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Josh Duggar (of TLC's 19 Kids and Counting) admits to molesting.... [W:171,357]

Josie

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I've always liked the Duggars. I've always defended the Duggars when people called the crazy or weird or horrible for having so many kids. But this time..... this time.... I'm completely and utterly disgusted. I'm so disgusted that I'm having a hard time finding words to express it.

Unsealed police report reveals 'Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar covered up after eldest son Josh confessed to repeatedly fondling girls when he was a teen - and case only went to police in 2006 because of Oprah concerns' | Daily Mail Online

Josh Duggar apologizes amid molestation allegations: ‘I acted inexcusably’ - The Washington Post

I will never watch another episode of their show again.
 


They are crazy, weird, horrible zealots. Not surprised in the least.
 
beefheart said:
They are crazy, weird, horrible zealots. Not surprised in the least.
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I was surprised. Their individual family culture was too much for my taste, but they, until this, weren't anything to be scared of.
 
I feel bad for both the victims and the remainder of the family. Red meat for those who didn't care for them in the first place.
 
Good I can't stand them, now that the cat is out of the bag, I hope their show get's **** canned just like that pathetic redneck **** HONEY BOO BOO..
 
I remember seeing something on some paparazzi-like rag on the internet about how Josh and Anna were buying a house in Arkansas. I was wondering why since they live in D.C. now. I guess we now know why. I'm sure they had a heads up that this was coming out in the media and started to plan for it.
 

To be fair, it's the Daily Mail. It's not exactly regarded as being the most credible source on the planet. Lol

Apart from that, I'd have to know if any of what he's accused of doing was confirmed, or simply alleged, and just how far the "molestation" in question actually went, before I could really lay judgement on it.

It might not be "politically correct" to say, but kids mess around some times. If other kids aren't available, it might just be with a sibling. Think about what Lena Dunham recently admitted to, for example.

In some cases it's legitimate molestation. In some others, it's mostly harmless.

In any eventuality, I haven't seen much of any evidence to suggest that any of the Duggar children have experienced psychological damage as a result of this.
 
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He was 14 at the time which means that his actions were not as "damning" (in the sense that he's a hardened abuser) as they would have been had he committed the abuse as an adult, but he was still old enough to know better even if he may not have understood the full extent of how his actions would affect his victims. From what I've read, it sounds like his family didn't get him or his sisters any serious therapy so any chance of a concerted effort at "rehabilitating" him seems to have been destroyed. Hopefully, he didn't continue his behavior as an adult, particularly considering he has children.
 

If it was sibling molestation as it appeared to be, it's still very damning.
 

Petition has already been started to take their show off the air.

TMZ has reported that all the juvenile records are about to be destroyed because of one victim's privacy concerns. Josh Duggar -- Molestation Investigation Docs to Be Destroyed | TMZ.com

Especially disgusting is the fact that the state trooper who gave the then 14-year old Josh Duggar the "stern talking-to" is now himself rotting in prison because of his kiddie porn.
 
I think the thing that matters most here would probably be the frequency, and intent. Once or twice, and he felt weird enough about it afterwards to voluntarily confess, and never engaged in the behavior again? That's one thing.

A more "chronic" behavioral problem would be another entirely.

I'm also honestly kind of confused as to why not reporting the incident to "law enforcement" is such a big deal here. That certainly wouldn't have been my first instinct, particularly if the behavior had already been corrected on the home front.

What were they supposed to do? Send him straight to juvie?

It's not like he's a hardened sexual predator here (as far as we know, anyway).
 
Fiddytree said:
If it was sibling molestation as it appeared to be, it's still very damning.
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Not necessarily in the sense that he was a hardened abuser. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trust him near any child, but since he was 14, there's still a chance that this was a behavior he didn't take with him into adulthood. I hoping that's the case, anyhow.
 

So, do I have this right?: under-aged 14 year-old Josh apparently fondled some other under-aged girls (other 14 year olds?).
 
The report says that he molested 5 girls in an least two separate incidents. After the first time, the girls told their parents and their parents talked to him. Then, he did it again and the parents sent him to work on construction or something with relative as "therapy".

