First, I'm not a FLDS member. I'm a liberal and was abused as a child. I hate when children are exploited - this is why this women makes me sick. She is making money by taking innocent children away from their mothers. She is obviously exploiting this situation for her book sales.

Let's face it, this is being tried not in a Court but in the media. Without money-hungry people like her, these families would get a fair trial. Maybe some children would need foster care but not all.

She has a financial motivation for this church to look bad. How can she sleep at night knowing there are little children crying for their mothers, while she is enjoying all the money she is making?

Please don't tell me she is "saving" young girls from being married. If that was true, CPS could just "monitor" the families without traumatizing the young children. No, this is being done so children can be "reprogrammed" into an acceptable religion.

She should donate all the money she received since the raid to the FDLS children. To me, this women is the evil one - not the FDLS mothers.

I totally agree with Ms. Jessop in that Warren Jeffs has brought the flds people to this low point. His arbitrary dictates and disregard of laws and past precedents are responsible for him being in jail and the loss of over 400 children. He was a real control freak. He is now in a situation where he cannot control things, Of course his edicts to the flds did not apply to him. He was wearing shorts and in a red cadillac when he was arrested in Nevada. No wonder he is on a suicide watch in an Arizona jail.

Carolyn Jessup should be ashamed for what she has done to these innocent families. Children have been literally torn from their mothers arms. The media believes everything she has to say no matter how extreme.

When discussing the ban on the color red, Jessop also says that many women continued to wear red despite Warren'ts "revelation." Why then, if they think as individuals and not as one, were ALL the children removed?
One warrent was also used for the entire compound, though on a video at captiveldschildren shows a woman requesting a copy of the warrant for her house. If you look at the bishops records at the san angelo paper you can read that people have individual apartments. So, how comfortable are you with one search warrant for an entire apartment complex in the city?
Why do some look young? They don't apply make-up to look more "mature" as my own daughter would say. If you were told that you would be separated from your child unless you were underage, would you not also lie to stay? I certainly would not hesitate.
As far as child rape, even CPS states they have no evidence of such.
We need to go after individuals that commit crimes, not entire groups. What next, BYU married student housing? They all look painfully young to me, and just look at all those babies! Lock those men up!

just because she can write a book does not make it the truth.

Carolyn Jessop is a very brave woman. The people that ought "to be ashamed of themselves" are the men of the FLDS church who forced underage girls into marriage! It's about time someone took a stand against this. If there has been no wrongdoing then why won't these moms identify which children are theirs? Why are they lying to cover up their ages and by behaving this way, what example are they setting for their children? Child abuse is is child abuse and should not be protected under the guise of religion!!! Go Texas and Go Carolyn Jessop!

Was your family ever 'evicted' from one of these compounds for something they didn't do? Such as slight the leader with a derogatory phrase or gossip? That's about all it takes there, no freedom of speech. Your liberal ways aren't acceptable there, not one bit. And having your children taken away and reassigned to another family, or being reassigned to a new husband, how would you like that? Carolyn Jessop has motivation, all right. She wants to prevent others from the hell she went through for years in that 'church'.

And Thomas, wake up and see the reality here. Children were being torn from their fathers and given new ones, or their mothers and so forth, before this. There are documented cases of it happening within the FLDS over the past decade. So don't cry about the law taking children when the FLDS have done it also!

You are obviously an attorney. As you come on like you know all the evidence and know all the misdeeds as you allege. Get a grip.

Why does everybody always have to write a story about what they went through for money. Can't they just write in their own journals and leave it at that. I think it is fine the express concern and truthful information the help others, but I don't get writing a book about it.

Right or wrong, Texas is doing what Utah & Arizona ignored far too long. This sordid mess will continue to haunt these two states for their failure to prosecute polygamy and looking the other way over the years.

1. How can an ex-member become an unbiased athority on this group?

2. How come the whole group is lumped and judged as one?

The vidios on the FLDS site remind me on my own children.

Let the children go home.

I don't think the people of the FLDS are all bad, but Warren Jeffs twisted people with his power. They felt stuck, who do we put our faith in?

