Posted on 11/20/2004 7:15:28 PM PST by Ptarmigan
(11/19/04 - HOUSTON) — In the headlines these days, it seems children are becoming sex offenders at a younger age, and their victims are other children.
Amidst the slower pace of Montgomery County is a problem that's growing faster than the justice system could ever expect. "You have 10-year-olds who are preying on four-year-olds," said Judge Fred Edwards of the ninth district court. "You've got 12-year-olds who are preying on six-year-olds. It's a mess. It's an absolute mess."
Judge Edwards has been the juvenile judge in Montgomery County for two years. Every Monday, a handful of handcuffed and shackled children march into his courtroom to face their charges. And the number of sex offenders among them is on the rise.
"In the year 2000, there were 25 cases of sex offenders by juveniles and this year, the year's not over with, there are close to 60," he said.
It's almost triple the number in a few short years.
It's hit home for one mother we spoke with who we won't identify.
"He still has nightmares," she said of her son.
She says her six-year-old first grade son became a victim at school. He was in the bathroom at Palmer Elementary in Fort Bend County when another six-year-old, naked, crawled under the stall and sexually assaulted him.
"He got my son to stand up, pushed him against the wall and was rubbing himself on my son's backside," she told us.
No longer do parents have to be concerned just about adult sexual offenders. Child sex offenders are on the playgrounds and even in the classroom with your children. In fact, in Harris County, there are 163 juveniles attending school while on probation for felony sexual assault; some as young as grade school. So how are they already sex offenders?
Lonique Pritchett with The Children's Assessment Center said, "Most of the time when children are touching other children, it's because they have been victims themselves and they're only acting out what has happened to them on their peers."
Pritchett has treated children as young as three years old. Almost half of the center's caseload is juvenile sex offenders, the majority of whom have been victims themselves. For Judge Edwards, who tries to first rehabilitate these children, it's a vicious cycle that has to be broken in the home.
"If they've been raped since they were four years old, if they see this all their lives, see it on the Internet, see it from their older brother, then they're going to think that that's normal," said Judge Edwards.
What's not normal are these signs parents can watch for in their children to see if they've become another child's victim:
Unusually aggressive behavior Persistent sexual play Symptoms indicating evidence of physical trauma to the genital area Eating problems And sex talk inappropriate for the child's age The boy who assaulted the mother's son we spoke with is too young to be charged, though he is in counseling. Despite her protests, he's back in the same school and is now part of the younger face of sexual deviants, the face Judge Edwards sees too often.
"It has to be a change in our social values, family values," said Judge Edwards.
There are 163 juveniles in Harris County schools on probation for felony sexual assault. That's up from last year when there were 124 kids on probation. For a breakdown of where these juveniles go to school, click here
Authorities we've spoken with about this story tell us judges would not let a juvenile back into the school system if there was a concern he or she would be violent again.
They can have sex, but they can't make love (an expression which is completely out of date. People today almost universally say, "have sex.")
"Have you noticed that the lines which used to divide adults and children have basically dissolved?"
It's scary as hell and so sad. There's nothing more beautiful than the innocence of a child, and today's children have had it stolen from them. Remember when a G movie didn't have swears in it? When you could let your kids watch tv at 8 pm and not worry about what they might see? Now we've got these idiot mothers buying thongs for their 9 year old daughters.
Um, all ya gots to do is click on my screen name. I thinks it describes my situation rather well..
You really think that children don't sexually abuse other children sometimes? What about tossing smaller children out of windows or beating up people to death?* Children are becoming criminals of all varieties.
I DID NOT SAY THAT.. What I said is that I find it hard to believe that mere SIX (6) year olds are capable of such acts, much less "get naked" as described in the article..
Either way, MOLESTATION REQUIRES INTENT... While you might think the little ankle biters are guilty, the law usually doesn't expect children under seven to be capable of intentional criminal acts. Usually the kids throwing other children out the window, or kids making other kids, as you point out, are over the age of 12...
Bottom line, the SIX YEAR OLD DID NOT MAKE A STATEMENT. It was the mother. And as we all know, there is more to the story that ISN'T reported..
Result of "sex education" starting in kindegarden
I agree with you on that point.
I don't know many doctors who crawl under bathroom stalls to rub against your backside.
A quick death in the public square.
I say death to all of them.
Note I'm not defending the actions, but rather criticizing the hysteria which surrounds any such incident between children and the abuse industry which takes as much advantage of the kids as the so-called abusers.
If they offending child is not an abuser, what is he?
Yep. My 3 year old daughter sees them and wants them, too. I just tell her that they are not nice girls.
P.S. As everyone knows, dolls are marketed to girls generally under the age of 9 or 10. Those dolls are supposed to emulate teenagers and the little girls then want to look like what they think that "big girls" look like.
Of course, you may borrow it.
Welcome to PornNation, your gift from the FirstAmendmentWingnuts ...
Predatory Aliens - Exposing foreign nationals who prey upon our children
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A kid I went to elementary school with had this "problem," among other issues. Since his father was a big wig in the Nassau County Police, he got away with alot.
Just a kid who maybe didn't know any better who needs the adults in his life to teach him right from wrong and not to give him an adult label and pump him full of drugs.
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