Are the present methods of child sexual abuse prevention and treatment doing more harm than good?

Question

There are reports that prosecutors have been given such influance over judges that children are being thrown in jail in order to intemidate them into testifying against accused offenders.

Sex offender registries are being used as hit lists for mass murder.

Stranger danger scares have caused lost children to hide from searchers.

Most people still believe that child molesters are strangers and could never be close friends, family members, and even parents themselves, when experts in the field of child sexual abuse report that 90% of all offences are committed by persons well known to a child.

Many victims report being verbally abused by therapists and ordered to think and feel certian ways.

The media and many activists mislead the public into believing that child sexual abuse is on the rise when the only thing that has incresed are the number of reports.

Victims are constantly bombarded by the media with reminders of their abuse, making it harder for them to recover.

Answer 1

Yes, they are doing more harm than good. I know that many people have their own ideas of Prevention and Treatment. We must start listening to some of the reknowned therapists. These include, Dr. Fred Berlin of Johns Hopkins University, Judith Levine, Jill Levenson and Robert Longo to name a few. I will also be placing a link to ATSA in the Sources section. They are working with us on these things as well.

As for Victims, I was molested twice as a child. I am not a victim, I detest that word. I am a SURVIVOR! I have found that there are many others JUST like ME. I think the media must search out the ones that remain victims. Who knows maybe their therapists give the media their names. This would make it very easy for them to really make the hysteria worse don't you think?

I feel that prevention should be started as soon as parents know they are going to have a baby. I believe there should be Mandatory Parenting Classes and this topic should be the longest one. Not to mention Parental Neglect. That would teach the would be parents to always look after their children instead of sending them out to play unattended. I feel that in the Molestation Class, it should be told if they ever think they may have a problem they can seek counseling BEFORE anything happens with NO REPERCUSSIONS. Ok, so I know I am dreaming. This Government deals better with hate, hysteria, lack of education, condemnation and incarceration WITHOUT rehabilitation.

Just some of my thoughts. Thank you for the opportunity

Executive Director
Roar for Freedom

Answer 2

This is NOT true. It is not the true LDS church who does all those corrupt things. That's is the Reformed LDS, Fundamentalist LDS or FLDS however you wanna call it. those are the ppl who were lds but chose to leave and make their own church. Real LDS do not even dress like Amish people in texas like they show on the news,we do not practice polygamy, nor commit sexual abuse crimes!! And no, the leaders don't either. All that stuff you see on the news is crap. Sure, LDS practiced polygamy, but that was in the 1800s and we BANNED IT A LOOOONG time ago, and not for the perverted reason, the reason was that many people hated us LDS, and killed many of us, including MAY men. Therefore, there were many widows with lot of responsibilities and no help, so the prophet decided to assign some men to take care of the widows [women] for a while. Now stop criticizing and think how corrupt the catholic and other churches are because LDS didn't do ANYTHING Wrong. the FLDS did.

Answer 3

According to old school psychology, the primary trauma inflicted on children is the reaction to the abuse. A position I still hold since there is no evidence to demonstrate otherwise. Most children, if not bombarded with hysteria by nosy busy bodies, would probably shrug it off and move on with their lives.

As it is, they are not only victimized by the abuser, they are victimized even more so by society.

Laws based primarily on emotion make for very bad laws. The entire system and concept we currently use should be scrapped and redone without the hysteria.

Answer 4

While you are trying to give a balanced view, many of your statements are not correct!

There is no evidence that I have seen that would indicate prosecutors have too much influence over judges. That is illegal AND the reality is that 95% of those who molest children are NEVER CHARGED, much less convicted!!!

Hit List? What has the sex offender registry have to do with children, with the exception that a few on the list are pedophiles?

Please give me a cite that therapist are verbally abusing children. YOU ARE WAY OUT THERE!!!

Child sexual abuse is on the rise. The offense grows like a mushroom as many children who were molested begin to molest as young as 12 or 13!

