Posted on 11/20/2004 7:15:28 PM PST by Ptarmigan
(11/19/04 - HOUSTON) — In the headlines these days, it seems children are becoming sex offenders at a younger age, and their victims are other children.
Amidst the slower pace of Montgomery County is a problem that's growing faster than the justice system could ever expect. "You have 10-year-olds who are preying on four-year-olds," said Judge Fred Edwards of the ninth district court. "You've got 12-year-olds who are preying on six-year-olds. It's a mess. It's an absolute mess."
Judge Edwards has been the juvenile judge in Montgomery County for two years. Every Monday, a handful of handcuffed and shackled children march into his courtroom to face their charges. And the number of sex offenders among them is on the rise.
"In the year 2000, there were 25 cases of sex offenders by juveniles and this year, the year's not over with, there are close to 60," he said.
It's almost triple the number in a few short years.
It's hit home for one mother we spoke with who we won't identify.
"He still has nightmares," she said of her son.
She says her six-year-old first grade son became a victim at school. He was in the bathroom at Palmer Elementary in Fort Bend County when another six-year-old, naked, crawled under the stall and sexually assaulted him.
"He got my son to stand up, pushed him against the wall and was rubbing himself on my son's backside," she told us.
No longer do parents have to be concerned just about adult sexual offenders. Child sex offenders are on the playgrounds and even in the classroom with your children. In fact, in Harris County, there are 163 juveniles attending school while on probation for felony sexual assault; some as young as grade school. So how are they already sex offenders?
Lonique Pritchett with The Children's Assessment Center said, "Most of the time when children are touching other children, it's because they have been victims themselves and they're only acting out what has happened to them on their peers."
Pritchett has treated children as young as three years old. Almost half of the center's caseload is juvenile sex offenders, the majority of whom have been victims themselves. For Judge Edwards, who tries to first rehabilitate these children, it's a vicious cycle that has to be broken in the home.
"If they've been raped since they were four years old, if they see this all their lives, see it on the Internet, see it from their older brother, then they're going to think that that's normal," said Judge Edwards.
What's not normal are these signs parents can watch for in their children to see if they've become another child's victim:
Unusually aggressive behavior Persistent sexual play Symptoms indicating evidence of physical trauma to the genital area Eating problems And sex talk inappropriate for the child's age The boy who assaulted the mother's son we spoke with is too young to be charged, though he is in counseling. Despite her protests, he's back in the same school and is now part of the younger face of sexual deviants, the face Judge Edwards sees too often.
"It has to be a change in our social values, family values," said Judge Edwards.
There are 163 juveniles in Harris County schools on probation for felony sexual assault. That's up from last year when there were 124 kids on probation. For a breakdown of where these juveniles go to school, click here
Authorities we've spoken with about this story tell us judges would not let a juvenile back into the school system if there was a concern he or she would be violent again.
In a society devoted to the public expression of sexuality what the hell do you expect of beings that have not even internalized self control? So called adults apparently cannot control their sexual impulses i.e. movies, television, advertising, magazines, newspapers, public officials, actors, etc. Eventually since there is no internal controls someone from the 'outside'will have to intervene.
You're really uptight.
Did you really think I was advocating veils??
Well said. Anyone who doesn't get it doesn't want to get it.
Of course, sexual interest is "innate". Without it, the human race would die out.
But there is such a thing as a latency period, generally agreed upon (even by Freud) to occur from the ages of 6 to 12. This is a time when sexual interest is at a minimum, and when kids can be kids.
When children in this age group start acting out in a sexually aggressive way, there is something terribly wrong.
The most common root cause is molestation by an adult or adolescent at home, or elsewhere in their environment.
The aggressive 6 year old in this report needs lots of help. What he did to the other little boy is by no stretch of the imagination "normal".
As a matter of clinical science, I don't know exactly what evidence exists of the latency period. My reference to Freud was only schematic in the sense that displays of childhood sexual behavior are not prima facie evidence of abuse or a degenerate culture but something that has long been seen to be innate by a number of observers. I'm not endorsing anyone's specific theories of psychosexual development - only pointing out the mere existence of such behavior isn't (by itself) evidence of abnormality even "unusual" cases such as this one. I'm not even suggesting that the boy here isn't troubled. I simply can't conclude that from the amount of evidence given.
There are some cities considered Sodom and Gomorrah. San Francisco would be Sodom. Gomorrah that could be any East or West Coast city.
The article itself points out that most of these children have been abused:
Lonique Pritchett with The Children's Assessment Center said, "Most of the time when children are touching other children, it's because they have been victims themselves and they're only acting out what has happened to them on their peers."
Pritchett has treated children as young as three years old. Almost half of the center's caseload is juvenile sex offenders, the majority of whom have been victims themselves.
Mark for ref
To be honest with you I'm not buying vague data from the "Children's Assement Center". How is "victimization" defined - is it any different from the militant feminist definition of "rape"?
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