Headline Aug 05, 2015/ ''' ON STUDENTS ABUSE ... : ... FEAR EVERYONE. '''

''' ON STUDENTS ABUSE ... : 

... FEAR EVERYONE. '''

THE MYTH OF STRANGER DANGER    -''Dirty Men''  lurking in parks or malls, luring kids/students away with puppies and candy  -is itself a danger.

The reality is, the overwhelming majority of predators are in the victim's family photo album or social circle. 

Ninety percent of children who are sexually abused know their abuser.

A 2000 study found that family members account for 34 percent of people who abuse juveniles, and acquaintances account for another 59 percent. Only 7 percent were strangers.

Yet conversations about child sexual abuse often focus on horrific examples of stranger danger. In the developed world, we find comfort in searching registries to find out whether registered sexual offenders live in our neighbourhoods.

We tell the kids/children/students not to talk to strangers. And we label men and women who abuse children as monsters.

The demonizing of strangers is extremely dangerous, considering that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys are sexually abused by the time they turn 18, and around 90% of individuals with developmental disabilities will be sexually abused at some point.

''We have an idea that  would know  [a sex offender]  if I saw one, and I can avoid it and keep my child away,'' says Karen Baker, director of National Sexual Violence Resource Center. 

''We need to get over the idea that we can tell who's a good and bad person''.  

IN FLORIDA, it's legal to lock up sex offenders after they have served their sentences, as long as they're deemed too dangerous to rejoin society.

The process called  civil commitment, has existed here since 1999, when the Jimmy Ryce Act took effect in honour of a 9-year-old boy who was abducted on his way home from school- then raped, decapitated and dismembered. 

When sex offenders complete their time in prison, Florida's Sexually Violent Predator Program reviews their cases, looking for evidence of  ''a mental abnormality''  or personality disorder   -something that makes reoffend.

Once civilly committed, residents spend six to seven years, sometimes longer, undergoing extensive treatment, and they need to show rehabilitation before they are considered for release.

While it's unlikely someone would be let out without participating in treatment, special situations do occur as when a resident is  ''severally medically compromised,'' Kanner says, or  ''ages''  out of the risk to reoffend.'' 

For some residents refusing treatment means spending the rest of their lives inside those 12-foot barbed wire fence. 

Today, in America, civil commitment is legal in 20 states and under federal law, and it's deeply controversial. ''If you ask any psychologist involved in [civil commitment], they'll tell you that treatment is the only thing we know that will change some one,'' says Kanner.

Since 1998, 932 sex offenders have been civilly committed in the FCCC, and on average, 85 percent of them opt for treatment. 

''Research shows that sex offenders who receive specialised treatment services reoffend at lower than those who don't get treatment,'' says Bill Levenson, an associate professor of social work at Barry University who researches sex offender policy and treatment. 

''Is it perfect?'' .......No. Treatment doesn't work equally for everyone. People die after getting chemo, but we don't say it doesn't treat cancer.

Indeed, the civil commitment system doesn't always work as it's supposed to. A recent investigation by the Sun Sentinel found that over 14-year period, Florida considered committing but then released  594 sex offenders who were later convicted of other sex crimes.

These men went on to molest over 460 children, rape 121 women and kill 14, the Sun Sentinel reported. The rate of recidivism among child abusers is 13%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-

And research shows that sex offenders with stable jobs, housing and social support are far less likely to reoffend.

The Honour, Sadness and Serving of the ''Operational Research'' continues. All students to make sure to share this forward with everyone.

With respectful dedication to the Parents, Students, Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' Staying Safe. Join  !WOW! '''

Good Night and God bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless