Yes, I said it; Josh Duggar is a monster. It makes no difference to reasonable people that Mike Huckabee stands by him, that conservative “Christians” are okay with his actions because he says God forgave him and so did his wife. What he did was unforgivable.
In a show of good ol’ boy Arkansas support, a Judge Thursday ordered the police report of Duggar’s crimes destroyed. From Talking Points Memo:
Arkansas police have destroyed the records of the investigation into Josh Duggar’s alleged molestation of five underage girls, a police spokesman announced Friday, a day after the reality TV star resigned his position as head of FRC Action.
Springdale Police spokesman Scott Lewis said Judge Stacey Zimmerman ordered the 2006 offense report destroyed Thursday. Zimmerman didn’t return a request for comment on Friday.
“The judge ordered us yesterday to expunge that record,” Lewis said, adding that similar records are typically kept indefinitely. “As far as the Springdale Police Department is concerned this report doesn’t exist.”
Neither Duggar nor his father, a former state representative, returned calls seeking comment Friday.
Well then. I guess that’s settled. It never happened. Why are people so eager to protect this guy? Is it because he’s a rural white Christian who says “God” a lot?
Yes, that’s exactly what it is. If Josh Duggar were black, gay, atheist or an immigrant, judges across the south would be in conference calls for days trying to figure out how to bypass the statute of limitations and charge him with a crime.
The Duggars aren’t completely in the clear. Amid outrage from some fans and a barrage of criticism, The Learning Channel has removed all scheduled listings of 19 Kids and Counting. That’s good news for people who despise Josh Duggar’s actions and really bad television.
People like Josh Duggar who are enabled in their behavior don’t tend to change. The real question is, how long will it be before allegations surface of his continued depravity after the first round of incidents were squashed and swept under the rug?
It doesn’t matter how many holier than thou right-wingers, judges, or Presidential candidates jump on the protect the diddler bandwagon, Josh Duggar is NOT forgiven. He got away with it. Big difference.
Maybe at some point people will start talking about the victims. Why haven’t we heard from his sisters? If he’s so righteous and so forgiven, shouldn’t we hear that from them?
A girl whose brothers were convicted of molesting her for nearly a decade, coming from one of these large families in a rural “Christian home,” said of her abusers:
Forgiveness isn’t mine to give. That’s between them and God.
Something tells me the girls Josh Duggar violated feel the same way.
Featured image: Duggar Girls Blog
The law might forget, but the public will not.
Sometimes, public opinion is enough to cause those who commit crimes and get away with it enough strife that they wish they were in jail/prison. Here is to hoping this is one of those times.
He was a minor, a kid of 15, when he did this. It was probably the least serious kind of incident. In many cases, if a kid kills someone as a juvenile, that is wiped when he becomes an adult. That should have happened here. This was not a good act, but he was not an adult. It’s not fair to call him a molestor, when he was a teen, and not an adult.
You really believe it stopped the day he turned 18? That molestation of 4 year olds can be just forgotten? What about his children? When he molests them, who will protect them? A predator hiding behind his “religion” is still a predator.
Hogwash! Juveniles commit crimes and those crimes are still given the same label as adult crimes. The punishment might not be the same, but a child molester is a child molester, not matter his/her age. It’s not like someone who is 15 years old doesn’t have any idea that what they are doing is wrong. He’s evil; he needs to be punished on EARTH… because earth is real. Heaven is make-believe, but even if you truly (falsely) believe in heaven, when you commit crimes on earth, you pay for them on earth. The cloud daddy can deal with you later.
I’m an atheist.
Juvenile expungement: “Former juvenile offenders may be able to get a fresh start of sorts by filing a petition in court seeking expungement (sealing) of a juvenile court conviction. Expungement typically allows offenders to tell prospective employers, landlords, licensing agencies and others that they have never been arrested or convicted. However, expungement does not eliminate all the consequences of a juvenile court conviction. For example, even an expunged conviction can serve as a strike that produces harsher punishment under a state’s Three Strikes statute. (To learn more about juvenile offenses, see Juvenile Court: An Overview. To learn more about criminal records and expungement, see Expungement and Criminal Records. Also see Prior Convictions and the Job-Application Process.) There are many advantages to sealing your juvenile records. Read on to learn which juvenile records may be sealed, how to have them sealed, and what it means once those records are sealed.
