NCJ Number
228298
Journal
Future of Children Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: Fall 2009 Pages: 169-194
Date Published
2009
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This article briefly reviews organized child sexual abuse prevention efforts and discusses developing areas for prevention, draws implications from the sex crime decline, and presents recommendations.
Abstract
Since the early 1990s sex crimes against children have declined dramatically suggesting that something is helping; however, it is difficult to ascertain whether any of the organized prevention initiatives have contributed to this decline. This paper examines initiatives to prevent child sexual abuse, which have focused on two strategies: offender management and school-based educational programs. Even though these initiatives won the public and policymakers approval, little evidence exists on their effectiveness in preventing sexual abuse. Additional research is recommended to help develop and identify strategies to prevent sexual abuse, such as using law enforcement resources to catch more undetected offenders and concentrating intensive management efforts on those at highest risk to reoffend, and in the area of education programs to reduce victimization, research and development efforts to integrate this approach into comprehensive health and safety promotion curricula. 98 Endnotes