So if young children are the victims of these sex crimes, who are the perpetrators? Answer: dads and other male relatives (St. Johns, Arizona)

It's all very discreet, focusing on the "young crime victims" (children who are sexually abused) who are getting "life sentences" (a lifetime of psychological issues). But what needs to be brought into focus is who the perpetrators are, and how we can get them out out of the homes of these children. Because make no mistake: many perpetrators are fathers or other male family members.

Check this out:

According to a survey of state prison inmates conducted by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, a third of sex abuse offenders had committed the crime against their own children and half had victimized children that were either friends, acquaintances or relatives other than offspring.

http://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/article_b7ce89de-b6ec-11df-adab-001cc4c002e0.html

Young crime victims get life sentences
Posted: Monday, September 6, 2010 5:00 am Updated: 1:25 pm, Sun Sep 5, 2010.

Terence Corrigan - The Independent

ST. JOHNS – Police here investigate what seems to be an endless string of sex offenses against children. In this city of just under 4,000 people, there are crimes against children as heinous as any city, anywhere.

Given the small size and close-knit nature of St. Johns, and the concern most families here have for their children, the number of child molestation cases seems unusually high.

But, Detective Deborah Neckel says, the number of cases here is about average. “I would say we’re exactly at the national average,” she said in an interview this week. “But, if I didn’t have outside people to talk to then I would probably feel that this can’t be going on everywhere, this is horrible,” she said. “But because I go to these conferences and trainings with people all around Arizona, I see that the same stuff is going on everywhere. We see a lot of it here in our small community but it’s the same everywhere, sadly enough.”

Recent arrests by St. Johns police include:

A 40-year-old St. Johns man, arrested June 24, is charged with child prostitution and sexually abusing a girl from the age of 11 to age 13. Police believe the same man may have sexually abused a boy and drugged and raped his adult daughter. The man is currently out on bail, allowed to conduct his business around the state, while awaiting trial.

Fourteen days earlier, police arrested a 43-year-old St. Johns man on three counts of molesting a child and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor. Victims in this case include a girl and two boys. Possible perpetrators connected with this case, in addition to the father, include an uncle and one of the victims.

July 14, police arrested a 53-year-old St. Johns man, charging him with molesting his two teenage sons – ages 13 and 14. One of the boys also admitted to raping his brother. Both boys said they were often hungry. The 14-year-old was 4 foot 8 inches tall and weighed 85 pounds when the boys were taken from the home. The younger boy was 4 foot 4 inches tall and weighed 80 pounds.

In all three of these cases the men were allegedly abusing their own children or children they live with.

According to a survey of state prison inmates conducted by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, a third of sex abuse offenders had committed the crime against their own children and half had victimized children that were either friends, acquaintances or relatives other than offspring.

This crime is most common at home.

If the allegations are true in these three local cases, there are now at least eight local victims. Abuse victims are highly likely to themselves victimize children.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated that from 1986 to 1993 the number of incidents of child abuse and neglect nearly doubled. With each predator victimizing more than one child, the rate is constantly rising, geometrically. The 53-year-old man who allegedly molested his sons told St. Johns police that his sister-in-law’s son had also molested one of his sons five or six years before, when the boy was eight or nine years old. He told police he didn’t report it because it was his sister-in-law’s responsibility to take care of the problem. When police asked the man why he had not reported it when one of his sons raped the other one, he told them he had “reported the molestation to the Bishop of his church and the Bishop was going to speak with (the boy) about the situation.”

The man described one aof his sons to police as “a very nasty, disgusting little boy.”

One of the sons in this case told police that in addition to the sex abuse, their father had subjected them to other acts of cruelty. One activity they told police about was what their father called “Hell days.” On “Hell days,” their father would force them to scrub the house from end-to-end with toothbrushes. The boys said they were spanked with a wooden paddle with five holes bored through it to make it sting more. One of the boys told police his father “smacks him on the back of the head causing headaches.”

In the case of the 40-year-old St. Johns man who is accused of enticing an 11-year-old girl into sexual activity, police said, the man acted like the classic predator, grooming his victim over time. He is charged with child prostitution for allegedly enticing the girl into sexual activity with “money, food and gifts.” The girl told police that the man had raped her. Her mother wrote in an email, complaining about the news story, that the girl was mistaken, that she was young and didn’t know the definition of the word “rape.”