I believe what Mrs. Jessop is saying, it is being repeated by others who have left the group and now it is being documented by the Bishop's list at my eldorado dot net.Anyone with internet can read it. A 16 year old girl married to 46 yr old man with seven other wives.

@dlr

1. Nobody is claiming that she is unbiased. I have not seen that claim anywhere. All advisors on all subjects have bias, it's just reality.

2. good question!

Carolyn Jessop is an incredible strong woman and it's wonderful that she wrote a book about her ordeal. Just think, how many women might read this who live in abusing situations and will find the courage to escape them after having been inspired by her. She knows many of the people in the Eldorado compound first hand and IMHO , it was because of her that the children who are now residing in foster care are given the special treatment of being allowed their clothing style, way of life etc. She knows better than any social worker could guess how those women and children live.

On that same website you can read girls married to boys very near their own ages and as ONLY wives. Perhaps the girls wanted to be with many other women so as to have very little time with her "husband" as purposeful. Perhaps she actually liked that older men. How many girls fall "in love with" their teachers, bishops, and other influences? I know I certainly did. Why would we exclude these girls from those same feelings?

One Ex-flds woman on youtube discusses how she found Warren jeffs "to be cool" at times.

We must be very careful NOT to judge the many for the few. Yes, there is probably abuse in the FLDS compound. But, I am willing to bet there is abuse in my monogamous subdivision. Yes, there is likely some child abuse at the compound but so too based on stats by subdivision.

Funny how so many of you so called righteous folks see no wrong with men who are nothing more than child predators and sexual perverts.
The truth IS SHOWING the men of the Flds in Texas had many wives and the minor girls ARE FORCED to wed much older men and are having babies and that the women in the compound have been taught to obey the men. They even have the books from the compound to prove it.
This only goes to show the ones defending such acts and slandering this woman who escaped this lifestyle are nothing more than predators themselves who are upset that this wrongful lifestyle will soon be coming to an end.
Child service did the right thing and followed the law when childern are endangered you remove them ALL!
Defending these child and sexual predators who hide behind Gods will make me sick.
God in no shape or form said "wed the childern and make the women slaves unto man" that is a sex pervert lie and in the end we all know it is wrong.

The first LDS church in Tucson was just vandalized. I think it is another example of the religious persecution in Texas spilling out into other areas, and affecting the mainline LDS church as well as the FLDS.

I would like to ask Ms Jessop about religious bigotry. There have been many mainline Mormons affected by it in the past month.

I haven't found the perfect link yet to illustrate this fact, but it appears
to me that in America, the average age difference between spouses is for the
man to be, on average, about 3 years older than his wife.

So the FLDS *plural* marriages are actually FAIRLY CLOSE to the *norm* of
American "mainstream" society. 2/3rds simply take more than 1 wife, which is
their RELIGIOUS RIGHT under Holy Scripture (especially in a nation that
permits and CELEBRATES (ala Will and Grace, Brokeback Mountain, etc) SODOMY
prohibited by Holy Scripture).

Cindy and John McCain. John is 17 years older than Cindy.

Wende and James Doohan. There is a 37 year difference between Wende and James.

Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn. Soon-Yi is 35 years younger.

Donald Trump and Melania Knauss. Donald is 28 years older.

Martha Raye and Mark Harris. Mark was 33 years younger than Martha.

Clint and Dina Eastwood. Dina is 25 years younger.

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Catherine is 25 years younger.

Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. Annette is 21 years younger.

Francesa Annis and Ralph Fiennes. Ralph is 19 years younger.

Mary Tyler Moore and Dr. Robert Levine. Robert is 18 years younger.

Jerry Seinfeld and Jessica. Jessica is 18 years younger.

I think that some of these comments are intended to simply redirect attention away from the fact that this mess is about child abuse by sexual predators. You can only tap dance around the issue for so long.

Does it bother anyone else that so many people look at the situation and say those MEN are all "sexual predators" and "perverts" and in the same breath say that it is such a right thing to remove these children from their MOTHERS??? I have no problem saying some of those men (if not all) ARE sexual predators - PUT THEM ON TRIAL!

