Child Molestation Committed by Other Children Is Not a Widespread Problem (From Child Sexual Abuse, P 57-67, 1998, Bruno Leone, Brenda Stalcup, et al, eds. - See NCJ-171702)

• NCJ Number: 171709
• Author(s): J Levine
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Greenhaven Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: At Issue: An Opposing Viewpoints Series

Annotation

The author believes a group of influential psychotherapists have created a "moral panic" by exaggerating the problem of children who molest other children, even though they have produced no research indicating how so-called child sex offenders differ in sexual behavior from normal adolescents.

Abstract

Child protection workers are encouraged by the child welfare system to report any suspicion of child sexual abuse, and arrests for juvenile sex offenses are increasing in many States. Although this trend demonstrates increasing awareness on the part of the juvenile justice system, it does not necessarily indicate juvenile sex offenses are on the rise. In particular, of 2.9 million child abuse reports filed in 1993, two-thirds could not be substantiated. Further, the fact that adult offenders experimented sexually as children does not mean they will become sex offenders. The treatment of sex offenders is discussed, and assumptions on which theories about children who molest are based are examined.