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Fast Forward MIT Chief Orders Review After Aaron Swartz Suicide
The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reportedly announced Sunday that he has ordered a review of the university’s actions in a hacking case against internet activist Aaron Swartz, who killed himself over the weekend. Swartz, 26, who was found hanged in his Brooklyn apartment, was awaiting a federal trial on 13 felony counts….
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Fast Forward Aaron Swartz’s Family Lashes Out at Prosecutors
The family and partner of web activist Aaron Swartz lashed out at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and prosecutors, suggesting their moves to hound him may have contributed to his suicide. “Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach,” the…
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News Nechemya Weberman’s Unique Band of Relatives
You think your family has issues? Consider the Weberman clan. Nechemya Weberman was convicted December 10 for child sexual abuse in a landmark case that underlined the massive support he enjoyed in the Satmar Hasidic community. But it turns out that he is just one high-profile member of a sprawling brood, whose diverse activities have…
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Fast Forward Accused Abuser’s Son Charged in Bleach Attack
A Brooklyn fishmonger was indicted for throwing a cup of bleach in the face of a Chasidic rabbi who advocates for victims of sexual abuse in the haredi Orthodox community. Meilech Schnitzler, 36, of Williamsburg, a member of the Satmar Hasidic sect, was indicted Wednesday on two counts of attempted assault, two counts of assault…
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News Inside Hasidic Modesty Patrols
One of the most striking ironies of the Nechemya Weberman trial, which ended with his conviction on 59 counts of sexual abuse, was the revelation that the unlicensed therapist was a member of the Va’ad Hatznius, or modesty patrol, the self-appointed arbiters of right and wrong in the Satmar community. Until recently, the Va’ad Hatznius…
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Fast Forward Child Abusers Faced Music in 2012
Experts say 2012 was a year of unparalleled justice for child sex abuse victims, but whether the string of high-profile convictions will translate into a turning point for juvenile safety remains to be seen. The year’s headlines heralded the criminal convictions of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, Monsignor William Lynn of the Catholic…
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News ‘Ub-u-sive’
Guilty on all 59 counts: guilty, guilty, guilty. On Monday, December 10, a jury of 12 found Nechemya Weberman enormously guilty. The jurors convicted him of sexually abusing an underage girl entrusted to his care. They declared the respected member of the ultra-Orthodox community to be a criminal and a fraud, and thousands of survivors,…
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Opinion Was Nechemya Weberman on Trial — or Satmars?
On December 10, Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed youth and marriage counselor in the Satmar community of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, was convicted of 59 counts of sexual misconduct against a minor. As in any trial, the judge reminded the jurors that the defendant’s guilt must be proved “beyond reasonable doubt.” But with Weberman now facing a possible…
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