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and Meetings < Return To Hearing Testimony of  Stephen Singular
July 24, 2008  July 24, 2008  Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate
Judiciary Committee,  I'm an investigative journalist and the
author of 19 non-fiction books. Since 1985, I've been writing
about that line where religion crosses over into criminal
behavior. In early 2006, my wife, Joyce, suggested that I look
into the story of Warren Jeffs and the FLDS, because she
believed that women in particular would be interested in this
story. She was right, and this is a significant point.
Historically, societies can be measured by how they treat women
and children.  That spring, I began traveling to Colorado City,
Arizona, interviewing townspeople, ex-church members, and law
enforcement. In 1953, Arizona had raided this community to root
out the FLDS polygamous lifestyle, and had failed both legally
and in terms of public opinion. Fifty years later, the state was
employing criminal investigat