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)

From Social Innovation Conversations, Siddharth Kara discusses the findings of his most recent book Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Sex trafficking is the most highly profitable — and exploitative — component of contemporary slavery. In this talk, author and former investment banker Siddharth Kara exposes the mechanisms behind this little-understood industry. Amidst disturbing anecdotes taken from his study of hundreds of slaves and their “owners” in eight countries, Kara offers a business and economic analysis of the sex slave industry and critiques attempts to date to abolish sex trafficking. He proposes measures that could eradicate this form of livelihood by undermining its profitability. Kara spoke as part of a workshop sponsored jointly by the Forum on Contemporary Europe and the Center for Social Innovation’s Public Management Program at Stanford University.

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The Oscar-winning film director was arrested on Sunday in Zurich on a 31-year-old warrant issued in the U.S. for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. In an interview last year, the victim made a surprising observation:

We pressed charges, and he pleaded guilty. A plea bargain was agreed to by his lawyer, my lawyer and the district attorney, and it was approved by the judge. But to our amazement, at the last minute the judge went back on his word and refused to honor the deal.

Worried that he was going to have to spend 50 years in prison — rather than just time already served — Mr. Polanski fled the country. He’s never been back, and I haven’t seen him or spoken to him since.

Looking back, there can be no question that he did something awful. It was a terrible thing to do to a young girl. But it was also 25 years ago — 26 years next month. And, honestly, the publicity surrounding it was so traumatic that what he did to me seemed to pale in comparison.

Polanski’s crime was heinous. His victim’s grand jury testimony was not merely of a consensual act made criminal by statutory age limits but multiple instances of forcible rape over her frequent and strenuous objections. For her now to describe the publicity surrounding it as more traumatic than the rape itself says volumes about the potential threat the media’s actions can pose to child victims. She has continually requested that the Los Angeles D.A. drop the charges and complains that “the continued publication of “lurid” details about the incident “causes harm to me, my husband and children”.

The press is hotly debating the punishment Polanski’s crime deserves. The value of the prosecution of Polanski in deterring others from similar acts is significant. Lost, however, is the lesson for law enforcement, the judiciary and the press on their duty to inflict no more harm on a minor victim than has already been inflicted.

CNN had a segment on the use of support dogs in assisting children in testifying in the courtroom. They follow Lynn and Dory a San Diego Police Officer and a trained service dog, respectively, in a sexual abuse case that required a young girl to testify about on-going sexual abuse in front of the perpetrator, her grandfather.

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The Yearning for Zion Ranch is a religious community located just outside of Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas.  It is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  In March 2008, the YFZ Ranch received national attention when it was raided by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.  416 children were removed after state officials determined that they were actual or potential victims of child abuse.  In May 2008, the Third Court of Appeals in Texas overturned an order appointing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services as temporary managing conservator of the children and ruled that there was insufficient evidence showing that the children were in any immediate danger.  The Texas Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the Third Court of Appeals and ordered that the children be returned home to the YFZ Ranch.

Rep. Harvey Hilderbran has filed legislation (HB 4255) during this 81st Texas Legislative session which would require courts to consider the actions of all adults in the household before determining whether the child or the alleged abuser should be the one removed from the home.

According to a press release issued by Rep. Hilderbran on March 18, 2009:

In the Eldorado incident last year, in my view we should have removed the suspected perpetrator, not the victim,” Hilderbran said. “But we have to know for sure that the remaining parent would really be protecting the child. If they are going to let the alleged abuser back in the home, then keeping the child there isn’t a viable option.”

The bill (HB 4255) follows last year’s raid on a polygamist compound in Eldorado, where over 400 children were removed from the camp amid sexual abuse allegations. The Texas Supreme Court later determined that Child Protective Services did not make all reasonable efforts to keep the children in their homes by considering an option to remove the alleged perpetrator rather than the children.