Amish and Old Order Mennonite Charges in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Rising, Officials and Leader Say

Drunken driving and sex abuse are the crimes most often committed by local members of Plain sects in Lancaster County, according to the source. Local law-enforcement officials and one Amish leader say more Amish and Old Order Mennonites are being charged there than ever before.

The leader, a 70-year-old man from Leola, said the increase reflects a larger community. “There are more of us now,” he said. “Thirty or 50 years ago, the church could keep a tighter cap on it.” He asked not to be identified because Amish culture frowns on individuals calling attention to themselves.

He attributed the rise to a steady growth in population and to new technology, mainly the Internet, cellphones and smartphones. “Today, they are more apt to get into trouble,” he said. “Years ago, there didn’t seem to be as many (crimes).”

Law-enforcement officials said crimes committed by Plain people still make up a very small percentage of the overall crime rate in the county. Mark Wilson, director of county parole and probation services, said about 9,000 people in the county are currently under court supervision. “Some of it might have been overlooked or accepted (in their communities) years ago,” Wilson said.

The leader said it is now harder for Plain-sect parents to keep watch over their children. Many parents, he said, now work construction-type jobs and tend stands at markets among the English. “They are exposed. They have the phones,” he said. “They are told to stay away from smartphones and the Internet because we don’t want it. We don’t want it!” Protecting the young from harm is a responsibility he described as more difficult today (Psalm 82:3).

Local officials said police enforcement has increased within Plain communities overall. District Attorney Craig Stedman has a panel of law-enforcement and court officials that meets regularly with Plain-sect elders and leaders. Strasburg police Chief Steven Echternach, one of Stedman’s liaisons, described the change as gradual. “It’s an evolution, so to speak. This isn’t something that just happened,” he said. “There had been some naiveté to the ways of the world.”

Wilson estimated that more than three-quarters of Plain people under supervision had committed DUIs or sex offenses, and Stedman agreed that these are the most common offenses. Officials said young members of Plain sects seem most susceptible to drunk-driving arrests. Young men raised in Amish communities are allowed to drive motor vehicles until they join the church.

Source: Read the original report