Prevention Works

Teen and Tween Dating: Hazardous to their Health?

National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week has just concluded. A 2008 report commissioned by Liz Claiborne, Inc. produced some startling findings about the conduct of tweens and teens in relationships. According to the report, about one-third of 11- and 12-year-olds are having relationships. Often these can be hazardous.

• Sixty-two percent report that they know friends who have been verbally abusive in a relationship
• Forty percent report that they know friends in relationships who have been put-down, insulted, or called names through social networking media or text messaging
• Twenty percent say they have friends in relationships who have been punched, slapped, or kicked by a dating partner

When sexual activity at a young age is added to the mix, the results worsen. Tweens seem to have a hard time navigating their roles in relationships and understanding that abuse is not an acceptable or appropriate element. U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R, Idaho) has championed an awareness campaign about teen dating violence. Check Senator Crapo's website for information about the campaign, which is supported by the American Bar Association, and the American Bar Association website for resources on the topic for teachers and other leaders of youths. The Domestic Violence and Workplace blog also has a number of helpful links.

One of the pillars of the National Crime Prevention Council’s mission is protecting children and youth. NCPC has numerous resources, including its Teens, Crime, and the Community curriculum, which dedicates chapters to this important topic and includes the "Dater's Bill of Rights."

If you’d like to know more about NCPC’s offerings in this important area or the Community Works curriculum for youth, please contact us.

When Crime Prevention Needs To Begin at Home

My friend Laura told me a horrible story the other day. Her 33-year-old colleague Viviana Tellez-Giron was killed by her husband in a murder-suicide on October 4, during the first week of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The tragic irony of the situation is that Viviana worked as a volunteer for UNIDOS Against Domestic Violence, a not-for-profit organization in Madison, WI, that works to end domestic violence among Hispanic Americans.

"Viviana's death was so hard for us," Julie Anderson, UNIDOS' interim executive director, told The Capital Times. Such tragedies bring a flash of attention to the issue of domestic violence, she said, but UNIDOS is going to work to keep attention to the issue keen. "We want to create a community response. Domestic violence is a community problem, it needs a community response."

One in three American women will be domestically abused in her lifetime. But many of you are already familiar with this statistic. And many of you are already working to prevent domestic violence and other types of crime, as are we at NCPC. What struck me though about Viviana's death was that the tragedy occurred to one of our own. Viviana knew this statistic better than most victims of domestic violence and had been trained on how to prevent it. And yet, it wasn't enough to prevent her own death.

It made me realize that even those of us who work to fight and prevent crime every day are not immune to it. It reminded me that sometimes the most important training presentation we can make is the one we give at home. Who are the people in our own lives who might need to make changes in their lives to prevent becoming a victim? Have you taught the kids in your own house how to protect themselves from cyberbullies? Do your own parents know how to avoid becoming victims of telemarketing fraud? Can the homes and businesses in your own neighborhood benefit from the principles of CPTED?

That's what Viviana's death has taught me: that despite all the important work we do with strangers, crime prevention needs to begin in our own homes, families, and communities. How have you implemented crime prevention techniques and training in your home or community?

Some NCPC resources on preventing domestic violence:

• The Hidden Crime: Domestic Violence (reproducible brochure)
• Teens, Crime, and the Community: Session 14-"Dating Violence: Recognize and Prevent"
• Strategy: Providing Domestic Violence Services to Refugee Communities

Bridging the Gap

I’m guilty of it and perhaps even a coward. In this diverse and ever-changing society, I often pride myself on not only being aware of the various cultural, age, and socio-economic differences that all of us have, but my ability to embrace them and consider all aspects of each in everything that I do. That is, of course, until I consider that there may be some groups whose specific needs I ignore because I don’t know if bringing their needs up in conversation is polite or, dare I say, “politically correct.” I find myself hesitant to question an elder about their safety concerns for fear that they will get offended that I am calling them “old.” Most alarming, I find myself ignoring the needs of the deaf community, to which members of my family belong, all because I am hesitant to admit that those needs may be different than my own. However, as recent articles have revealed to me, the time for hesitation has passed, and the time for all-inclusive crime prevention planning and action is now.

According to a report by the National Institute of Justice, victims of sexual assault who are deaf face unique concerns and barriers not often experienced by hearing victims, such as the double-stereotype that comes with being a rape victim and being deaf. This, compounded with a lack of awareness of deafness among hearing people, may discourage victims from reporting sexual assault or seeking necessary help. The key barrier to obtaining victim assistance or reporting the crime was, unsurprisingly, communication. However, what is surprising is that the report revealed that victims who are deaf experience a great deal of frustration when attempting to dial 911 to report a crime, only to find that the operator is unclear on how to operate a Text Telephone (TTY) machine, or that they were mislabeled as being drunk or mentally ill when stopped by a police officer who interpreted their body language as being aggressive.

