ADVOCATES FEAR VICTIMS MAY STAY QUIET

Newsday/Lauren Terrazzano

Michael Jackson's acquittal on charges of molesting a 13 year old boy yesterday left childadvocates concerned that other children may be scared into keeping quiet about alleged abuses.These verdicts send messages of tolerance and that scares victims into silence, said Laura Ahearnof Parents for Megan's Law, a Stony Brook-based advocacy group for children who have been sexuallymolested. She said, Here we have a child victim who has come forward - and it takes a lot ofcourage to do that...and even with that, prosecutors couldn't prove the case. It doesn't meanMichael Jackson is innocent. It means they didn't have what they needed to convict.

(New York)