Sexual abuse is prevalent worldwide which is extremely eye opening especially since a good portion involves children under the age of eighteen (18). There are many types of abusive situations where children are involved. The psychological effects that sexual abuse leaves behind will last a lifetime even with all of the therapy available. There are many types of offenders but the focus here will be more on child sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Child sex offenders are described as feeling a sense of worthlessness, not able to handle adult relationships as well as low self-esteem. The author describes the offender as having similar characteristics to rapists. The child doesn’t threaten the offender which makes it easy to communicate …show more content…
However, if the child is not monitored or educated properly, it could leave the child vulnerable and the person on the other end could be a child sex offender grooming the child. Children can be exploited through sexting, pornography including virtual child pornography, pimps & prostitution and human trafficking rings (Terry, 2015, p 139, 149-150; 152-153). Children that are abused may not be aware of what is or isn’t abuse if they are too young which can go unreported for a long period of time or not reported at all. Also, they may be afraid because their abuser threatened them, especially if this is a human trafficking situation. There are many emotions that children go through after abuse and ways they cope with it. As with death, there are phases that sexually abused victims go through. That is of reactions after learning coping mechanisms for abusive situations which are “denial, anger, grief, depression, taking action and acceptance”. The initial reaction is shock and the victim will feel guilt and shame. Not only does the victim go through all of this but the victim’s family has to go through this with them (Terry, 2013, p.
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their
The Sex Offender Act 1997 stated that people who have been convicted of a Sexual offence must register their address with police and may be served with an order preventing them from going near places where children are.
Sexual abuse can be hard to define because of the many different forms it can take on, the different levels of frequency, the variation of circumstances that can occur. Until a child is fit to function as a self-supporting and informed adult, we have an obligation not to take advantage of their lack of power or protection to inflict damage, or demand submission to acts that are not in their own best interests within. Children are being abused every day in different countries. While commonly accepted wisdom had been that childhood sexual abuse results in long lasting negative outcomes.
While sexually deviant behavior among juveniles is not a new phenomenon there has been a dramatic increase in the concern of this problem over the last two decades. As the number of juvenile sex offenders arrested increases, the recognition of it as a serious issue also increases. The anxiety over juvenile sex crimes has led to a wide variety of research being conducted to determine if there are antecedent traits in offenders. The tremendous data collected and analyzed to try to understand the factors leading a juvenile to sexually violate has piloted a wide range of theories and also much disagreement among professionals about the appropriate consequences a violator must face.
One of the most perverse traumas experienced by children is sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is an unfortunate reality for many children all over the world. Most
When one thinks of a young child one thinks of joy, innocence, and being carefree. Too often than not though that innocence is taken from a young child through sexual abuse. Studies have shown over and over again that a child who has been sexually abused carries those scars with them into adulthood, many times affecting adult relationships. When a person thinks of a child molester they see in their minds the dirty old man image. This is not the case in most abuse cases. Usually the child knows the person that is going to harm them. The offender is usually someone that the child and his or
To the ordinary citizen, when a person breaks the law, they are titled as a criminal and receive a direct punishment from the state for their wrongdoing. This punishment is seen as straightforward and simple when in reality it is far from it. For instance, if a person were to be convicted of burglary and received a punishment of 6 years in a state penitentiary, the average citizen would think nothing of it. In reality, that punishment carries much more weight as time goes along with extended “invisible” punishments called collateral consequences. These punishments are not seen by the average citizen because they manifest outside of traditional sentencing and can stay with the offender permanently. Some of these consequences are restrictions
“Prosecutorial Remedies and other tool to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act “were passed in 2003. This Act allowed people to search different state borders for information on sex offenders in other cities and states. Some effective community notification strategies are alerting the public through News, press releases, newsletters, and sometimes door-to- door warnings of the sex offenders in the area serves a good purpose. Now days states are mandated by the Federal government to put the sex offender registry online so that anyone web access can stay notified.
I believe there should be a law requiring registration for convicted sex offenders. This includes the convicted sex offenders to check in with police when they move and submit details about their living arrangements. Law enforcement agencies with parole officers, mental health and medical professionals, and other applicable agencies should be working together to supervise convicted sex offenders. The registry should be mandatory and for official criminal justice purposes only.
Sexual offenses, typically conducted with minors, are crimes when a person commits a crime involving a sexual act. Prevention strategies for sexual offending behavior have become increasingly important in the United States. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) provides a comprehensive set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States. It aims to close potential gaps and loopholes that existed under prior law and generally strengthens the nationwide network of sex offender registration and notification programs. California was the first state to pass the Sex Offender registration Law in 1946.
Sexual assault is one of the fastest growing violent crimes in America. Approximately 20% of all people charged with a sexual offense are juveniles. Among adult sex offenders, almost 50% report that their first offense occurred during their adolescence. (FBI, 1993) There are many different opinions, treatment options and legislation to manage the growing numbers of juvenile sex offenders. In today’s society the psychological and behavioral modification treatments used to manage juvenile sex offenders is also a growing concern. To understand and determine the proposed treatment methods, several related issues will need to be reviewed such as traditional sex offender therapy methods like cognitive therapy and alternative therapies like
There have been hundreds to thousands of treatments that have been conducted, some similar and others drastically different. In this paper, I will go over just a few of the more important types of treatments. Brown et al, (2017) demonstrates three types of treatments. Pharmacological treatment, behavioral therapy, and most importantly cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). With pharmacological treatment’s their purpose is to reduce sex drive. The most common types of drugs used are antiandrogen, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and gonadotropic releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists. to go into more detail antiandrogen’s like cyproterone acetate (CPA) and medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA)
Any victim of sexual abuse faces the chance of having their development impacted. This is especially true amongst children. Studies have proven that children who have been sexually abused by a female offender often have different developmental experiences (T.A. Gannon, 2008, p. 356). Mental illness is yet another impact that victims face. Many sexual abuse victims transpire into states of depression, rage, and suicide; they even have strained relationships with certain individuals (Denov, 2014, p.
Juvenile sex offenders are frequently treated in the same manner as their adult counterparts with regards to punishment and sex offender registering. “Nationally, juvenile sex offenders make up 20% of all individuals charged with sexual offenses (McGinnis, 2006).” Placing a sex offender label on a juvenile may unjustifiably put restrictions on his or her opportunities in adulthood so it is for this reason that cases involving juvenile sex offenders should be prosecuted cautiously. The term “sex offender”
Sexual abuse to a child at times is confusing to the family. Families who are affected by sexual abuse to a child tend to have a difficult time talking about the abuse. About one out of every four girls and one out of every five boys are sexually abused by the time they are 18 years old.