When scandal erupted in 2007 over allegations of sexual abuse at the West Texas State School, it was assumed by many to be a horrifying aberration. Juveniles were subject to sexual abuse not only by other inmates but by the very supervisors charged with overseeing their rehabilitation.

According to recent reports indicate the problem of sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers is prevalent on a national scale. In Sexual Abuse in State Lock-ups, Emily Ramshaw notes:

In the National Survey of Youth in Custody, conducted during 2008 and 2009 by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, roughly 12 percent of incarcerated youth nationwide reported being forced into sex or sexual contact in custody. Of the 1,765 Texas youth offenders polled, about 20 percent reported being victims of sexual abuse. One Texas facility — the Corsicana Residential Treatment Center — had the second highest sexual abuse rate among large youth lockups, at nearly 32 percent.

A significant part of the problem, as noted in The Crisis of Juvenile Prison Rape: A New Report, is that these institutional victimizers are rarely punished:

Nationally, however, fewer than half of the corrections officials whose sexual abuse of juveniles is confirmed are referred for prosecution, and almost none are seriously punished. Although it is a crime for staff to have sex with inmates in all 50 states, prosecutors rarely take on such cases. As children’s advocate Isela Gutierrez put it to The Texas Observer, “local prosecutors don’t consider these kids to be their constituents.” A quarter of all known staff predators in youth facilities are allowed to keep their positions.

False reporting is bound to be a problem and difficult to determine, but the numbers indicate a problem that can simply no longer be ignored by officials charged with their care.

• David Kaiser and Lovisa Stannow, The Crisis of Juvenile Prison Rape: A New Report, New York Review of Books (January 7, 2010)
• Emily Ramshaw, Sexual Abuse in State Lock-ups, Texas Tribune (January 7, 2010)

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