But, since when has it been a crime to be a MOTHER?

This woman has an ax to grind and she is giving advice.
Send the children back home now

Well, reading the comments is painful, seems like some people can't put their feet in other's shoes, would say, children's shoes, off course, men will never know how a girl feels, how a little girl feels, how a woman feels,and some women , just don't want to see reality, yeah, it's easy to live the life ignoring other's sufferings. Here in Utah, many people want only to hear good news, AM I WRONG?
Some of the comments are just disgusting since they don't stop to think of those poor children. If Carolyn Jessop, who was part of all that can't comment, can others?

If you "know" and do nothing, you're an accessory. If you "suspect" and do nothing, you become callused. If there is a remote possibility of ANY abuse, I believe we have the DUTY to investigate. My husband and I were investigated by CPS because a school nurse thought we were not taking proper medical care of our diabetic daughter. While the process was uncomfortable, and we were found innocent of all allegations, we were cooperative and had to be grateful that someone else was concerned enough about our child to CARE! I don't care who writes books, who makes money, who gets on TV, etc. Who Cares!! I care that the children are safe, the allegations are investigated, the state determines who the guilty parties are, and laws are put in place so this NEVER happens again! This is about CHILDREN. I think people enjoy hearing themselves and have lost 'some' of the focus of what this is about. It is ONLY about the CHILDREN!

"Torn from their mother's arms"? Who are you people,
anyway? Don't you get it? Many of these babies and
children were ALREADY torn from their 'mothers'arms at birth and given to other FLDS members to raise!
That's why many of the children don't know who their biological parents really are! It has been substantiated from OTHER former FLDS members that the Jeffs era sytematically broke down family ties
within the FLDS culture by placing babies with other
"mothers" and "daddies". That is why Texas HAD to
order DNA testing!
The switching and changing ID bracelets at the coliseum caused great havoc! The Fear was most
likely because some of the mothers have children
other than biological children! And what if their
last names are really Jeffs or Jessop? Can you
imagine The Fear?
This mess is going to go down in college textbooks
for years to come. I hope all of society learns bigtime from this, because we have milestones to go yet before we call ourselves MORAL and stop abuses
in this world!
Please watch May 7 National Geog Channel 'Strong
City'. It should be an eye opener to further
illustrate what can happen in a closed society.

All those hollywood stars, had a choice!! And I don't believe they were "married" when they were minors!!!!

* Of 37 families that filled out 2007 census sheets, 24 were plural
families and 13 were monogamous couples.

* The average age of men in plural families was 38.

* The average age of men in monogamous unions was 24.

* The average age of women in plural families was 31.

* The average age of women in monogamous unions was 21.

* Five families had 20 or more children.

* Seven families had no children.

So, even in the plural familes, the

AVERAGE AGE DIFFERENCE

was only 7 years.

That was the BISHOP'S records (their private internal 2007 census) that were SEIZED from the ranch...

...so you know it's the truth. They had no way of knowing that the Texas Nazis were coming...

It's not about the adults. Polygamist or not. The children were perceived to be in danger and were rescued from that danger. They also could have been assumed to be abandoned as the adults would not identify their own children or provide proof that they were indeed their's. Their own parents and or guardians caused this whole mess. When you choose the behavior you choose the consequences. I'm hearing a lot of reluctant adults on these posts who do not face responsibility for their own decisions. Otherwise they would readily recognize the source of this situation. I think most of these people will be reunited and be the better off for it. They will not teach their children to flaunt the law of the land. They will teach them to work to change laws that don't work. The privilege we all have.

Here is the major difference, all of these women were adults when they married. They were not being encouraged to marry to comply with some religious dictate and they were free to divorce and leave those men anytime they so chose.

But the younger women in the examples above weren't children when they were...

raped.

Because that's what it is when a child is "married" to an adult.