Eligibility for Record Sealing
The kinds of juvenile records that are eligible for sealing varies from state to state. Usually, whether a record can be sealed depends on the following.
Age. The person seeking the sealing (sometimes called “expungement”) must be an adult. In most states, this means the person making the request must be at least 18 years old.
When the offense was committed. Often, a juvenile record cannot be sealed until five years have passed from the date of the offense or from the end of the juvenile court proceedings.”
These records should have been sealed and expunged. I do not support the Duggar cult. However, we frequently allow juveniles to do this.
Nick, that law only apply to privileged ones like Duggar. There are plenty of minority minors who sold a little weed or stole something (not worse than fondling little girls) at 15 and its still on their record! So speak when the laws are equal!!
The expungement process is available to all. We should get law schools involved. Get 3rd year law students involved with expunging the records for minors. The rule is that you must have attained majority to expunge the record, and that only minor crimes are possible to expunge. I agree that there is inequity. But we can find a way to make it more equal, right?
The victims are speaking out and that’s why he came forward to confess. He knew he was caught. Tried to prevent backlash for him and his mom and dad before the s,,,,,t hit the fan. Not only that, his dad was “preaching” to them 24/7 about this and that. He didn’t listen very well now did he? Josh is the one who went on tv and quoted that homosexuals are child abusers. Are we now to believe he is gay?
What exactly did he learn from it? Instead of humility, it seems he learned how to be a hypocrite. He is so lacking in self-awareness that he accused others of doing the very same acts that he committed.
The Josh Duggar fan club are not living in the real world. They either have no idea about the pathology of pedophilia or are just plain crazy.
He’s a sexual predator and likely will be for life. At the very least. A statutory rapist.
The Judge who ordered the record destroyed was appointed by Huckabee…
Shocking!
The age of the perpetrator does not change the charge of molestation. Regardless of his age at the time of the incidences, he is a molester. He should have been charged and oreceived the help that he needed, which in turn would have gotten his victims the help THEY needed. Unfortunately this family is in a very peculiar religious group that believes that victims of abuse, i.e. sexual and or physical, brought it upon themselves in some way and that they must use it as a way to grow stronger in the Lord. For as Christ suffered, so should you.
Totally not making that up.
Watch out for his children girls as well as boys, and their little friends.
He may be “forgiven” by his family & his church, but if I were his wife I would keep an eagle eye on their kids. The day may come when she has to choose between being a doormat & being a mom…
And if I were his wife, he’d be gone. There would be no need to “keep an eagle eye on their kids….”
Oh, me too, but Anna is a product of the same warped system. Hopefully she comes to her senses before a tragedy occurs. She needs to take her children out of danger immediately.
“and yet black kids can’t vote today because they sold a little pot at 14.
Is the religious right and Mr. Huckabee forgiving those youthful
indiscretions?”
And of course they absolutely WILL NOT forgive homosexuals or transgender people. Why, those “indiscretions” are leading to the fall of civilization.
I have forgiven my abusers. Because I refuse to be a victim of my circumstances. They don’t have to answer to me but to God. My thought is that these girls have probably done the same thing. And they refuse to be victims of social media. Let them rest.
So, if someone robs and kills your parents and you personally forgive them, does that mean they don’t have to go to prison?
Do you consider yourself a judge and jury?
You didn’t answer the question. Nice deflection. Didn’t work.
Could you please tell me where I in any way insinuated that I do?
The duggars judge everyone on their show. That’s ok though? right
Therein is the problem, GOD. Any act committed by anyone, no matter how heinous, can be forgiven by just a few simple words, I confessed, GOD has forgiven me, end of story.
Don’t you religious people see anything wrong with this type of lunacy ?
