Awareness raising and early intervention and treatment are the only options in the fight against child sexual abuse. With society in denial, and indifferent to the consequences, a percentage of untreated victims will turn into offenders. Other victims will gravitate to juvenile crime, or at best, live dysfunctional lives.

Beyond the high-profile cases of the, yet unresolved, murder of JonBenet, and Dutroux's grueling child pornography murders in Belgium, child sexual abuse has not received the media attention it had in the early to mid-eighties. Now almost fifteen years ago, that media coverage served to raise public awareness of child abuse and neglect, causing a dramatic 325 percent increase in the reporting of child abuse cases from 669,000 in 1976 to 2,178,000 in 1987. Of that number, 14 percent, or 304,920 were reported child sexual abuse cases. Public consciousness accomplished other actions. Laws were passed, state funding for child protective services improved, police departments added trained specialists.
Retired detective Rollie Powell was such a specialist in the town of Rutland, Vermont, population 18,230. From 1982 to 1992, Powell dedicated ten years of his life to the fighting and prevention of child sexual abuse. Committed to fight till his retirement, Powell nevertheless saw public and political interest waning already in 1990 and he expressed his concerns openly. His ten-year tour of duty served not only to reinforce the reality of the crime of child sexual abuse, and its proliferation, it established a clearly identifiable link between such abuse and juvenile crime, and worse, public awareness had not made a dent in the number of victims. In 1994, the most recent year for which numbers have been published, the total reported cases of child abuse had increased by yet another 44 percent to 3,140,000.
The incidence of child sexual abuse is still a hefty 11 percent of that number, or 345,400 reported cases. That's reported cases, as documented by 42 individual states. And as far as child sexual abuse reporting is concerned, that allows for all the variations as a result of non-standard data collection procedures. It's interesting to note that these same data estimates recorded the highest number of reported child sexual abuse cases in 1991 at 425,000. Several possibilities come to mind.
Was 1991 the year that public interest peaked? This would be consistent with Powell's experience. It also poses an argument for maintaining prevention programs and consistent media coverage and education. There is a recognizable correlation between awareness and reporting. Looking at the statistics, child protection agencies might present the argument that reported cases have gone down, suggesting that the problem is being curtailed.
That, too, is an interesting consideration, but a highly unlikely one, in Powell's opinion. Less reporting does not equal fewer incidents. In reality, the highest number of reported incidents in 1991, does not even come close to the suspected number of incidents of child sexual abuse. Based on Powell's experience alone, he dealt with some 450 child victims, that's about 10 percent of the child population of the city of Rutland. And that's still only reported cases. Experts in the field, such as R.S. and C.H. Kempe, believe that as many as one in five children of both sexes will be victims before the age of sixteen. Notwithstanding the few high profile cases that capture the media's attention, statistically, more than 80 percent of these cases involve known offenders, friends, caretakers, immediate family.
Child molesters can be broadly categorized into two groups. fixated and regressed. The fixated molester or pedophile, whose primary sexual orientation is children, is estimated to generate on average 150 victims within a lifetime, some as many as 500. Not only do they often hold jobs and professions in positions of trust and respect that offer a high degree of access to children, but they are now taking full advantage of the opportunities offered on the uncontrolled and unregulated information highway.
Much less visible in our society, the regressed child molester substitutes conflicting adult relationships for sexual involvement with a child. This type of offender operates predominantly within the family, and will go as far as to victimize a second generation of children, once the first victims have reached adulthood. As devastating as the statistics of victims of pedophiles are, generational incest is a crime thought to be increasing at a much greater rate and currently represents almost 90 percent of all reported child sexual abuse cases. Contrary to popular belief, it has been determined that 97.5 percent of the children, who claim to have been abused, do not lie about this. Most don't talk until later in adult life, when the fear of retaliation or further abuse has subsided. An adult's violation of a child's trust in the case of the pedophile still has a chance of repair in appropriate therapy. The violation of a child's trust by a parent or relative distorts the child's picture of himself and the world around him.

