Utah Statistics are the Worst in the Nation for Depression, Rape, Child Abuse, etc.
Statistics in Utah still reflect a discouraging, negative social atmosphere
Latter-day Saints believe Mormonism produces emotional health. It that were true, Utah (which is two-thirds Mormon) should have the lowest rates of crime, divorce, and child abuse. Instead they have the highest rates in the nation!
Divorces per 1,000 Population Utah-4.60 MA-2.40 NY -3.20 NJ-3.0
Murder per 100,000 Pop. Utah-3.90 NH-1.70 IO-1.70 ND-0.90
Rape per 100,000 Pop. Utah-42.70 NY -23.70 CA-33.40 VA-27.20
*Source US Census Bureau
Antidepressant drugs are prescribed in Utah more often than in any other state, at a rate nearly twice the national average. Other states with high antidepressant use were Maine and Oregon. Utah's rate of antidepressant use was twice the rate of California and nearly three times the rates in New York and New Jersey, the study showed. Few here question the veracity of the study, which was a tabulation of prescription orders, said Dr. Curtis Canning, president of the Utah Psychiatric Assn. "In the LDS church, there is a social expectation and women suppression with the males dominating the females who are expected to put on a mask, say 'Yes' to everything that comes at her and hide the misery and pain. It?s called the 'Mother of Zion' syndrome. The study did not break down drug use by sex. But according to statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health, about twice as many women as men suffer from depressive disorders.
Discussion of the issue inevitably falls along Utah's traditional fault lines. Some suggest that Utah's unique Mormon culture--70% of the state's population belongs to the church--requires perfection and the public presentation of a happy face, whatever may be happening privately. The argument goes that women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are beset by particular pressures and are not encouraged to acknowledge their struggles or suppression. "Look around, you can easily find people who take them. I think it's the cultural environment," said Helen Wright, whose three grown children also take antidepressants. "Most men here would just as soon their wives take pills than bother to delve into the problems, and maybe find out they might have something to do with the problems." Utah also leads the nation in the use of narcotic painkillers such as codeine and morphine-based drugs, the study found. "It's like Happy Valley here," Cindy Mann said, describing the Salt Lake Valley. "It's a scary place sometimes. People don't talk about their problems. Everything is always rosy. That's how we got ourselves into this mess--we're good at ignoring things."
Salt Lake Tribune, Nov 23, 1998--A9
FBI Report: Crime Falls Nationally, But Climbs Again in Utah
As the nation celebrates a six-year decrease in serious crime, Utah's crime rate went up--again.
An FBI report released Sunday showed that serious violent and property crimes went down 3 percent nationally. But crime in Utah went up 3.8 percent in 1997, continuing a four-year-trend.
Not only is the state's crime rate climbing, but more Utahns on average are victims of crime.
Nationally, an average of 4,923 out of 100,000 are affected by crime. In Utah, the number is 5,661 people-- 13 percent higher than the national rate.
Utah was one of 15 states whose crime rates increased in 1997.
Florida had the highest rate at 7,272 crimes per 100,000 people. West Virginia was lowest with 2,469 crimes per 100,000 people. . .
In Salt lake City, 11,969 people out of 100,000 were victims of crime in 1997. . .
Report details scope of home violence
Utah's rate of females murdered by males tops the national average
Salt lake Tribune, Feb 17, 2004
"...The 2004 Utah Domestic Violence Annual Report, created by the state Domestic Violence Cabinet Council...In 2001, the report notes, Utah's rate of females murdered by males in one-on-one incidents was 23% higher than the corresponding national rate."
Utah: Salt Lake City
Nearly half of the 131 women killed between 1994 and 1999 in Utah were slain by husbands or boyfriends, according to a report released by state health department officials. They urged judges, prosecutors and clergy to pay more attention to the signs of domestic violence and to intervene before it escalates. USA Today
The New York Times clearly illustrates a recurring problem within the Mormon Church?child abuse. Child abuse is consistently higher in Utah than in the nation as a whole. It is a blight on Mormonism. Utah social workers have been quoted as being "blackly pessimistic" about the problem in their state.
All of this flies in the face of the projected image of Mormonism as a society which places the family at the highest level of its concern.
Of course Mormon authorities love children and want what's best for them. The failure of Mormonism stems from its hidebound structure. This is the religion of polygamy, patriarchy, and Blood Atonement. Such a culture simply doesn't have the ability to wave a wand of psychobabble over the Church and make everything right. Mormon social problems are systemic.
One of the worst areas of offense in Mormonism is uncovered in the following article. This story is repeated over and over again as the good old boys have their way with women and children in the ashes of Brigham Young's Mormonism
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Sex Abuse Lawsuit Is Settled By Mormons for $3 Million
By Gustav Niebuhr
New York Times Sep. 5, 2001, A-14
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints disclosed yesterday that it would pay $3 million to settle a suit by an Oregon man who said he was sexually abused as a child by a church member. The suit said Mormon officials had known well in advance of that abuse that the accused man had also faced child molesting allegations before.
The case is unusual not only because the church disclosed the amount of the settlement, in advance of news conferences by the plaintiffs' lawyers today, but also because it centers on alleged abuse by a man who held no ministerial or leadership role. That man died in 1995.
In an interview, Von G. Keetch, a Salt Lake City lawyer representing the church, said it strongly believed that the case ''lacked merit'' and had settled only out of concern that the litigation, already a decade old, could continue for years more, at high cost.
Mr. Keetch said the decision was made after a number of rulings against the church by a county judge presiding over the case in Portland. Among the rulings were that the church could be held liable for the conduct of one member against another, and that the plaintiff could argue that the abuser was a clergyman because he held the title of high priest, which the church describes as a common lay designation.
