Over the years, the "protect the children" catchphrase has been applied to countless real and imagined threats. America has labored to protect children from a variety of threats including school shooters, cyber bullying, violent video games, snipers, satanic rituals, pornography, the Internet, gangs and drugs. Billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent protecting children from one threat or another, often with little or no concern for how expensive or effective the laws are, or how serious the threat actually is.
So it is with America's latest hysteria: Sexual Predators!
According to lawmakers, and almost-daily news reports, sexual predators lurk everywhere: in parks, schools, the malls, children's bedrooms, and the Internet. A few rare but high-profile cases have initiated a stream of new laws enacted in response to the public hysteria. Every state has notification laws to alert communities about former sex offenders. Many states have banned those offenders from living in their communities, and some are tracking them using satellite technology. Other states have gone even further; state emergency leaders in Florida and Texas, and Louisiana for example, are developing plans to keep convicted sex offenders from public emergency shelters during hurricanes. 'We don't want them in the same shelters as others, said Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw. (How thousands of desperate and homeless storm victims are to be identified, screened, and routed in an emergency is still unclear.)
Is there Truly a Sex Predator Epidemic?
To most people, sex offenders pose a serious threat especially on the Internet. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had made them a top priority during his term, launching raids and arrest sweeps throughout America. According to then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, 'the danger to teens is high. On the April 18, 2005, CBS Evening News broadcast, correspondent Jim Acosta reported that 'when a child is missing, chances are good it was a convicted sex offender." Acosta was incorrect: If a child is missing, a convicted sex offender is among the least likely of explanations, far behind runaways, family abductions, and the child being lost or injured.
On his NBC series 'To Catch a Predator, Dateline's Chris Hansen claimed that 'the scope of the problem is immense, and 'seems to be getting worse. Hansen claimed that Web predators are 'a national epidemic, while Alberto Gonzales stated that there are 50,000 potential child predators online at any given moment. Sex offenders are clearly a real threat, and some commit horrific crimes. Those who prey on children are surely dangerous, but how common is it that they attack? How great is the danger posed by those previously incarcerated? There are many dangers in the world from lightning and Mad Cow Disease to school shootings that are genuine threats but very uncommon.
Let's look at some very distorted claims about the threat posed by sex offenders.
One in Five children are Sexually Solicited by Adult Predators?
According to a May 3, 2006, ABC News report, 'One in five children is approached by an online predator. This disturbing statistic is commonly used in stories about the prevalence of Internet sexual predators, but that factoid is grossly exaggerated. The 'one in five' statistic can be traced back to a 2001 Department of Justice study issued by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children entitled: 'The Youth Internet Safety Survey that asked 1,501 American teens between the ages of 10 and 17 about their online experiences. Anyone bothering to actually read the report will realize very different conclusions. Among the study's conclusions, 'Almost one in five, or 19 percent received an unwanted sexual solicitation in the past year. (A 'sexual solicitation is defined as a 'request to engage in sexual activities, or sexual talk or request to give personal sexual information that are unusual or, whether wanted or not, made by an adult. By this definition, one teen asking another teen if he or she is a virgin or got lucky with a date could be considered a 'sexual solicitation. Not a single one of the reported solicitations led to any actual sexual contact or sexual assault of a child. Moreover, almost half of the 'sexual solicitations came not from 'sexual predators or adults, but from other teens flirting. When the study examined the type of Internet 'solicitations parents are worried about most, e.g., someone who asked to meet their teen somewhere, called the teen on the telephone, or sent gifts, the number drops from 'one in five to 3 percent. This is a far cry from being of an epidemic proportion of online predators. As that study noted, 'The problem highlighted in this survey is not just adult males trolling for sex. Much of the offending behavior came from other youth [and] from females.
Most young people seem to know what to do to deflect sexual 'come ons.' The threat is far less grave than the delusional 'one in five statistic suggests.
Sex Offender Recidivism?
Much of the concern over sex offenders stems from the misperception that if they have committed one sex offense, they are almost certain to do it again. This is the reason why sex offenders rather than murderers, drunk drivers, drug dealers, gang members or armed robbers should be monitored and separated from society once released from prison. While it's true that serial sex offenders like child serial killers in New Jersey, Florida and Idaho are by definition likely to strike again, the reality is that very few sex offenders commit further sex crimes after a jail term.
The high recidivism rate for sex offenders is repeated too often and is accepted as truth, but in fact, studies by experts show that the recidivism rate for sex offenses is not typically high.
A U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics study ('Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994 ), reported that less than five percent of sex offenders followed for three years after their release from prison in 1994 were rearrested for another sex crime. The study released in 2003 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that within three years, only 3.4 percent of the child molesters released were arrested again for committing another sex crime against a child. Three to five percent is hardly a high enough repeat offender rate to warrant the current legislation with such a huge price tag.