A lot of us do. God may forgive us our sins, be He expects us to take our earthly punishment too.
These so-called Christians are no closer to God a non-believer.
God Still loves you! Do you not have forgiveness in your heart?
As I stated in response to someone else reiterating the same theme:
Demanding forgiveness before someone is ready to give it is just another manifestation of dysfunction and contributes to ongoing damages to the victims. It’s a metaphorical rape.
Sure. Forgiveness is really about what the victim needs, not the perpetrator. But the victims must be allowed to get to that point IN THEIR OWN TIME, and they should not be judged even if they NEVER get there.
Yes. Let the victims rest — by not demanding that they forgive in order to be “true Christians.”
Also — this family put itself and its PRIVATE affairs in the public eye when they chose to be in a “reality” tv show. The children, of course, did not have a choice in that — and for that the Duggar parents should be SOUNDLY rebuked.
By making their family a “model” for other families, they CREATED the conditions in which their children’s lives and behaviors would be publicly discussed and attacked when their hypocrisy was revealed…as surely it would given their claim to righteousness.
I feel sorry for the children. But see, there is this old saying about: Barn. Doors. Stable. Horses. The Duggars are responsible for this. They should have thought about how something like this could happen if they put their children’s private lives on TV.
Lots of forgiveness for the truly penitent. No forgiveness for those who use God’s forgiveness to keep from taking responsibility for their own actions. Or for people who cherry-pick religious texts to justify hate or bigotry.
There is no “God” so the rotten little pervert walks free.
Yes Paula , there is a God! And he loves you!
You think that just by stating something that is completely contrary to what someone believes will be productive.
I can guarantee you that anyone who says “there is no God” has pretty solid reasons for saying that — reasons of which you know not, and do not care, because it’s all about saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over…
I will say it again. There is no God. There is no LOVE from God. Love is indeed very powerful, but it resides in the human heart. You can repeat your “yes he does and he loves you” from now to eternity, and the people you are arguing with STILL won’t believe your myth.
…cue the Biblical quotes you will toss out believing that they “prove” your myth….3…2….1…..
…providing a perfect example of circular reasoning.
It will set you free of your burden! Let it go!
And how long did it take you to forgive your abusers?
Demanding forgiveness before someone is ready to give it is just another manifestation of dysfunction and contributes to ongoing damages to the victims. It’s a metaphorical rape.
Sure. Forgiveness is really about what the victim needs, not the perpetrator. But the victims must be allowed to get to that point IN THEIR OWN TIME, and they should not be judged even if they NEVER get there.
You can’t speak for them. They probably have been ordered by their father to keep their mouths shout. If you were abused, you know that you never forget. You might think the girlst are done with it, but I highly doubt it. They will want to tell their side soon enough and they should be allowed to.
Forgiveness!
I hope social services is looking into his home life now that he has children…
Please do not imply that Christians as a whole support or defend his behavior. We are equally disgusted. Stop trying to make this a Christian thing when it is a pedophile thing.
Then tell your ilk to leave us non-Christians alone. The Repub-Christian Axis of Hypocrisy is evil.
Because every other word out of all the Duggar and their supporters is God so this IS a Christian thing. Pedophilia is the evil that Josh Duggar exhibits, the Christian right is the evil that is sweeping it under the rug.
Absolute bullshit. Every group, including your hateful message, has it’s good and bad. To generalize is bigoted and as hateful as what he did.
It never should have leaked out He was a juvenile It should have been sealed Judge Zimmerman was the judge and she’s a woman so that crack about the good old boys is an out right lie The family dealt with it they sent him to a place that made you work hard and delve into what had happened The dad turned him in twice. who knew that the cop was a weirdo maybe it happened to josh too You all are so quick to judge Do any of you know what happened Not what the internet said happened Not everything on here is the truth I am not condoning what happened but there is more to this story
Hard work and delving into what has happened is NOT a treatment plan. It may be part of a punishment, maybe, but it’s not treatment. It does not sound like he ever received an evaluation or counseling from an impartial LICENSED MENTAL HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL.