The settlement follows by two weeks the disclosure of another settlement by a religious institution in a sexual abuse case. In that instance, two Roman Catholic dioceses in Southern California said they had paid $5.2 million to a man who maintained that as a high school student a decade ago, he was molested by a priest.
The Oregon suit was filed in December 1998 by a Portland man, Jeremiah Scott, who eventually sought $1.5 billion in damages from the church. He accused its authorities of withholding knowledge from his family that another member, Franklyn Curtis, had previously been accused of molesting children.
His lawyer, David Slader, said Mr. Scott was abused in 1991, the year he turned 11, after his mother invited Mr. Curtis to live with the family. Mr. Curtis, who was 88 and had been living in a group home, was a member of the same congregation as the Scotts.
Before bringing Mr. Curtis into her home, Mr. Slader said, Mrs. Scott sought advice from a local Mormon bishop, who advised the family against it because it would be too much work, but who did not inform them of the earlier accusations.
Mr. Slader noted that Mr. Curtis had been previously excommunicated after being accused of molesting children. But when he came to live with the Scotts, his membership had been restored and he held the title of high priest. He had not been criminally charged with abuse at that point, but later pleaded guilty to molesting Mr. Scott, Mr. Slader said.
''It's the institution that knew,'' Mr. Slader said, referring to church authorities. ''A church,'' he added, ''owes a very, very special and high duty to the children of its parishioners, the children whose souls it has taken responsibility for.''
Mr. Keetch, the lawyer for the church, quoted the bishop who advised the Scotts as saying in a deposition that he had known of no abuse accusations against Mr. Curtis. Mr. Keetch said Mr. Curtis had been excommunicated in the 1980's in Pennsylvania, where he lived before moving back to Oregon. The decision to excommunicate, Mr. Keetch said, followed another Oregon bishop's notifying church authorities in Pennsylvania that Mr. Curtis had been accused of having ''inappropriately touched a child'' in an Oregon congregation different from the one where he and the Scotts were later members together. To have excommunicated Mr. Curtis over his conduct would indicate it WAS a serious offense and that it was known to the church who keep meticulous records on every member.
Mr. Curtis was readmitted to membership ''after a fairly lengthy period of repentance,'' Mr. Keetch said, but never had any supervisory position over Mr. Scott and in fact had no leadership position at all. According to the church, the title of high priest is bestowed on Mormon men in good standing over the age of 40.
Mr. Keetch said he believed there was ''no church that does more either to protect children or to provide assistance to children'' who have been abused.-- This is a TOTAL LIE! The LDS leadership as the attitude that ?right or wrong we have the final say? as quoted by Oscar McKonkie Jr. attorney for Gordon Hinckley and that women and children have no rights ?as indicative by the belief and current practice of polygamy and polygamous sealings in the LDS temples of men to multiple wives in cases of divorce or death.
Utah Rape Statistics?2003
Rape Crime in Utah Well Above National Average
A federal report shows that one in five adult women in Utah?or a total of 157,000 women in the state?has been forcibly raped at least once in her lifetime. The report comes from the South Carolina-based National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center, giving Utah the top spot in the continental United States for its estimated percentage of rape victims. "Our findings clearly demonstrate the fact that Utah has a substantial rape problem," said the report from the research group, which was established and is partly funded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"I was shocked to see this," said Jamee Roberts, executive director of the Salt Lake City-based Rape Recovery Center. "I knew we were bad; I had no idea we were this bad. We should be hanging our heads in shame." She added that the numbers are reliable and can be trusted. Only Alaska (20.9% of its women raped versus 20.6% in Utah compared to 13.4% of all women nationally) has a higher rate in the United States. The estimates are said to be conservative because they do not include the cases of women who have experienced attempted rape; rapes where the women were unconscious or impaired by drugs or alcohol; or statutory rape where there was no force. (Salt Lake Tribune, 7/12/03)
Utah has highest rate of "Food Insecurity"
Child poverty rate up
Utah leads nation in bankruptcy
Excerpted from:
Salt Lake Tribune
11-24-03 B1
"Job growth reported in media, but where is it? Utahns wonder"
According to the Utah Department of Agriculture, Utah has the highest rate of "food insecurity"?a measure that reports the number of people who worry where there next meal is coming from?in the nation.
The US Census Bureau reports that the overall poverty rate in Utah jumped 1.1 percent between 2001 and 2002. Utah was one of eight states the Census Bureau found had a "significant change" in its poverty rate.
Movement of the state?s child poverty rate was even more staggering. In 2002, Utah?s child poverty rate jumped 4.3 percent, according to the Census Bureau. Only Massachusetts had a more dramatic increase in the number of children living in poverty?
Utah?s foreclosure rate is almost double that of the national average. The only alternative [for some people] to save their home is] filing for bankruptcy?another inauspicious category in which Utah leads the nation.
Utah is No 1 in Mortgage Fraud!
Utah has dismal rate of mortgage fraud. SLC is ranked No. 1 in early payment defaults
A company that monitors mortgage fraud activity nationwide has ranked the Salt Lake City metropolitan area as the worst in the country for potentially fraudulent home loans in default.
More than a third of the software programs installed in Utah homes and businesses are illegal copies, providing the state with the highest piracy rate in the country, a new study shows.
Tuesday, October 30, 2001 USA Today
Utah:Salt Lake City ? Sate officials said that domestic violence cases are climbing in Utah, unlike those in the nation overall. A U.S. Justice Department report showed that domestic violence against women in the USA fell by 41% between 1993 and 1999. Nearly 5,000 women and children stayed at Utah shelters last year, a 32% hike from 1999, according the Division of Child and Family Services.