Carolyn is doing a great job taking an apportunity to promote her book. I have lived in the same town as she was raised in and even new her. And all I seen is how was supported by husband and sister wives to have her job and go as far as she could with it. I don't care if she left or excaped as she puts it. But to write a book that would hurt inacent people including what she use to call her children (step-children) under the desigise of helping makes me want to vomit. We make choices and every choice has a consequence lets make sure our choices don't hurt inacent people. Her own daughter has a different story to tell. GET A CLUE

"Why does everybody always have to write a story about what they went through for money. Can't they just write in their own journals and leave it at that."

Such a judgemental, self-serving assessment of Carolyn Jessop's book must have been written by someone who doesn't want to truth of what has been happening within the FLDS community exposed.

It's quite obvious that Carolyn's main motivation for writing her book was to uncover the lies and deceit that have been perpetrated by Warren Jeffs in the guise of "revelations" and how Jeffs edicts have caused so much grief for the FLDS people.

If you truly care about the FLDS people, you should be applauding the opportunity these people, especially the children, are being given to escape from the clutches of Warren Jeffs "leadership," in part, because of Carolyn's courage.

"Thank you E. Collins" hits the nail squarely on the head. I am reading this from outside of Utah, and some of the comments here make you guys's Utah Mormon culture look pretty bad.

"You can only tap dance around the issue for so long."
-----------

Don't bet on it. It's quite evident that many here will tap dance till Uncle Warren says: "Stop" and of course he won't.

When is anyone in the media going to ask Ms Jessop a single tough question. For example, "how can we verify that your book is accurate?"

I think it is absurd that people are actually taking the time to discuss the vast age differences between many couples. Here is the BIG DIFFERENCE- thise people CHOSE to marry one another. They had a full variety of choices availbale to them, unlike many of the FLDS girls who were FORCED to be married. Let's not forget that until modern times, most specifically after the two feminist movements in the 20th century, marriage was often a transaction in which the women (very often teenage girls) were treated as property. Women have fought hard to have choices available to them and when one group determines that they are not going to allow people to exercise their free will and choice, there is a major problem. It seems to me that people are willfully ignorning the fact that this is not about religion or polygamy- this is about CHILD ABUSE. And if Carolyn Jessop makes money from her story, more power to her. She risked her life and that of her children to escape, is now a single parent and has been very specific to criticize FLDS under Warren Jeffs, not the FLDS in general.

justthefactsmaan you cannot compare those realtionships with polygamy. THE FLDS is only one group of poligs that do this. Not too long ago we had one of the Kingston lot in for forcing his 16 year daughter off onto his brother who raped her and left her in a shanty in Salt Lake City - There are many groups that need to be investigated in Utah but our AG and powers to be are ignoring them even though taxpayers are supporting the spiritual wives and children. Yep taxpayers are supporting these religious groups

Dear justthefactsmaam: every example you cited involved adults, with the possible exception of Woody Allen and his step-daughter. There is an obvious difference between two independent grown-ups marrying and a 14-yr-old becoming a man's 7th wife. BTW, my husband is 12 years my senior, but I met him at age 45. Get a grip, guy.

all you flds defenders....go to youtube and watch warren jeff's jail house confession. he admits he is a wicked man..he says it! right there from the 'phophet's mouth...

the end

What's wrong kiddies?

Feeling DUPED by Carolyn who LIED to you about this "pervasive systematic" pattern of "dirty old goats" so-called "raping" little baby girls?

And then the FACTS come out AFTER the APCs and the 700 "men" with dozens of machine guns STORM the place and turn ALL HELL lose (it's a wonder that some woman didn't miscarry in all the stress; and still might as the stress is ongoing) and the FACTS are that the age different for the 1/3 of the mongamous men is 3 stinkin' years and the age difference for the plural men is 7 stinkin' years.

But HATERS never HAVE had the capacity for DECENCY and SHAME...

I would like to wish the mothers in YFZ ranch a Happy Mothers Day and may they get their kidnapped babies back soon.
Has that book made the best sellers list yet? The publisher should be making a lot of money while they are putting out these press releases along with the personal appearances by the author.
Not FLDS.

