programs.

According to the NMAC advocacy report, released Nov. 16, currently in about 95 percent of American prisons, condoms are either banned or unavailable. Mississippi and Vermont do make condoms available. So do county jails in New York City; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco and Los Angeles.

We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.