In the book KILLJOY, Rollie Powell's expose serves to remind the public that child sexual abuse is still very much a reality in our society, that offenders do little time, that children have no voice, and that juvenile delinquency and crime is on the rise. If we accept, as Powell does, that there is a direct link between sexual abuse and the acting out behavior of youngsters, the crime of child sexual abuse, and the immense damage it can cause, are spreading. Not only are juvenile crime figures rising, but a growing number of young victims turn sexual offender, acting out their own victimization on age mates as young as five years old.
Powell was able to make a clearly identifiable connection between cause and effect - child sexual abuse and juvenile crime. The juvenile crime rate dropped after an initial round-up and arrest of five pedophiles in town. He is convinced that given the time and the effort, the juvenile crime rate could be halved. That connection has been supported by studies done in several prisons, indicating that 70 percent of inmates are victims of child sexual abuse. Many experts in the field believe that of the two million run-away kids, half are sexually abused. Many believe that pedophiles and prostitutes are (all) victims of early sexual abuse. It is estimated that 25 percent of the victims turn offender. The other 75 percent act out their pain in crime, substance abuse, or at best, dysfunctional relationships.
Surrounding the furor over the, then pending, Megan's Law in New Jersey, requiring registration of convicted sex offenders, one of the prime-time channels reported that 1400 released offenders would be effected by this. That's 1400, not counting those in prison, or those never convicted, just in one state. For argument's sake, lets assume that 75 percent of them are of the incestuous type, the remainder classic pedophiles. The incestuous types, the friends, relatives, caretakers, who use the opportunity, may average between 2-4 victims. Over a lifetime, that's 3150 victims.
The classic pedophile averages 150 victims over a lifetime, some as many as 500. But at an average of 150 for the remaining 25 percent of the 1400 offenders, that's another 52,500 victims, for a total of 55,650. If all expert assumptions are true , approximately 25 percent of the victims will turn offender - that would mean that these 1400 released offenders will generate 13,125 potential offenders. Applying the same ratios and assumptions, these offenders will in turn generate 521,718 victims, of which an estimated 130,429 are at risk of becoming offenders. And that's just in one state. Multiply this by 52 and the numbers are staggering.
Is this a gross exaggeration? Possibly. But then again, let's approach it from the other end. In the ten- year period between 1985 to 1994, a total of 3,265,000 reported cases of child sexual abuse have been recorded. If these cases are under reported as badly as the experts presume, we might assume a 20 percent reporting factor overall, to arrive at potentially over 16 million victims. A 25 percent presumed offender generation will produce over 4 million offenders. The first example generated over 6 million. Either way it's conjecture, either way, the numbers are staggering. Whether 4 or 6 million, there'll be one in everybody's yard.
The point here is not the numbers, it's the potential run-away train that will result from easy time, and parents who'll continue to prefer to believe that such horrors only happen somewhere else. And all the articles in the world, about therapists inducing non-existent regressed memory, reasons why children falsely accuse parents and teachers (statistically they don't), and juvenile offenders being portrayed as innocents, do not make child sexual abuse go away. Hi-tech environments merely seem to provide added incentives and opportunities for offenders. Child pornography has escalated with the invention of video and infiltrated small-town America via the Internet. It's a devastating reality, with long-term damage to victims and no cure for offenders.

Powell's story is one that exemplifies the magnitude, the extent of the devastation, the domino effect. There is no system that protects the children. At best there is only a system that tries to intervene after the fact. He shows how defenseless children are, without protection, nowhere to turn, within an adult-only legal system. He realizes that he is not only pursuing a crime, but chipping away at a massive wall of social denial. Parents of victims often refuse to support their children or keep them in therapy, unable to accept what has happened. And when it comes to youth offenders and sibling incest, the public attitudes shut down completely. Incestuous fathers continue their activities even after conviction, often empowered by their silent partners and spouses. Generations of incestuous grandfathers, fathers and sons, and whole families are upholding the secret. Neighbors and friends testify for the offender, in spite of compelling evidence of the crime. There are parents in collusion, and partners in relationship whose dependence takes priority over the welfare of their children. Untreated young victims emerge later in Powell's career as youth offenders. He battles with unbelieving courts, outraged politicians and inexperienced prosecutors, while watching many offenders slip justice to continue their pursuits. Dutroux in Belgium could serve as one example, all be it extreme. Leader of a child pornography ring, he had a prior conviction as a sex offender. After serving 6 years of his 13.5 year sentence, he was free to continue his practices and expound on them. A classic pedophile, aided by his wife, supported by high officials, his crimes escalated into the world of hi-tech equipment and murder.

Prevention:
1. Provide love, understanding, support, discipline. Children who feel neglected are more vulnerable.
2. From the age of two on up, teach your children what is inappropriate touching and encourage them to let you know. Do this at least twice a year and expand the message as they get older
3. Be suspicious of close relationships between your child and another adult, particularly in environments where pedophiles thrive: school, youth activities, church, sports, camps
4. Carefully check and monitor babysitters and their friends
5. Don't write off age-inappropriate behavior as child's curiosity - take it very seriously as a potential sign. Remember that most abuse is progressive. With early detection and therapy, the damage is dramatically minimized
6. Be sensitive to your child's behavior changes and subtle messages, particularly with very young children who lack the verbal skills
7. Don't stress the "stranger danger" disproportionately. 80% of offenders are known to the victim
8. Accept that pedophiles often operate in environments that put them in a position of trust and provide them with a high degree of access to children.
9. Be aware of what your children do on the Internet
10. Be sensitive to the realization that pornography is often used as an enticement

What to do if your child is abused:
1. Don't ignore or minimize even the slightest hint of sexual abuse, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Inappropriate touching over clothes is still abuse and may merely be a prelude to more serious activity
2. Leave the interviewing to the experts: Therapists, social workers, police.
3. Arrange for immediate therapy for your child with an expert in this field. Allow the therapist to determine the appropriate length of treatment.
4. Encourage family therapy to provide the child with the maximum support and understanding
5. Take action with regard to the offender. No action sends the child the message that you're not taking it seriously
6. Don't let the fear of your child's trauma in court be a deterrent to contact the authorities. Most offenders confess and no testimony is required
7. If the offender is a spouse or other sibling, immediate action is even more urgent. Early intervention and treatment is preferred over continued exposure to danger for the victim