You are forgetting that the information was not originally leaked by the police but rather by a family friend. A letter stating all that had happened — written by a member of the family — was placed in a book, where it was discovered by that family friend and leaked to Oprah Winfrey years ago as she was about to have the family on her show.
The police report was released LATER, not by the police, but by the family, as they thought it would make it clear that what Josh did was “no biggie.”
You are right. There is much more to this story. Mark my words, you will soon be “treated” to more revelations about this family, whether Josh is the culprit or someone else.
The Duggar family dynamics are RIPE for incestuous activities. Among other things, there is the covert incest committed by Michelle when she tells her daughters that it is a wife’s duty to ALWAYS consent to sexual demands from her husband no matter how she feels about it, and that THAT is what SHE does. She should not be discussing her and Jim Bob’s sexual activities with their children, much less with the wider public. That is a major violation of parent/child boundaries. I know — because I and each and every one of my siblings (as well as two of her grandsons) were subjected to the same thing by our mother. BY THAT VERY FACT the family is grounded in an family culture that promotes incest.
More: by Michelle’s explaining her “wifely duties” to her children, she communicates two messages:
1) To the boys: males have a right to access female bodies if you have sexual desire for them. No, it doesn’t matter that it’s supposed to be husband/wife. The message is about male power vs. female consent.
2) To the girls: you are responsible for the gratification of male desire. It is your duty not to complain.
I know how deeply those messages end up ingrained in you. My parents, although they were not conservative Christians, nonetheless taught us to “save ourselves for marriage” (this was the 1950s-60s). And so, when I refused my brother, I felt guilty that I hadn’t met HIS needs. And when my father….well, it is extremely hard to assert “no” to your father when you are only 5 years old. I could not refuse to meet my father’s demands.
So give up your defense of this family. Or don’t, and then be horrified as future revelations occur and you feel really really really stupid for having defended them.
What absolute nonsense in these comments. What works for this Duggar family may not work for you. Fascists on the left require everyone to be like them morally. I believe that we can have different paths. I am not a morality fascist.
Neither are people on the left, but you have to scapegoat someone, don’t you?
The absolute nonsense is telling your daughters they can’t even kiss someone until they are married to them. What a ridiculous idea.
My heart goes out to you. You should have been protected and I am sorry you weren’t. You are brave to speak on behalf of these young victims.
I agree 100%. The left is using this as a cudgel against this family. I am an atheist. I do not support this ridiculous idea that ungoverned fecundity makes you holy or whatever. I do believe that kids should be able to make mistakes which do not ruin their lives.
What about the victim’s lives being ruined? There were 5 victims that we know of.
It truly makes me sick that some people are defending these ridiculous people. They are the very essence of the Jim Jones mentality.
They judge everyone on that show. The duggar’s preach against anyone who doesn’t go along with their beliefs. Give me a break. You don’t want US to judge THEM. You are a joke. What the heck do you mean, there is more to this story? Yeah right. More victims probably. What more could you possible mean? The guy confessed, only because the information was leaked and they were found out for the hypocrites they are.
Copies of that record are all over the internet. Barn. Door. Horses. Gone. Really really really stupid judge.
A shining example of the danger of fundamental Christianity. Its absurdly egocentric/ethnocentric to assume that any “god” gives a damn what we silly hairless monkeys do with our private sexy parts. Take this poorly formed ideology and combine it with repression and ignorance in raising your family and presto bingo you get a josh duggar. Stupid people raise stupid children and the cycle repeats ad nauseam. This whole affair serves the greater good as it shows the inherent wickedness of bible thumping jesus humpers. One more poster child for birth control. STOP BREEDING you nasty heathens!
And just how forgiving do you think his community would have been had it been little BOYS that he molested? Girls don’t matter. Boys will be boys after all. The girls probably ‘tempted’ him. It was’t his fault. It’s always the female who is the root of all evil.
What do the Duggar sisters ant the uni bomber have in common? They were both fingered by their brothers.