Wonder how close to home the issues are to you? Just take a look at the National Sex Offender Registry and you will be almost sickened by the numbers in your neighborhood…However let me also cautious warn you about looking at the registry lightly, and to closely look at the offenses before jumping the gun, as  you must remember that there can be those placed on the registry for a wide array of sexually based offenses, including statutory rape.

There is of course much debate over such registries and their effectiveness, and sometimes relevance. Much of this is drawn from the fact that it can often seem chaotic, as individual police forces input the data into and maintain the main sex offenders’ registry. In the US public sex offender registers have been in place for about a decade, and their transparent nature has thus led to large, but informed debate on both the dangers poised by sex offenders to society, pros and cons of publishing their details in a national public registry. In most states, inclusion on the registry is only following a criminal conviction, thus not all sexual predators and violators are therefore on the list. States place offenders into rankings, such as; 1 (those posing the least threat) to 3 (high risk), while some of those posing the lowest deemed may not actually be published on the internet, while files on category 2 and 3 offenders are published complete with photograph, name, list of offenses, address and maps showing proximity to schools. You can links to individual state registries on the Parents For Megan’s Law website.

Nonetheless you will still be sickened as you troll through the pages, and let me tell you while your neighborhood may leave you in a state of shock and dismay, the real shocker is yours looks just like everyone else. So the reality of it all is that you cannot run and hide, we can no just ship every sex offender off to an island, some on the registry are in fact harmless and are others are not. That leads me into how do you tell? There is no physical profile of a sex offender, some look like Mr. Nice Guy, your dad, grandpa, and others like the creepy guy down the road. I remember often hearing someone say, “he looks like a kiddie fiddler”, well that infamous “kiddie fiddler” look doesn’t exist and knowing who is a perpetrator or proprietor of child porn is far from simple. And the reality of this registry is it only shows those who have been caught, and caught in the United States, nor does it show anyone using virtual child porn.

The face of predator, human trafficker, or modern slave holder, can look like anyone as well can that of a victim of human trafficking. The exploitation of children, and adults,  is not an issue facing one culture, one society or one faith based community, it isn’t per say a cultural issue, it’s a human issue. And while we are working to combat modern slavery in all forms on a global scale, we must not forget about what is happening in our own backyards. Thus we must ensure that within our own country that we form a united front and unite forces from all cultures and faiths to see that we bring awareness and support to the issues of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. By uniting as a community we will be more effective in bringing awareness to the issues, teaching children and adults the warning and signs of abuse.

According to the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS);

• Sixty-seven percent of all victims of sexual assault reported to the participating law enforcement agencies were juveniles (under the age of 18); 34% of all victims were under age 12.
• One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to the participating law enforcement agencies were under age 6.
• Forty percent of the offenders in the incidents reported who victimized children under age 6 were juveniles (under the age of 18).

The reality of  abuse against children is shocking, for around four children a day in the U.S. die as a result of child abuse and neglect every day. An estimated 906,000 children are victims of domestic violence and abuse every year. However the key to ending abuse is to know the signs of child abuse.  As a society we need to become more aware and more empowered or victims will go on being victims and the numbers will continue to grow.  Therefore if you see a child or adolescent that is being abused don’t stand helplessly by and let them suffer, report it, talk to the child, and look for the signs. We can end violence against the vulnerable and if we all start with one child we are well on our way to winning the fight.

Resources:
Links for Abused Children and Parents

Crisis Hotlines

Books for Children and Parents of Victims of Abuse

Registering Harm: How Sex Offense Registries Fail Youth Communities

Engaging Bystanders in Sexual Violence Prevention

Rape Prevention and Risk Reduction: Review of the Research Literature for Practitioners

Report Describing Projects Designed to Prevent First Time Male Perpetration of Sexual Violence (Updated)