Broward Leads Florida in Child-on-Child Sexual Abuse
Pedophiles are some of the most hated members of society. But what happens when the person sexually abusing a child is himself a child? It’s a disturbing thought — children sexually abusing other children — but unfortunately, it is more prevalent than most people imagine — especially in Broward, where there are more incidents reported than in any other county in Florida.
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A line graph depicting the amount of child-of-child sexual abuse cases in Broward County from 2006-2014.
Chart via New Times Broward-Palm Beach
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“People don’t realize it’s an epidemic,” James DePelisi, CEO of the Broward Crime Commission, tells New Times. “People don’t understand the magnitude of the problem.”
The number of reported incidents has drastically increased in the past few years. According to DePelisi, the Child Protective Investigations Section at the Broward County Sheriff’s Office reported 593 child-on-child sexual abuse cases in 2014. That is more than a 100 percent increase from five years before, in 2009, when there were 248 cases. The graph above charts the number of cases reported each year from 2006. Between 2013 and 2014, there is a clear spike in numbers. And it isn’t a fluke. As of June 2015, 284 cases had already been reported, putting the year on track to be even higher than the year before. That is the reason DePelisi and the Broward Crime Commission have honed in on this problem.
It is estimated that minors account for half of all child-molestation cases each year. And, according to DePelisi and other child advocates, this is happening mostly among younger children, not teenagers. The majority of incidents happen when both children are between 5 and 8 years old. Unlike other cases of child sexual abuse, the perpetrators are oftentimes victims too. DePelisi points out that they are referred to as the “child initiator” and not more stigmatized terms like “juvenile sexual offender” for that reason. Most of the time, if the child is not being abused, he or she is neglected and is witnessing pornography, domestic violence, or parents performing sexual acts not behind closed doors.
Almost all cases (99 percent) happen during school hours. Government officials and investigators are aware of the prevalence of child-on-child sexual abuse. It’s “Main Street” that DePelisi says needs to be more vigilant. Most parents and teachers don’t know about this issue unless they’ve been involved in an incident. The Broward Crime Commission is launching a study to further explore the issue. The findings will be released in August.
“We’re talking about helpless victims,” DePelisi says. “We tell our kids to make nice and learn how to play, to develop social skills, but there might be some other boy who was abused who is going to act that out on the innocent child you’re sending to school every day.”
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I worked with a woman for a while that had moved to the USA from China about a decade ago. She goes back often. She told me during hot weather hardly any children wear clothing. No one thinks anything about it. she also said once to me that in china we do not need thousands of laws to tell us what is right and wrong. if you hurt a child or an adult it is against the law – period
Personally I wonder what they define as abuse …for eons sexual curiosity and exploration is a natural part of being human. The problem is that in today’s society that type of behavior is considered abuse. To me if it is consensual and not violent between children then it is a natural part of growing up but it is treated as abuse. In order to believe child on child sexual abuse has become an epidemic we would have to believe that these children are born molesters – I am not willingly to accept that. This is societal fear mongering not a change in the children
Back in the days (I’m saying 20-30 years ago), it was common to open a photo album and see bathtime photos or kids running naked through the sprinklers. Today, the parent would be doing a decade in prison for child pornography.
Back in the days, it was common for children to “play doctor” or have a healthy curiosity about sexual differences, but today the kids would be whisked off to juvenile detention, branded as sex offenders and rewired through “treatment” and a system that will mess them up, where they were never messed up in the first place.
These kinds of things should not be happening but they are and they are getting worse.
i’m no scholar by far but my thought on this is this: growing up in the 60’s – 70’s-parents, teachers, etc… were not telling 3-10 yr olds several times a week about good touch-bad touch i’m sure that after a child hears about this often enough they start getting curious. as the old saying goes, to much of a good thing is a bad thing.