Ironically, the only way to improve ineffective communication is in fact, to communicate. Providing adequate training on TTY machines and possibly starting crime prevention units for people who are deaf (such as in the Minneapolis Police Department) are just a few steps that can be taken to bridge the apparent gap between the two communities. Ultimately, the simplest step in involving the deaf community in crime prevention could simply be to start the conversation.

What Happened to Rehabilitation?

I've blogged about sex offenders before, as have many other NCPC staffers. And with each blog, I always find myself trapped in gray areas, playing devil's advocate to any new piece of legislation or article I read. Recently, The New York Times reported that the town of New Bedford, MA, would like to ban "high-risk sex offenders from entering or coming into numerous public places."

The call for the ban came after a sex offender raped a six-year-old boy in a public library. I am truly sorry for the boy and I am always saddened to learn that tragedies such as these happen.

I am also interested in New Bedford’s ordinance. I do believe that prisoners and sex offenders can be rehabilitated. A permanent ban doesn't strike me as a way to reintegrate someone into society. While I understand the need for a perception of safety, I wonder if the alienation of ex-offenders is a method to achieve a safe society. The article states that sex offenders on probation and parole are forbidden "to mix or interfere with children." But is walking into a public library or bus stop mixing with children? If you are a parent or if you work in this field, where is the acceptable line in the sand?

I also wonder how "high-risk sex offenders" are assigned their risk levels in New Bedford, and if they will always be defined in the same way (as the article discusses risk level appeals). Because even though the Genarlow Wilson case is finally over, I would hate to see another 17-year-old who engages in a consensual sex act with a 15-year-old be labeled as an "aggravated child molester," and be forever banned from a park.

There has to be a better way to protect our children than forever building prisons around ex-offenders.

We Would Never, Unless

Despite the occasional gray areas in life, most of us know ourselves enough to say what we would or would not do when put in any given situation. In fact, we often pride ourselves on being generally good people, people who can control ourselves and our emotions no matter the circumstance. Those murderers, rapists, and thieves are the ones that need to be condemned, for they are the ones who are clearly deficient in good human character. We would never kill, steal, or rape. Right?

Let’s talk about those gray areas. Enter the area where human will and human nature collide, where you steal because you’re hungry and you sodomize because it is what was done to your eight-year-old daughter.

As described by the Associated Press, in Fort Worth, TX, a father of an eight-year-old girl allegedly caught his 18-year-old stepson assaulting his daughter. When the young girl was taken to the hospital, an examination revealed that she had, in fact, been sodomized. Subsequently, the stepson was arrested. When the stepson was released on bond, the father drove him to an abandoned house, beat him with a baseball bat, and then sodomized him with a metal tool.

It was a crime for the father to go after his stepson.  That is what the law says, and that is what we all know.  Furthermore, it is what we all must believe in order for the law to work. But that doesn’t make it any easier, because for once some of us may be on the same side as those whom we have been so readily willing to condemn. Where we were once shouting “Do right!” we are now screaming “An eye for an eye!”

Crime causes pain and pain can be released through crime. This is a potentially dangerous cycle that every victim of any crime could face. This requires us to view crime prevention in a different and more progressive way. More immediate and effective ways of reaching out to the parents, friends, and siblings of victims must be created. This could mean forming partnerships with local counseling agencies or volunteers to meet with parents at the hospital where their hurt child is taken or at the police station where they are filing a report.  Immediate assessment of the parent’s mental and emotional state may also be necessary to prevent a violent problem from occurring in the future.

Survey Helps Domestic Abuse Victims Help Themselves

Domestic violence is a particularly misunderstood crime. For various reasons, victims often don’t report the crime to authorities. They can feel helpless, afraid, embarrassed, and even guilty about what happened. Victims may hope that the abuse will never happen again, but abusers tend to follow a predictable cycle. After an incident, there is often a period of remorse and reconciliation. But most of the time, the cycle repeats itself when the abuser again becomes agitated and vents his frustration with violence. We should do more to keep an eye on this hidden crime, and encourage victims of domestic violence to come forward and get help. 

That’s why I was excited to hear about a new strategy that many police departments in Maryland have recently adopted. When the police respond to calls about domestic violence, they are beginning to take a much more proactive role in speaking with the victims at the scene. This approach is called “lethality assessment,” and it is being used to effectively identify the victims at greatest risk of eventually being murdered by their partners. It’s a great example of crime prevention in action, and it seems to be gaining widespread national interest.  A Washington Post article describes the details of the program. 

