The industry needs oversight

[Featherstone]

I know that no system is perfect and you can put all the checks and balances in place and still come up short. I feel that these sicko's that prey on children just need to be put down, how do you rehab someone that rapes children?? Public execution using a pudao or something?

[Kellen Bassette]

And yeah "karate rape" being a term is a huge indicator that it doesn't matter about the secret agent spy garbage that people try to sell themselves with.

I actually never heard that term before this thread, but I do have a related "non story" myself.

When I was a teenager I fought in a "full contact" TKD tournament, representing an Okinawan Karate school. I beat a kid from the TKD school pretty bad, (but was disqualified for drawing blood...at a "full contact" tournament.)

Anyway, his teacher tried to get me to join his school, promising he would train me for the Olympics. I declined, being thoroughly unimpressed with him and his students. A while later it was big local news when it was discovered he had been diddling several little boys at his school. I wonder how his TKD served him in prison?

[MightyB]

martial arts industry in trouble

Our Judo organization requires that you pass a criminal background check in order to receive a black belt.

I don't think that's too much to ask of any martial artist who wants to be an instructor.

[pazman]

Do you think any of those old masters who came to whatever country they are in illegally would risk going to the authorities to get registered? Nope they just wouldn't teach and we'd all be the worse for it.

It was the case in the past when illegal Chinese immigrants were escaping political turmoil or lives of extreme poverty. That generally isn't the case today and we are much better off not having such disrespectful people in our country.

=GeneChing}As for those old 'illegal' masters, if they don't have their green card, they probably aren't operating a legal business anyway so they wouldn't be beholden to these regulations. Underground backyard or garage teaching will always be with us. And most of those don't teach kids anyway.

I know for a fact several commercial Wushu/gongfu schools on the West Coast, and a school here in the Midwest have, in the fairly recent past, employed both "illegal immigrants" and Chinese nationals with no work permit.

Anyways, that's off topic.

Having experience in teaching children and teens, there is no reason for not being able to submit to a background check. I will NEVER send my children to a school/gym without the teachers having the proper papers and policies.

[Orion Paximus]

Having experience in teaching children and teens, there is no reason for not being able to submit to a background check. I will NEVER send my children to a school/gym without the teachers having the proper papers and policies.

That's kind of my point, though, let it be up to the parents to see if they teacher has jumped through all these hoops to prove to them that their school is a safe environment. If a parent decides that they'd rather go with teacher X because of their martial arts skill and not because they haven't taken a course on how to not molest children, then it should be up to that parent.

JMO of course.

[Punch.HeadButt]

That's kind of my point, though, let it be up to the parents to see if they teacher has jumped through all these hoops to prove to them that their school is a safe environment. If a parent decides that they'd rather go with teacher X because of their martial arts skill and not because they haven't taken a course on how to not molest children, then it should be up to that parent.

So, would you like to see the regulation that's put in place for practically every other institution that has a large body of children removed, in favor of having the onus of judgement put on the parents?

Makes sense ideally, but it's just not realistic....unfortunately, most parents don't make that kind of effort. They'll just look at the prices, watch a trial class or two, and start leaving their kids there for an hour.

[David Jamieson]

Our Judo organization requires that you pass a criminal background check in order to receive a black belt.

I don't think that's too much to ask of any martial artist who wants to be an instructor.

Done! This is a requirement worth having in place. At least one of them anyway.

[GeneChing]

...otherwise we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

[Vash]

For anyone working with my adult clients, in a non-martial setting, I require a clean background check. They aren't the cheapest thing in the world for a small business, but knowing that my people are that much less likely to be doing something messed up is worth the expense.

For anyone working with children, in an environment requiring as much physical contact as MA, it's essential, and I'd fully support regulation regarding it.

[JamesC]

I hate to say it, but the parents have a responsibility in this too.

You don't leave your child with another adult unsupervised. Period. I'm not saying you hold their hand or don't let the instructor do their job. It's their school and they should be allowed to discipline accordingly.

But, i'll be ****ed if I leave them unattended with someone I only know on a professional level. Hell, I only let my mother in law and my mother watch my kids. I may be a little paranoid after having read all the PC's to judges for so long that involved these kinds of charges.

[Kellen Bassette]

I think anyone could just check the sex offender registry. That's what they're looking for anyway. I know people who look up any new person they meet, if they are just the slightest bit creepy.

[JamesC]

I think anyone could just check the sex offender registry. That's what they're looking for anyway. I know people who look up any new person they meet, if they are just the slightest bit creepy.

Those people have already been caught and are legally prohibited from being around children already.

[Kellen Bassette]

Those people have already been caught and are legally prohibited from being around children already.

So what is a police report going to show? If they haven't done anything there will be nothing on the report.

[Jimbo]

A local instructor in my city was sentenced not too long ago to 26 years in state prison for having a sexual relationship with a teenage male student. This guy had been a longtime karate instructor, apparently specializing in teaching kids.

It really is tragic. It paints all MAists in a negative light. BUT...this only puts a spotlight on the fact that it's a pervasive problem, and not limited to MAs. There are people like that in every profession. It isn't expected to happen in MAs, where people are seeking a safe environment to hopefully empower themselves.

[JamesC]

So what is a police report going to show? If they haven't done anything there will be nothing on the report.

That's my point. A sex offender registry only helps if they've been caught. If they haven't been caught it is useless