In the largest and most comprehensive study ever done of criminal recidivism, the Justice Department found that sex offenders were in fact less likely to reoffend than other criminals. The 2003 study of nearly 10,000 men convicted of rape, sexual assault, and child molestation reported that sex offenders had a re-arrest rate of 25 percent, which is lower than for almost all other criminal offenders, excluding 1st degree murderers. Part of the reason for that is that serial sex offenders; those who pose the greatest threat, rarely get released from prison due to civil commitment efforts or extremely lengthy sentences, and the ones who are released are unlikely to re-offend. Studies by experts also report that sex offenders living near schools or playgrounds are no more likely to commit a sex crime than those living anywhere else. While the killing, rape, and murder of children by strangers is very, very rare, such incidents receive the most media coverage, leading the public to believe that these crimes are common.
Why all the Panic?
There are several reasons for the hysteria and fear surrounding sexual predators. This sexual predator panic has been largely fueled by the media. News story after story emphasize the dangers of Internet predators, convicted sex offenders, pedophiles, and child kidnappings.
Because there is little data on how widespread the problem of Internet predation really is, journalists often turn to sensationalism, spouting a few cliche's with interviews to create a story while ignoring data suggesting that the problem is not as widespread as believed. But good journalism requires that personal stories, no matter how emotional and compelling, must be balanced with facts and in an appropriate context. Much of the news coverage about sexual predation is not so much wrong as it is incomplete, lacking understanding and perspective, and most often, only one side of the story. A story shaped by police, prosecutors, and media editors that is typically overzealously reported. Many news netwroks have made huge profits for deliveing these stories.
Is This a Moral Panic?
The media's exploitation and alarmism only partly explains the hysteria. America is in the grip of a social panic over sexual predators, and has been for more than two decades. We see a trend in the panic over sexual predators to further a persecution agenda. News stories invariably exaggerate the true extent of sexual abuse, the degree of the danger posed to our children, and the likelihood that sexual predators will actually strike again.
Panic Driven Laws
Besides scaring children and the general public to death with bogus statistics, often led by parents of murdered children, there is a greater danger in this quasi-fabricated, scare-of-the-week reporting tactic. Misleading news stories can influence lawmakers, who in turn react with a genuine moral outrage, because any measure intended to protect children will be popular and draw votes. Politicians rush to endorse new laws that "protect the children," including lawmakers who themselves had been sexually abusing children, like resigned Congressman Mark Foley, FLA.
Many politicians, child advocates, and journalists denounce the current sex offender laws as ineffective, flawed and costly, and are rarely able to articulate exactly why the laws are needed. Instead, they cite news stories about a murdered child or Web predator as proof that more laws are needed, as though sex crimes would stop if the penalties were harsher, or ex offenders were monitored. The fact that rare crimes continue to be committed doesn't mean that the current laws against those crimes are inadequate. By that standard, any law could be considered ineffective if someone violates that law. We don't assume that the laws against murder are ineffective simply because murders continue to happen. So why do these laws exist?
Legislative Misdirection
The issue is not that children don't need to be protected, of course they do. The issue is whether the danger to them is great enough to warrant the measures proposed to ensure their safety. While some efforts such as longer sentences for repeat offenders are well reasoned, and likely to be effective, those focused on separating "former" sex offenders from society are of little value, because they are based on a false positive built upon defective data. Simply knowing where a released sex offender lives or is at any given moment doesn't ensure that he or she won't strike again, or have access potential victims. Since relatively few sexual assaults are committed by previously convicted sex offenders, the concern over the danger is grossly exagerated, and the burdens placed upon them are disproportionate to the actual threat they may pose.
Laws that protect children are certainly crucial, but laws should be based on facts and rational ideals rather than the ideals that emerge from a media driven national panic. The tragic irony is that the panic over sex offenders distracts us from real dangers--far greater threats to children than sexual predators, such as: parental abuse and neglect, drunk drivers, drug dealers, gangs and a failing education system. The vast majority of crimes against children are committed not by repeat sex offenders, but instead, by a victim's family member, church clergy, or close family friend.
If journalists, child advocates, and lawmakers are genuine and serious about wanting to protect children, they should turn away from persecution as a solution, and develop solid solutions based on programs with a good track record. The money wasted on exposing and tracking ex-felons who are unlikely to re-offend could be much better spent on preventing child abuse in the home, and through educational programs designed to teach children how to avoid abusive situations and threats. Educational programs designed to give our kid's a "head's up" about how sexual predation is perpetrated, and why, would bring a far better result than the efforts being implemented today.
"Persecution leads to social withdrawel, and the rsulting isolation can only lead to destructive behaviors."
[Notice] This article contains statements in an article written by Benjamin Radford but was edited by the National Coalition team for use on this site.
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