Posted on 09/05/2004 4:31:47 PM PDT by freedom44
DALLAS - The arrest of a 12-year-old boy on charges that he molested a 4-year-old girl at a fast-food restaurant playground may point to a growing problem of sexually aggressive children, child-abuse experts say.
The boy was arrested Wednesday in suburban Houston on charges of indecency with a child and aggravated sexual assault. Police would not discuss in detail what happened to the girl, other than to say her mother said she'd been touched inappropriately.
The arrest came a week after the Dallas Independent School District expelled two first-grade boys after one performed a sex act on another during class. While their teacher passed out textbooks, one boy slipped beneath his classmate's desk and performed oral sex on him, district spokesman Donald Claxton said.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of sexually inappropriate incidents among children is increasing, though it is difficult to track such cases, said Sharon K. Araji, a University of Alaska sociology professor who wrote a book on understanding sexually aggressive children.
The problem may be worsening because children are exposed to more graphic sexual imagery at a younger age through racier television programming, the increased availability of Internet pornography and declining parental supervision, clinical psychologist Toni Cavanagh Johnson said. Some sexually aggressive children also are victims of sexual abuse, she said.
All children mimic things they've seen at home or on television, but normal sexual experimentation in the elementary years usually doesn't go far beyond "I'll show you mine, you show me yours" play, Araji said.
The Dallas school district, however, handled about 25 cases of kindergartners who committed sexual assault last year, Claxton said.
While he declined to release details, "suffice it to say there were some fairly graphic things that happened last year involving younger kids," he said.
There are 1,331 juveniles 16 and younger registered on Texas' sex-offender database, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lisa Block said. While children 10 and older can be prosecuted in Texas, Block could not break down the number by age.
The Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office, which is handling the 12-year-old boy's case, receives two or three similar cases each month, said Tyra McCollum, the assistant district attorney in charge of the juvenile division.
"Unfortunately we see it quite often," she said. "It's obviously not as common as theft or drugs. It's also not unusual."
The 12-year-old boy, who is not being identified because of his age, is being held in a juvenile detention center while prosecutors weigh the case.
Prosecutors can seek one of two punishments if he is convicted, McCollum said. The lighter sentence would allow the court to have jurisdiction over him until his 18th birthday. He could face up to 40 years in prison under the harsher punishment.
In the Dallas case, an investigator with Child Protective Services also will examine the boys' home lives for an explanation of their behavior, agency spokesman Geoff Wool said.
In such situations, Wool said, CPS caseworkers talk with the child's parents about age-appropriate activities and try to make sure the child is not being abused or abusing others.
While criminal prosecutions are appropriate in severe cases or for repeat offenders, it is important for authorities to make sure sexually aggressive children and their families get counseling, Araji said. Many adult sex offenders began behaving inappropriately at a young age, she said.
"If we get these children when they're very young, when they're beginning the sexually aggressive behavior, we would have a much greater success rate in stopping sexual abuse from continuing," Araji said.
Concluding with a /sarcasm
I am NOT having any children!
A crime? No. But if caught, the parents need to know, and I would suggest counseling for anyone younger than 16.
After 16, if it were my kid, they'd be grounded until they were 18. But that's just me.
When my daughter was in 1st grade, my wife witnessed a boy showing another boy how to give oral sex using a corn dog. Trailer trash.
The boy boy thing is a bit different though.
It's really lame to blame the behavior of those 2 boys on Clinton. Also, your screen name is pretty funny in this context.
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