Abstract
This book examines and evaluates aspects of child sexual abuse. The work advances current knowledge about sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the digital era and examines the prevention strategies aimed toward parents, children, and the community.
The book reviews updated knowledge of the nature of child sexual abuse and exploitation (e.g., child pornography and child prostitution) and its incidence and prevalence. It further explores current prevention efforts undertaken at the state, community, and individual levels. The book pays particular attention to prevention strategies by conducting an analysis of the probability of successfully preventing sexual abuse of children. Conclusions regarding the most successful preventative strategies are supported by empirical studies and statistical reports. The book is useful to juvenile justice practitioners, scholars, students, and other readers who want to understand what child sexual abuse is, how to prevent its occurrence, and the myriad of legal issues underlying system responses to the offense.
In Chapter 1, the author presents the history of child sexual abuse with particular attention devoted to child abuse in America since 1787. It reflects upon the social circumstances that are associated with incidents of child molestation and the laws and punishments used to address both the perpetrator and victim. The work documents a paradigm shift (in the late 1930s) from punishment to treatment for persistent sex offenders (called psychopaths) who need to be diagnosed and treated. Consequently, states passed sexual psychopath laws as a mechanism to ensure that offenders received the necessary psychopathic treatment; the legislation included provisions permitting indeterminate sentences. This shift in thought on how to best address sex offending facilitated an empirical approach to understanding the issue. Contemporary legislation takes a more comprehensive approach to issues of child exploitation and contains provisions toward community notification and limiting child pornography possession and distribution. The chapter also discusses claims that the child welfare movement produced positive and negative consequences for society. In particular, the author considers media and political critiques that assert that the child welfare system contributed to a panic whereby many individuals are falsely accused of child welfare offenses.
Chapter 2 provides information on the incidence and prevalence of child sexual abuse and discusses its effects. The author begins with the definition of prevalence and incidence. He then reviews the significant studies of incidence, prevalence, and both incidence and prevalence. The chapter discusses the various approaches to defining child sexual abuse, data collection efforts, and limitations of each of these major studies. Prevalence of child sexual abuse is measured as the amount of child sexual abuse existing in a population at a specific point in time, whereas incidence of child sexual abuse is measured by the number of new cases of child sexual abuse for a specified period of time. Measures of the prevalence of child sexual abuse have been more popular because such measures are based upon self-report methods that ask victims about sexual abuse experiences in childhood. Incidence of child sexual abuse would necessarily depend upon knowledge of a particular case and when it occurred. The often hidden cases of child sexual abuse and the potential for a victim to repress the memory make it difficult to precisely determine rates of incidence.
Additionally, this section discusses the decreases in child sexual abuse documented in statistical reports and studies. The author concludes that the decline may be attributable to the increase in social interventions available to prevent child sexual abuse. The decline may also be nothing more than an artifact of problematic processes of case reporting, data collection, and the practices of child protective services (CPS) workers. The profiles of victims and perpetrators are reviewed (e.g., gender and age). The chapter further discusses the psychological, mental health, and social effects of sexual abuse on children.
In Chapter 3, the author evaluates general prevention strategies aimed at parents, children, and the broader community. The discussion of prevention strategies is contextualized in that it focuses on prevention strategies for different types of sexual abusers, both stranger, and acquaintance. The chapter notes that because there exists exaggerated information of child sexual abuse broadcasted by the media, parents need to be aware of the best sources of correct information on the nature and the risk of child sexual abuse. The author presents causes of and solutions for inaccessible knowledge resources provided by government. For children, primary prevention programs are aimed at education to help the child identify and protect against sexual abuse victimization. There is, however, considerable controversy related to this approach; some question the appropriateness of the mere suggestion that it is the child’s responsibility to self-protect. The author emphasizes how important it is for adults to professionally respond to child disclosure of sexual abuse because adult responses lead to the investigation and prosecution of allegations of child sexual abuse. The duties of the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) as a one-stop service expert center mainly dealing with investigation and prosecution and its efficacy are discussed. Additional attention is devoted to child testimony in court against the alleged abuser. Child witness education programs aimed at preparing children for the courtroom experience and alterations to the courtroom setting can reduce harm that may result from the experience of providing court testimony.
In addition to prevention strategies for the victim, parents and the community, Chapter 4 presents prevention strategies aimed at perpetrators and potential perpetrators. These mainly involve barriers that result from state statutes of limitation in cases of sex offending. The author discusses how the principles underlying the statutes of limitation are in place to sustain fairness for a defendant. The chapter notes, however, that there is no available empirical evidence that illustrates any advantages of the statutes of limitation. The author reviews methods to prevent recidivism of child sex offenders. Case studies, statistical reports, literature reviews, and relevant issues (e.g., mental abnormality and treatments) are discussed and critiqued.
The focus of Chapter 5 is Internet-related sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The author examines prevention efforts to limit use of the Internet as a tool for to perpetrators in the sexual exploit minors. Ewing begins by reviewing child pornography laws and potential punishments that concern the possession, production, and distribution of child pornography. The author discusses the child pornography market, commercial and noncommercial child pornography, the studies of hands-on child pornographic offenders, and the process that offenders utilize to groom potential victims. The prevention and rescue of the victims of child pornography should deal with how child pornographic offenders harm children. Types of harm include sexual abusing child in order to produce images, distributing the images or videos via the Internet, and sexting (the use of online methods to transmit sexual images). Potential solutions are discussed and include programs such as the Child Victim Identification Program and legislation that enables government authorities to shut down certain websites.
Child sexual abuse and exploitation, in some cases, is deeply embedded in an institutional context. This is the topic of Chapter 6. Abuse and exploitation committed in such a context may occur where the perpetrator has access to the victim because of his or her position in a school, juvenile correctional facility, hospital, or church. This chapter explores the nature of victimization risk in these settings and examines efforts to prevent child sexual abuse in institutional facilities. Each institution has different contexts and distinct characteristics of perpetrators and potential victims. The preventions first aim at educating children, parents, and officers of institutions about vulnerable children and perpetrators, grooming, and hardening targets. By modifying the environment and contexts that facilitate abuse and exploitation, it may be possible to reduce the likelihood of victimization. There are many different tactics reviewed by the author, including, but not limited to, criminal background checks and encouraging reporting the incidents. However, there is no one-size-fits-all for sexual abuse problems in different institutions. This chapter provides main ideas for preventions and discusses about the specific issues in each institution.
The focus of Chapter 7 is prostitution of minors. This chapter examines the scope, estimates, and prevalence of child prostitution. There are no studies or reliable statistical reports in the United States that are able to precisely identify the frequency of occurrence; however, the estimated amount of child prostitution by United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) in 2012 is 2 million children. The author discusses how children are recruited into prostitution, benefits that pimps get from the business, and the consequences of becoming a child prostitute. Furthermore, domestic and international efforts to prevent prostitution, trafficking, and tourism are discussed.
Finally, the author summarizes the preventions presented in this book and synthesized their effectiveness and ineffectiveness to prevent child sexual abuse. They are categorized as probably effective strategies (e.g., educating children, and reducing opportunities for sexual abuse), possibly effective strategies (e.g., parent educating, and intensive training for staffs of juvenile institutions), and probably ineffective strategies (e.g., harsh criminal penalties and restrictions for sexual abuser).