E. Collins

There is a huge disconnect here, where for constitutional reasons, the FLDS have become a pon in a larger national debate. The victims have become secondary or 3rd to whether religion is protected or not. Pedophilia, INCEST, rape of a
child, child endangerment/abandonement can be ignored and to most outside of Utah, this is scary!

In context I lived in Utah 10 years, I was the FOR KIDS SAKE child abuse prevention representative of Utah and Arizona. I lived 22 miles from Hildale/Colorado City! I had clients, police reports, recorded conversations and more. But this said it took me 7 years to see minor results, because of the broader mindset of the outside community, because of a tollerance, to allow such groups to self govern and self police their own abuses.

Colorado City had its own polygamous Police force, their own Mayor, in Hildale their own judge in Walter Steed. What the defenders, church apologist and constitutionalist don't realize is those of us who are appauld, want to see this through and defending pedophiles perpetuates the negative images of both the mainstream church & the state! Refusal to protect or understand the victims is what fuels this.

Monogamist FLDS woman: oh SAVE ME! SAVE ME! I'm 21 and my husband is 3 years older than me...

Plural Wife FLDS woman: oh SAVE ME! SAVE ME! I'm 31 and my husband is 7 years older than me!

For those that need glasses or Hooked on Phonics.

FLDS Monogamist marriages: men avg age 24, women 21
FLDS Polygamous marriages: men avg age 38, women 31

Are you still going to persist in your hysteria?

How about we send CPS in to check every girl 12 yrs old and older? If even ONE is found to be 'with child', then let's clear out all the kids from your church, your neighborhood and your city. Better yet, we can even get someone to make a fake call into CPS so they have the 'probable cause'.

I want the same standards applied throughout Texas, not just to one relgious sect (who happens to be nutters, but that's different).

Have any of you criticizing Carolyn Jessop actually read her book? I just finished it and I really think you'd have to read it before fairly criticizing her. As she and AG Mark Shurtleff say, she was the first woman to get out of that community with ALL of her children. The rest are stopped or their children taken back. She lived on just hundreds of dollars a month after she got out and fought to get the state even interested in her case. Her book is meant to educate people and help those still stuck in the FLDS. Sure, she'll get some money, but if you even believe one page she's written, she and her kids deserve it.

It blows me away that this woman has this much power when she has done nothing to earn it. But then, it's typical these days. The ones with no proof, but a loud voice, get all the attention, while the ones who actually speak the truth get ignored.

Regarding the "31" women that have been pregnant at least once in their life...

...have you read the SLC Tribune article where it is pointed out that these "14 to 17" women are women as old as 28 that have LIED about their ages in order to stay with their children? CPS is only allowing "minor" mothers to STAY with their children. What mother wouldn't like about her age and say you were YOUNGER than what you actually are to stay with your children?

CPS *knows* that only 5 or 6 AT MOST of these women are actually minors under the age of 18. It serves their PROPAGANDA purposes (like an 8.8% bone breakage rate is evidence of abuse when in fact it's PROOF of loving amazing car considering that 50% of all children have broken bones by age 18 and 15% of all children have broken bones by age 8).

It simply confounds me that people BELIEVE EVERYTHING that their government in THIS country tells them.

I have a rule.

When a government official's LIPS are MOVING, I assume they are lying.

Until PROVEN otherwise.

LYING until PROVEN truthful.

I guess my discomfort with this story is that I find it difficult to imagine how people choose to not think for themselves. It scares me, to be honest, to think that in the 21st century this kind of feudal thinking goes on. I have a child & find it repulsive to imagine making a decision based on my religious beliefs that takes away the rights of that child. Children need to be raised in an environment where their welfare should be the primary concern of the parent. I strive to raise my child in an open environment where he is able to make his own decisions based on the guidance, not the orders of his parents. As he gets older, I feel he will be able to decide what religion he wants to be, what his moral & political beliefs are & how HE wants to live his life.
It seems to me that dogmatic thinking such as is employed by the FLDS and other fundamental groups subvert our ability to raise critical thinking, mentally stable, contributing members of society.