Paul A. Mones

Paul A. Mones is an American lawyer and author. Mones specializes in representing victims of child sexual abuse against institutions like the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church. He has also defended children accused of parricide. He is the author of the books When a Child Kills: Abused Children Who Kill Their Parents and Stalking Justice: The Dramatic True Story of the Detective Who First Used DNA Testing to Catch a Serial Killer .

Early life

Paul A. Mones received his BA from the State University of New York at Buffalo and completed his JD at the University of North Carolina Law School. After law school he became a staff lawyer for West Virginia Legal Services. He eventually became the director of a juvenile justice program in Morgantown, West Virginia.[1] He has practiced law in Portland, Oregon and currently practices in Los Angeles.[2]

Legal career

During the 1980s and 1990s, Mones was described as the only lawyer in the United States specializing on the defense of sexually abused and physically abused children accused of killing their parents.[3] Between 1981 and 1993, Mones defended or acted as a consultant on more than two hundred parricide cases.[4] Lenore Walker said of Mones that, “Paul has really been a pioneer in this area … The abuse has never been a core issue (in parricide). Paul understood that and locked onto it.”[5] Mones’ advocacy work also extended to developing public service announcements about child abuse with organizations like the NBA.[6]

In 2010 in Portland, Oregon, Mones won a $19.9 million verdict against the Boy Scouts of America filed by a former scout who had been sexually abused by his Scout leader in the mid-1980s.[7] This verdict resulted in the release of the Perversion Files that had been maintained by the Boy Scouts for about ninety years. The files, which were released for the period 1965 through 1985, detailed the sexual abuse of scouts by their adult leaders. The case was a part of Mones’ practice representing victims of child sexual abuse against authority figures in public and religious organizations.[8][9]

Mones has also been quoted in the press regarding child’s rights advocacy and sexual abuse cases.[10] Interviews with Mones about his work have appeared in segments for television news shows such as CNN, Frontlines,[2] Oprah,[11] 60 Minutes, and 20/20.[12]

Writing

In 1985, Mones authored the study The Relationship Between Parricide and Child Abuse: An Overview,[13] on the relationship between parricide and child abuse. In his work, Mones argued that his case studies that the primary reason teens killed their parents was because they believed no one would help end their abuse, and that the abuse was likely to escalate into their own demise.[14] In 1991 Mones authored the book When a Child Kills: Abused Children Who Kill Their Parents.[15] In his book he claimed that most American runaway children leave home to escape parental abuse,[16] and that most of the cases of children killing their parents in the US are the result of child abuse.[17] Mones also wrote of cases in which sexually abused children would deny the abuse even after the homicide because of shame and embarrassment.[18]

In 1996, Mones wrote Stalking Justice: The Dramatic True Story of the Detective Who First Used DNA Testing to Catch a Serial Killer, a true crime story concerning the first time DNA was used in rape-murder case in the United States.[19] Kirkus Reviews wrote of the book that, “Mones brings to his story gritty, specific descriptions of high-tech forensics that will fascinate true-crime buffs and mystery fans alike. Novelistic suspense, strong characterization, plus state-of- the-art crime-solving add up to a natural for summer reading lists.”[20]

Mones has also been a contributor to periodicals including The Huffington Post[21] and the American Bar Association Journal.[22]

Recognition

In 1993 Mones received the Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award from the American Bar Association.[13]

External links

References

  1. ↑ "When Child Kills Parent, It's Sometimes to Survive". The New York Times. 14 February 1992.
  2. 1 2 "when kids get life". 8 May 2007.
  3. ↑ Association, American Bar (1 May 1992). "ABA Journal". American Bar Association – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "When A Child Kills A Parent, Does Abuse Forgive The Act?".
  5. ↑ ABRAMS, GARRY (7 June 1989). "Defender of the Indefensible : Paul Mones Sees Terrified Kids Where Others See Parent Killers" – via LA Times.
  6. ↑ ABRAMS, GARRY (31 December 1989). "'89 Encores: On this last day of the year, and of the 1980s, the View staff pays a return visit to some of the people who made news in 1989. : A Point of Departure" – via LA Times.
  7. ↑ Times, NY. "Attorney Paul Mones Wins $18.5 Million In Abuse Lawsuit".
  8. ↑ Kamil, Amos; Elder, Sean (3 November 2015). "Great Is the Truth: Secrecy, Scandal, and the Quest for Justice at the Horace Mann School". Macmillan – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ "Prep-School Predators". The New York Times. 10 June 2012.
  10. ↑ pnoonan2. "A Response to Bishop O'Hara".
  11. ↑ "Abuse as a child led her to kill parents, inmate says In the first legal case of its kind in Md., daughter asks to be freed after 18 years".
  12. ↑ "School violence starts at home, lawyer says". 5 August 1999.
  13. 1 2 Association, American Bar (1 October 1993). "ABA Journal". American Bar Association – via Google Books.
  14. ↑ Association, American Bar (1 June 1987). "ABA Journal". American Bar Association – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ "Expert calls Newtown shooting "fundamentally different" because it started with matricide".
  16. ↑ Becker, Gavin De (15 May 2013). "Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane)". Random House Publishing Group – via Google Books.
  17. ↑ King, Gary C. (15 September 2003). "Angels of Death". Macmillan – via Google Books.
  18. ↑ Dutton, Donald; Golant, Susan (1 August 2008). "The Batterer: A Psychological Profile". Basic Books – via Google Books.
  19. ↑ ROMERO, DENNIS (10 July 1995). "New Respect for the New Centurions : For Paul Mones, Writing About Death and DNA Shattered Long-Held Prejudices About the Police" – via LA Times.
  20. ↑ "STALKING JUSTICE by Paul A. Mones - Kirkus Reviews".
  21. ↑ Abuse, Paul Mones Attorney for Victims of Sexual (11 November 2011). "The Perfect Crime".
  22. ↑ Association, American Bar (1 September 1999). "ABA Journal". American Bar Association – via Google Books.
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