What were they supposed to do? Send him straight to juvie?
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They probably should have sent him to a psych program for evaluation and treatment. He was a minor so if he was in danger of developing into an adult offender he could have still be treated.
 
Porchev said:
So, do I have this right?: under-aged 14 year-old Josh apparently fondled some other under-aged girls (other 14 year olds?).
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5 girls, some of whom were his sisters, one was possibly 4 years old at the time.
 
Honestly I never really liked the Duggars. I can respect the way they live and raise their kids even if I think it's a bit much, but covering up something like this is pretty awful and can't be defended. I'm hoping it didn't come about because in their strictness they neglected to talk about sex, sexuality and boundaries when it comes to sexual relations and what is/is not acceptable.

I suspect there may be some secrets they have that are less than wholesome for their image. I'm unsure if the reports are true or not but I wasn't terribly shocked to read a story about one of the daughters having sex in a closet during her wedding reception.
 

At least a couple of the charges were felonies.
 

Frankly, that kind of thing is really up to the parents.

I don't put much faith in modern psychology. I suspect the Duggar family is the same.

It's also not like they ignored the problem anyway. They gave him counseling, and sent him away for treatment. It just wasn't the conventional variety. They also pretty clearly threatened him if the behavior continued, as evidenced by the conversation with the State Trooper.

We don't have any evidence to suggest that these "treatments" weren't ultimately effective in correcting his behavior, so I really don't see any reason to freak out over them.

nota bene said:
At least a couple of the charges were felonies.
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So your first response would be to send a 14 year old kid to jail, and have him branded as a sex offender for life over something that might've simply been an immature mistake?

Personally, unless the behavior were to prove to be uncorrectable, it'd strike me as being the very definition of an "in house" problem.

I mean... Sure. Move him to a separate room, put locks on the doors to all his siblings' rooms, give him a damn stern talking to, seek counseling, and keep an eye on him just in case. However, I don't see any reason to jump straight to sending him "up the river."

That's a last resort, not the first.
 
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Porchev said:
So, do I have this right?: under-aged 14 year-old Josh apparently fondled some other under-aged girls (other 14 year olds?).
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When they were sleeping..... and while sitting on his lap reading to him. I'm going to guess Joy Anna (who is now 17) was the 4-5 year old that he did it to.
 
digsbe said:
I'm unsure if the reports are true or not but I wasn't terribly shocked to read a story about one of the daughters having sex in a closet during her wedding reception.
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That was proven to be false after the lady who wrote it on the blog admitted that she wasn't even at the wedding. She just made it up.
 

When a crime is committed, the issue isn't in-house.
 
nota bene said:
When a crime is committed, the issue isn't in-house.
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I beg to differ. Some transgressions legitimately require legal intervention, and some do not. Given what we know about the case, this would strike me as being the latter.

In any eventuality, I certainly wouldn't leap to ruin my child's life before it had even started (and my family's reputation in the process) over one or two questionable events that might very well prove to be correctable using less drastic means. I am a slave to neither law, nor societal conventions, and I reserve the right to defer to my own best judgement where my adherence to either is concerned.
 
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I might agree with you if it was ONE girl very close in age to him. It wasn't. It was FIVE girls and at least one was a very young child. That's not normal behavior... that's a pedophile.
 

Hogwash. If he was 14 and molested a 4 year old, he needed help, not that it would have helped much anyway. Child molesters have a very high recidivism rate. If I were his wife, I'd certainly keep a close eye on my children. But she knew about this before she married him, which tells me that all she is concerned about is money and fame anyway.

Disgusting. I never watched the show. I appreciate why she had that many kids - she was unable to have kids, and made a promise to God that if He helped her have children, she'd have as many as she could to live for Him. So that's why she has so many kids - it was a promise to God. That being said, I've always wondered how she could truly be there for her kids, with that many. I mean, she has her own sweatshop. The older kids have to help be responsible for the younger kids, and that's not fair to them. When you have that many kids something is always going to slip by, and in this case, it was something horrible.
 

They disproportionately fouled up the gene pool.
 
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