Basically, the article explains that victims of domestic violence “have often been living with their situations for so long or in such isolation that it is hard for them to see the peril they face.”  Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, together with crime prevention practitioners, prosecutors, police, and other researchers, studied the issue and developed an 11-question survey designed to assess the risk that victims of abuse face of being killed. 

The survey, which police administer to some victims at the scenes of repeat calls and instances where there are signs of violence, includes questions about whether the victim has been threatened before, whether the abuser has choked or attacked them before, and whether the abuser has access to a weapon. The answers tell the officer how serious the danger is, and if the case shows signs of “high lethality,” then the officer speaks to the victim about the danger, calls a counselor from the scene, and encourages the victim to talk to him or her.

Since the program started in Maryland early last year, 900 people have been referred to these counseling services. A full third of them have followed up to get more help. In the Post article, Dave Sargent, a retired Washington, DC, police lieutenant currently training officers in lethality assessment, was quoted as saying, “To get 284 of them into services, that’s huge.  We believe that by getting that victim into services, we have enhanced her chances of survival.”

Failure to Communicate: Addressing Issues Faced by the Deaf Community

While reading a recent article in the National Institute of Justice Journal about a study on the needs of victims of sexual assault in the deaf community, I was struck by the similarities between the deaf and immigrant communities.

The Council on Crime and Justice study highlighted in the NIJ Journal, Understanding the Needs of the Victims of Sexual Assault in the Deaf Community (PDF), focuses on the importance of viewing deaf people as members of a linguistic and cultural community. Traditionally, hearing culture tends to define deafness as a disability and as such, has focused on studying disabled populations as a whole without acknowledging the unique character of cultural deafness. To understand the needs of this community as a language or cultural group, the study highlights the importance of acknowledging American Sign Language (ASL) as an independent language apart from English. It also urges that the deaf community’s distinct culture and mores be recognized.

Some of the problems highlighted in the NIJ Journal are remarkably similar to issues faced by members of new immigrant communities. These include the reluctance of victims to report crimes or to reach out to service agencies because most of them do not have systems for effectively communicating with deaf people, and the feelings of guilt and embarrassment that are compounded due to the small and generally close-knit nature of the deaf community.  A research brief (PDF) from the National Institute of Justice on immigrant populations as victims has similar findings to the study of the deaf community; both communities tend to underreport crimes, particularly incidents involving perpetrators from the same ethnic or cultural group as the victim.

The Council on Crime and Justice’s study highlights the efforts made by a Minnesota program, Community Solutions: Crime Prevention & Safety for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (more info at Lifetrack Resources), which provides workshops on crime and safety to the deaf community and educates law enforcement agencies on deaf culture and communication.  I think the program’s concept is entirely valid. It is, in brief, that to address the crime prevention and safety needs of people who are deaf or hard of hearing, all community components must be involved, and this includes families, schools, churches, businesses, and state and local governments. 

For crime prevention programs to be successful, we need to build strong community coalitions that involve different cultural groups and help them understand their rights and responsibilities within the legal system. This way, we can foster a climate where these groups will want to collaborate with law enforcement to prevent crime.

An Eternal Sentence for Juvenile Sex Offenders

You know how you can check your state’s sex offender registry to find the name, picture, address, and specific offense of any offenders in your area? So far, this list includes only adults. Now, scientists are reevaluating the teenage psyche and studying how close it is to the adult mind. Meanwhile, officials are debating the implications of listing child and teenage offenders on the Internet—perhaps even blacklisting them—for life.

Enough evidence exists that proves kids are not miniature adults. Kids don’t have innate knowledge of society, as evidenced by this letter to Dear Prudie, where a mother wonders how to deal with her daughter and niece, both four-year olds, whom she caught “rubbing our butts together.” Of course, juvenile sex offenders aren’t toddlers, and they generally know what they are doing is wrong. However, a number of things should be considered before we give them a de facto life sentence by listing them on the Internet along with violent, knowing, and malicious adults.

The most widely accepted theory (the “learning theory”) is that youth who were earlier abused tend to abuse other children, and they do so at higher rates than the general population. More recent studies find that any number of problems stemming from school or family life may trigger the behavior as well. So, while this doesn’t make sexual victimization okay, how do we treat or punish this behavior among juvenile sex offenders?

It’s a matter of opinion. Parents, armed with Megan’s Law, are anxious to see that all sex offenders, no matter what age, are publicly registered. This is the case in 25 states across the country, and it is, understandably, supported by those raising families. Someone like Johnnie, however, (who was referred to by that pseudonym in a New York Times article), may be branded for life. He’s a juvenile sex offender, but he did the crime when he was in fourth grade. That’s the question: would you give a now 14-year old the same “life sentence” that you give a grown man? And if the answer is yes, how would you draw the line between being a teen and being a responsible adult? Can we justify treating a juvenile sex offender as a minor and an adult simultaneously? Perhaps judges should be given discretion in each individual case.

