Abuse Happens Even In Controlled Environments
According to a study funded by the United States Department of Justice , many youths who are detained are being victimized. These numbers are self-reported by the youth who are detained. 10.8% of males and 4.7% of females reported sexual activity with facility staff. 9.1% of females and 2.0% of males reported unwanted sexual activity with other youth. Youth with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual reported significantly higher rates of sexual victimization by another youth (12.5%) compared to heterosexual youth (1.3%). Youth who had experienced any prior sexual assault were more than twice as likely to report sexual victimization in the current facility (24.1%), compared to those with no sexual assault history (10.1%). The above statistic is especially unsettling to me. We know that in the general population, an adult who was a sexual abuse victim as a child is an average of 2.5 more li...