It is true that the majority of sexual offenses against children are familial or some one they know, but that unfortunately, does not rule out the rest. Most of those who are Fixated Pedophiles go to places like the clergy, Boy Scouts, School, or school coaches or any where they can have access to children. They even marry the victims mother to get access to her children!

Seems to me you must be a victim or related to a perpetrator!!

Answer 5

I do not think the registry is causing the harm, the people mis-using the concept are. I believe that yes, child molesters or violent rapests should be on the lists, but streakers, or teenagers dating slightly younger teenagers should not. It also should not be so easily available to the public, it was intended for things like employment screening for schools or womens shelters, not for morons to go online and find a house to shoot up. If people want to look someone up badly enough they should have to go to the law enforcement agency in their town and fill out some paperwork giving a reason, and their name, so that if they kill or torment someone it is knows exactly who knows about them, and thus who did it.
And i just thought i would point out that a 15 year old girl isnt always the victim in those teenager cases. Girls these days know that if they get with and older guy, he cant piss her off or she can throw him in jail. One guy i know started dating a girl who claimed to be 18, she even managed to buy ciggarette in front of him, he had no reason to doubt her. Several months later things started going down hill and he tried to leave her.. she imediatly threatened him with jail time and told him her real age. He was stuck with her for several more months until he finaly talked to her parents, and found out she had tried this before because she wanted to get married for some reason and didnt think anyone should ever leave her.

Answer 6

it'sa real problem ... I'm afraid in some cases that children are being harmed as much or even more by the manner in which an offense is handled than they are by the original offense itself.

And even kids who have not been molested are being frightened to death that they will be .... when in fact it's actually very unlikely that a given child will be sexually assaulted or otherwise abused.

Answer 7

There was a case in Pennsylvania.. Pennsylvania 7.. or was it Philadelphia 7? something like that.. anyway... several children accused some people at a daycare of sexual abuse. After much harassment and in-and-out of jail for several years.. some of the people plead guilty or no-contest in plea bargains for being released for "time served"... later.. even after the children confessed that they were just mad at the caregivers and had lied.. the people who plead guilty or no-contest are still registered sex offenders.

The sex offender list can be very misleading... some of these people were 18 when convicted... and they were with their 17 yr old girlfriend.. who is now their wife.. but they are still registered sex offenders.

use the lists with care

Answer 8

Cops are relentless in finding the truth. If that means making their own truth or harassing witnesses and victims they will do it. If you have an expensive laywer you might beat a rap like this. If not you're pretty much guilty regardless of circumstances. I know a victim who was harassed by cops. Pigs only care about their next promotion.

Answer 9

I think it is doing more harm than helping the victims because they have to relive the nightmare over and over again and that makes them emotionally.

Answer 10

First, child sexual abuse occurs between the ages of birth and 13 years old, which is the age target of pedophiles. Yes indeed, a pedophile "molests" babies and gives infants and other young children sexually transmitted diseases. Ask public health for statistics.

When you talk about child sexual abuse prevention, we would have as much luck teaching pedophiles to, "Just say no"! Instead, we lecture and cajole little kids, who can barely string four words together to form a sentence, to some how protect their bodies from an older, wiser, manipulative predator. Kids are just kids, and do not possess the ability to mentally defend themselves from an adult.

Treatment for child sexual abusers (pedophiles) will never work. They are sexually attracted to hairless, undeveloped bodies of little kids. You cannot change their sexual trigger. Pedophiles cannot change nor control the sexual trigger that attracts them to children just as you cannot change what sexually turns you on. There are no treatments or available except in certain cases of castration. However, I would never allow a pedophile to baby-sit any vulnerable child. Until there is a proven 100% effective treatment, pedophiles should be jailed for life to protect other innocent kids.

To imply that sex offender lists are used for mass murder is a flame.

Sex offender lists lump all sex crimes into one. I want SOL to identify perpetrators by the crimes they commit and the age of their target; Elder Rape, Gang Rape, Date Rape of older victims.

I want all sexual contact of a child, 10 years of age and under, identified as Child Rape and the perpetrator given a life sentence. This will spare 100+ kids per pedophile. Some potential child sexual predators would not act, knowing the severe consequences. Child sexual abuse punishment is currently just an insignificant punishment!