Before this month, there were six registered sex offenders living in St. Johns. Five of the six were listed as an “intermediate” risk of re-offending. One is considered “high” risk. The oldest offender is 69, the youngest 28. Their average age is 49. All were convicted of molesting children. Another registered sex offender just moved to St. Johns. He is 43 years old and was convicted of rape and assault. All the offenders are male.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 96 percent of sexual assaults are committed by males.

One prominent researcher, Dr. Gene Abel, claims that between 1 and 5 percent of the population molests children. If that percentage held true in smaller communities, in St. Johns (population approximately 3,675) somewhere between 37 and 183 people molest children. Given the low rate of reporting, the number may be accurate.

Two-thirds of all prison inmates convicted of rape or sexual assault committed their crimes against a child, according to a 1991 survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Sex offenders often face long prison sentences, in some cases multiple life terms. But, the victims in these crimes also face a life sentence of psychological imprisonment.

Common long-term effects on victims of child sex abuse include:

* Drug and alcohol abuse

* Failed personal and romantic relationships

* Loss of religious faith, in cases of clergy abuse

* Disinterest in family relationships

* Disintegration of a family

* Poor self-esteem

* Feelings of deep depression

* Difficulties with casual social relationships

* Feelings of isolation and despair

* Loss of trust in authority figures and institutions who don’t report child molestation

* Despair in reaction to persecuting attitudes of police

* Anger

* Inappropriate sexual behavior

* Poor work habits

Warning signs that a child may be a victim of sex abuse include:

The child shows a sudden change in behavior or academic performance.

The child has not received treatment for medical or physical problems.

The child has difficulty concentrating or learning but has no specific learning impairments or physical or psychological problems.

The child is overly vigilant, as if expecting something bad to happen.

The child seems to lack adult supervision.

The child is overly compliant, passive or withdrawn.

The child does not want to go home.

In the case of the two teen boys who were allegedly molested by their father, one of the boys asked police to arrest him so he wouldn’t have to go home.

One of the boys described violence in the home. He told police that his father called him names to arouse his anger, “so he (the boy) will fight him.” He told police he had once hit his father in the jaw because his father was yelling at his mother. The boy told police that his father had killed the family’s pet bird with a fork.

Child abuse is taught. “It’s learned as a child,” Neckel said. “It’s more common with those that don’t get reported and then they (the victims) continue to do the same thing. That’s one of the big problems with non-reporting. It just continues.”

One of the front-line intervenors in child sex abuse cases are school resource officers. Although stationing police officers in schools is mostly seen as a reaction to school violence, “SROs typically focus their functions on the ‘Triad Model’ consisting of law enforcement, student counseling, and law-related education,” according to National School Safety and Security Services, a school safety consulting firm.

In developing trust with children and having “age appropriate talks with kids,” Neckel said, children do open up and report. “I had tons of things reported to me when I was a school resource officer...Sometimes they don’t report what’s being done to them; they don’t know what’s being done to them is wrong, because it’s what’s been done to them for so long. They’ve been groomed. But, once they’ve been told that it’s wrong that’s when they’re going to start reaching out. We need more education.”

All 50 states require professionals to report child abuse and neglect, in order to receive federal funding under the 1996 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.

All states require certain professionals and institutions to report suspected child abuse, including health care providers and facilities of all types, mental health care providers of all types, teachers and other school personnel, social workers, day care providers and law enforcement personnel. Some states make it mandatory for “any person” to report. Arizona requires that anyone who “reasonably believes” that there has been child abuse “shall” report it to a police officer or Arizona Child Protective Services. The State specifically requires reporting by many health care and education professionals, and also clergy.

All states have toll-free hotlines to report child abuse and neglect. In Arizona the number is 1(888)- SOS-CHILD (767-2445). Reports may also be filed anonymously with local police departments. The number for St. Johns police is 337-2440. If you wish to remain anonymous, do not call 911 and do not give your name to police. If you do give your name police are obligated to include it in a report which is a public record. Also, Neckel said, “if we have a child that’s being hurt, we’ll use whatever it’s going to take for me to rescue that child,” including the use of a witness. “I will have to use names if I know them. So if you have to stay anonymous call in and don’t tell me who you are. We don’t trace phone calls.”

• Reach the reporter at tcorrigan@wmicentral.com.