Juvenile Sex Offenders

[IWannaKnow]

I found these articles while researching something else. I had not seen these and would like some other opinions about them.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-01-03-kid-sex-offenders_N.htm

Study: Many sex offenders are kids themselves

Finkelhor says only about 10% of juvenile offenders have signs of "sexual preoccupation," an indicator of a pedophile. He says teen offenses include date rape. In the case of offenders age 12 or 13, it is often sexual experimentation with younger kids.

Early sex education is key to teaching boundaries and preventing such experimentation, Finkelhor says.

The study, based on 2004 law enforcement data, finds that juvenile sex offenders commonly target children younger than they are. Their numbers increase sharply at age 12 and plateau at 14. Female offenders are younger.
more at link~

and

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/06/national/main6464820.shtml

New Divide Over How to Treat Young Sex Offenders

Twenty-one states currently require juveniles convicted of a serious sex crime to register with law enforcement, according to an Associated Press review of state laws and interviews with state officials.

In 19 other states, only juveniles convicted as adults or who move from a state that requires registration are required to provide their information to authorities. In the remaining states, the laws vary. In Nevada, for instance, a juvenile sex offender can petition a judge to set aside registration requirements.

more at link ~
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Thoughts??

 

[fhc]

It would be nice to have a thread with this link for reference

Welcome to the Crimes Against Children Research Center

http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/

I went to this website looking for the study, but only found his books under publications. It would have been helpful to see further information on the study. They do have a family research lab

http://unh.edu/frl/

Were the statistics based on data gathered here only or ???

 

[Linda7NJ]

I found these articles while researching something else. I had not seen these and would like some other opinions about them.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-01-03-kid-sex-offenders_N.htm

Study: Many sex offenders are kids themselves

Finkelhor says only about 10% of juvenile offenders have signs of "sexual preoccupation," an indicator of a pedophile. He says teen offenses include date rape. In the case of offenders age 12 or 13, it is often sexual experimentation with younger kids.

Early sex education is key to teaching boundaries and preventing such experimentation, Finkelhor says.

The study, based on 2004 law enforcement data, finds that juvenile sex offenders commonly target children younger than they are. Their numbers increase sharply at age 12 and plateau at 14. Female offenders are younger.
more at link~

and

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/06/national/main6464820.shtml

New Divide Over How to Treat Young Sex Offenders

Twenty-one states currently require juveniles convicted of a serious sex crime to register with law enforcement, according to an Associated Press review of state laws and interviews with state officials.

In 19 other states, only juveniles convicted as adults or who move from a state that requires registration are required to provide their information to authorities. In the remaining states, the laws vary. In Nevada, for instance, a juvenile sex offender can petition a judge to set aside registration requirements.

more at link ~
************************************************

Thoughts??

I have a ton of opinions on this very subject as I have personally had to deal with this issue.

I don't even know where to begin...........

I will say....the juvenile that raped my child, at knife point, was court ordered into a RTC for sex offenders.

Apparently, the term "sex offender" is used very casually to include a 14 year old that snapped girl's bra straps in school one too many times and the parents filed charges. While I find that behavior inappropriate, I do not feel it rises to the level of "sex offender." Juvenile "treatment" centers regularly use cases like bra snappers to inflate their numbers of positive outcomes.

The reality is, a child that uses grooming predatory behavior, threatens, or forces a weaker or younger child into sex acts...can't be fixed. Their brains are now hardwired to become aroused. You can try to teach them, how to avoid their own arousal cycle, triggers etc...but ...IMO it is not successful. Basically, "treatment" teaches them how to mimic empathy, and parrot what the therapist wants to hear. It makes them more manipulative...basically a more stealthy "sex offender"

 

[IWannaKnow]

Thank you Linda7NJ. I have to agree. I think that the first sex act/s sets a person up for what arouses them throughout their life, and once they have been imprinted for something hurtful or wrong, it simply goes underground and gets even stronger because it is now taboo and each subsequent episode strengthens the attraction. I do not believe this can be corrected, only controlled with extreme willpower, which is exactly why these individuals are soooooo dangerous. I do agree that the sex offender registry may be doing more harm than good, however, due to the number of spurious things people get registered for. That registry should be strictly for violent, agressive sexual offenders - not sexting, bra popping, peeping toms, consensual underage sex, etc.....that is a complete disservice to the victims and society in general, not to mention the people whom the title has been attached for inappropriate behaviors such as these.