Oral sex of a 2-month-old infant netted the son of a Washington state judge, a lenient sentence for preying upon the body of our most vulnerable citizen. The mother caught him in the act and reported him. It is a far more rare case because usually the mother will favor the breadwinner over their kids. A suggested shorter sentence lengthened after public outrage and protest. Still, he got off easy because the pedophile was a judges son. What a shallow punishment. When he gets out of jail, he will be smarter. He will father his own kids; brow beat his wife into silence and damage even more innocent babies. These people are sick. They target the most helpless and they are incurable! You want him as a neighbor or perhaps he will convince his wife to baby sit for neighborhood children?

Family sexual abuse is rampant. We think of fathers, uncles, or even grandpa as predators, but siblings can wreck havoc on younger kids. Friends of family members are predators; social service workers too. We all know about priests, a very trusted family member. Yes, family members or people who have unsupervised access to a child commit at least 90% of child sexual abuse. In addition, I believe that 90% of all humans are sexually molested, sexual teased and outright raped, before they turn 14.

Many therapists are sicker than their patients are! Most mental health professionals, who treat sexual victims, are in the 10% range of the non-sexually violated. Just because they hold a certificate or a degree doesn’t mean they have a clue.

Child sexual abuse has always been at 90%, the difference is society allows open discussion now, although society still finds ways to blame the child.

You are wrong about the "reaction" to abuse. Most children do not tell. They are groomed long before the sexual assault begins, to trust their abuser. After the attack, the perpetrator heaps guilt, shame and blame. A child under 10 believes everything they are told. If the perpetrator is a parent or sibling, with 24/7 access, the child is a prisoner rather than a family member. Whom can the child trust? The child keeps the secret.

There are 3 types of trauma a child may experience;

Sympathy Based Trauma is where the media and community know about the trauma such as a car wreck, terminal illness, school shooting, fire etc. The child receives comfort and sympathy to help them heal.
Shame Secret Trauma is just this: a private family matter a child is forced to keep secret. Domestic violence is an example. Mom getting beat. Kids getting beat. Most often, the child is raised to believe this is the proper parenting skills. Beatings, verbal (emotional and psychological) mental abuse, and the 18 levels of physical abuse, are included. It also includes family acts of torture such as breaking bones, using lethal objects to increase the level of pain (fire or boiling water) or preventing medical treatment for injuries. Sometimes to keep the secret the child’s injuries will be treated with animal medicines. This is very common.

Shame Secret Sexual Trauma is all forms of verbal emotional and psychological sexual abuse (such as threatening to rape your little sister if you do not cooperate.)

It also includes physical sexual abuse. It includes incest, the most damaging of sexual abuse between blood relatives. This includes sexual torture such as the continual rape of a family member. Family sexual abuse occurs over years.

The child is forced not to tell. The child is forced to participate in the rape or sexual abuse of a family member. If the child refuses, they will suffer severe abuse. It does not take long before the child gives in then grows up with incredible rage. .

Forcing a child to suppress normal human emotions is common and also child abuse. They must not show terror, rage, shame, fear and love or sympathy for their abused loved one. It can be a mother, sister or other family member. Some grow up not to feel any human emotion until they murder, torture or act out events they think are fantasies but perhaps were real events they witnessed, that frightened them into silence.

What happens when the wounded child sexual abuse survivor reaches 14 years old? The teen either turns their rage inward into self-destruction or they turn their rage outwards and harm others.

(What does a child sexual abuse survivor feel about “abstinence” until marriage when their virginity was stripped from them before 10? They did not have a choice or option or any control. Religious fanatics should be more sensitive to sexually abused kids and mostly should clean up their own congregation and clergy first.)

All child abuse has seven basic components, which make speculation on how a child reacts impossible to determine. Add to this sexual abuse and you really damage a child.

The real cure for child sexual abuse damage is to encourage the victim to let their secret out. Name it; face it; heal it. Chronic addiction is one result of "keeping secrets" you see in late stage alcoholics. There is more but I must quit ranting for now.