More importantly, these situations need to be prevented in the first place. There aren’t conclusive studies that guarantee that this form of pedophilia can be permanently extinguished, but researchers are working on it. The New York Times article talks about a couple of different ways that therapists are dealing with these troubled youth. The offenders are asked to write out their fantasies in journals, talk them out, or even act them out in support group settings. The results are inconclusive still, because the phenomenon has been looked at only recently. However, we do know for sure that the stigma attached with being a known sex offender is harrowing for anyone, especially a teenager. As an earlier NCPC blog states, we need to ensure that offenders “make positive connections to the community.” How do we do that? We’re still working our way through that question.

Disturbing Study: Kids at Greater Risk

A study by the U.S. government of inmates convicted of either the possession or distribution of child pornography found some very disturbing results, judging by a recent New York Times article.  The study itself has not been released yet, and its fate actually seems uncertain, given the highly sensitive nature of the study, and the possible reactions to the study’s conclusions by the public and the media. But what it alleges is that the percentage of inmates convicted of child pornography charges who have actually molested children as well could be about 85 percent.  Earlier studies have placed the figure closer to 30 or 40 percent. 

The implications here are daunting, and hint that many of society’s child pornography offenders could, in fact, also be child molesters who have simply not been caught.  In the past, the pattern of child pornography offenders has seemed disjointed and unconnected, including such pillars of the community as politicians, police officers, and teachers.  But the new research could change the way people view these offenders, and also lead to stiffer sentences for those convicted.  However, some experts do not believe that it is wise to generalize the observations of such a small group of test cases (the study reported on by the Times interviewed 155 inmates). 

Still, I’m inclined to believe that any research in this area could be helpful in the need to understand sexual predators and child molesters better.  Understanding the relationship between child pornography and child molestation is crucial to developing any sort of treatment for these offenders.  In the past, at least some child molesters have admitted that images of child pornography have fueled their desires to act out their fantasies and have helped compel them to act on their criminal impulses.  Most experts seem to agree that such studies should be continued and made public, sooner rather than later.  In the Times article, Dr. Peter Collins, who leads the Forensic Psychology Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police, said of these latest findings, “We’re really on the cusp of learning more about these individuals and the studies should be encouraged, not quashed.”

School is Safe, Right?

The New York Times reported on June 26th that a 25-year old school aide in New York City had been arrested for raping a 15-year old student at the school where he works. A few days earlier, the Times also reported that a school crossing guard had been charged with 1,000 counts of child molestation. A Georgia publication announced recently that a former bus driver was convicted of impregnating a 15-year old girl while he was on the job. Finally, the Times put together a chart showing the number of complaints that questioned the “moral character” of teachers and administrators in the state of New York. (The number of complaints showed a steady increase.) Is there any “trust” left in our “trusted elders”?

Of course there is, but children need to know that trust is conditional. The Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute works to make the public aware that 95 percent of child molestations are actually preventable. A total of 39 million living adults in the United States have survived child sexual abuse, and three million children are suffering from child abuse today. These are the reported numbers, but millions more experience abuse and never tell.

The institute claims that out of four kinds of people who are likely to abuse children (including curious teenagers, the mentally ill, and sociopaths), the ones that act the most on their desire are those who have “an ongoing sex drive directed at children.” In other words, there are people out there who will try to get their hands on children at whatever cost. What can we do to prevent it? First and most importantly, listen to the kids.

NCPC encourages parents to listen to everything their child says—especially their feelings and fears. Kids are instinctive, so let them follow these instincts. If an adult says or does something that makes them feel uncomfortable, your child needs to be able to tell you. Cultivate confidence in your relationship with your child by respecting what she says. Kids should also know that no adult should even ask them to keep a special secret. As the organization, Love Our Children puts it: “A child's voice is small, ignored and unheard. Raise the volume so that everyone hears their message.”

It is possible to treat child molesters and pedophiles. Sex-specific therapists perform cognitive-behavioral treatments and administer medicines to alter sex drives. They are trained to proceed with treatment even if the patient denies his problem. But all this is useless unless we, as individuals act as watchdogs. Sex offenders are often good at keeping their secrets, and as a result, remain trusted neighbors and friends for years while they victimize children. That’s why it’s important to take any suspicions seriously and to keep on top of the Sex Offender Registry. Don’t underestimate your children though—they’re too important to ignore.