This statement from the USAToday link had me scratching my head:
""I've seen the whole spectrum," from serious and even sadistic crimes to 16-year-old boys having sex with 13-year-old girlfriends, says psychiatrist Fred Berlin, founder of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic. He says research shows the vast majority of juvenile sex offenders don't become adult ones."

If that is true, where are all our current sex offenders coming from? Is the statistic that most sex offenders were molested as children then patently false??? He does not give any rational or statistics to back up his statement, which is reckless IMO. Or does it simply mean that we have scads of juvenile sex offenders, but most of them grow out of it and do not reoffend? Apples and oranges IMO - and frightening! What are the signs that they will grow into adult offenders?? More information - less placating please!

This also is disturbing to me - from the same link:
Juveniles are 36% of all sex offenders who victimize children. Seven out of eight are at least 12 years old, and 93% are boys, says the study by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

So, that means (to me) that more than a third of sex offenders of children are male children over the age of 12. That implies to me puberty and that on some level we should just say "oh, little Johnny just discovered sex. He molested little Nancy (or James!), but it was just his hormones at work, we should overlook that"......isn't that setting little Johnny up to become big Johnny who simply takes what he wants because he can??

I would be interested to conduct an experiment where we test all female sex offenders and determine what their testerone level is compared to normal females.....

 

[Linda7NJ]

Thank you Linda7NJ. I have to agree. I think that the first sex act/s sets a person up for what arouses them throughout their life, and once they have been imprinted for something hurtful or wrong, it simply goes underground and gets even stronger because it is now taboo and each subsequent episode strengthens the attraction. I do not believe this can be corrected, only controlled with extreme willpower, which is exactly why these individuals are so dangerous. I do agree that the sex offender registry may be doing more harm than good, however, due to the number of spurious things people get registered for. That registry should be strictly for violent, aggressive sexual offenders - not sexting, bra popping, peeping toms, consensual underage sex, etc.....that is a complete disservice to the victims and society in general, not to mention the people whom the title has been attached for inappropriate behaviors such as these.

This statement from the USA Today link had me scratching my head:
""I've seen the whole spectrum," from serious and even sadistic crimes to 16-year-old boys having sex with 13-year-old girlfriends, says psychiatrist Fred Berlin, founder of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic. He says research shows the vast majority of juvenile sex offenders don't become adult ones."

If that is true, where are all our current sex offenders coming from? Is the statistic that most sex offenders were molested as children then patently false??? He does not give any rational or statistics to back up his statement, which is reckless IMO. Or does it simply mean that we have scads of juvenile sex offenders, but most of them grow out of it and do not re offend? Apples and oranges IMO - and frightening! What are the signs that they will grow into adult offenders?? More information - less placating please!

This also is disturbing to me - from the same link:
Juveniles are 36% of all sex offenders who victimize children. Seven out of eight are at least 12 years old, and 93% are boys, says the study by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

So, that means (to me) that more than a third of sex offenders of children are male children over the age of 12. That implies to me puberty and that on some level we should just say "oh, little Johnny just discovered sex. He molested little Nancy (or James!), but it was just his hormones at work, we should overlook that"......isn't that setting little Johnny up to become big Johnny who simply takes what he wants because he can??

I would be interested to conduct an experiment where we test all female sex offenders and determine what their testerone level is compared to normal females.....

Bold and red by me

According to published studies of adult male sex offenders incarcerated and polygraphed the MAJORITY were never molested as children. They simply lie about it and the ones that actually were victims as children, lie about it. IMO The only conclusion I can draw from the study...sex offenders are notorious LIARS!

Like I said, it all depends HOW "sex offender" is defined. The numbers are skewed. The statistics of successful outcomes are created to protect a HUGE industry of "treatment" for the untreatable. IMO The truth is, very often violent sexual predators can be identified as young children. Society isn't yet comfortable writing them off as untreatable....based solely on the fact that they ARE children.


I think testing hormone levels could prove interesting, but I believe the problem is in the brain. People say castrate male sex offenders...but IMO it wouldn't change their brain or their "sexual orientation". All the therapy in the world isn't going to change who another is sexually attracted to.