There are over 600,000 current registered sex offenders ... over 100,000 missing.

61% of violent sex offenders have a prior record.

60% of convicted sex offenders are on parole or probation.

Two-thirds of sex offenders in prisons victimized a child.

Over 2,000 children are reported missing every day.

About 44% of rape victims are under age 18, and 80% are under age 30.

Child sexual abuse is seldom a one-time occurrence, and lasts and average of 1 to 4 years.

75% to 80% of all children assaulted or abused were victimized by someone they knew.

One of five rape victims is under age 12; 10% of all are under age 5.

According to the criminologists, 6% of the criminals in America commit 70% of the crimes

In 90% of the rapes of children under 12 years old, the offender knew the victims.

8 out of 10 rapists are released prior to trial.

Guest Editorial Printed around the State of Washington

Recently a very scared and shocked mother of a five year old poured her heart out to me in a desperate plea to help protect her daughter from repeated sexual abuse by the child’s father. She had already involved the police and filed for divorce. The police investigation concluded there was sufficient evidence of the child being molested and charges were filed. However in Washington since there was also a divorce preceding the judge optioned to move the entire case to family court, where a commissioner carelessly ruled that if it happened again he would lose his unsupervised visitation with their daughter. Tragically, this is the poor excuse for the protection of children in our state that has become acceptable and common.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) one in five girls and one in ten boys will be sexually victimized before adulthood. This is only an estimate because no one knows how many are too frightened to come forward; the ones that are simply missing; or more common, the ones that have been failed by the judicial system.

In Washington under the 25-year-old SSOSA law or "Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative”, a person convicted and sentenced up to 11 years for sexually abusing a child commonly receives counseling rather than serving their prison term. The unique part of this is that it does not require the offender be a blood relative as in most other states. In other words, anyone who is familiar with the child can qualify. The tragedy of this law perpetuates the myth that if someone they love rapes a child, it is a family issue rather than a crime. The recent rape and murder of 12-year-old Zena Linnik in Tacoma was by a person who had been through this program as well as Joseph Duncan, Wesley Alan Dodd and too many more to list in this letter.

Proponents of this law seem to come from state funded counseling organizations. Claiming it is not in the child’s best interest to face the offender in a trial and leave them feeling responsible for sending a person they love to prison. On the other side are the many victims who have shared there childhood nightmares, and say continuing to be subjected to the abuse has life long effects in all aspects of their lives.

In contrast the Washington’s domestic violence laws protect adults from causing bodily harm to one another and police are required to make an arrest if there is reasonable evidence. Our children certainly deserve the same level of zero tolerance and protection both physically and emotionally that has been stipulated for adults.

Governor Gregoire recently announced her proposal to help keep our children safe from sexual predators and many of the changes are to be commended and are far overdue, including D.N.A. samples from predators and increased funding to law enforcement. Every step is one in the right direction, but how will it change the fact that child molesters continue to live among us and quietly prey on our kids?

The time has come to demand better from our elected officials. First, at a minimum SSOSA should be limited to immediate family. Second, we need mandatory arrest requirements when a police officer believes a child has been assaulted. Third, prosecutors and judges should not have the option whether to criminally charge a predator and children should be able to testify in private rooms with adults they can trust. Finally, law enforcement agencies need additional dedicated funding to pursue our share of the 100,000 convicted sex offenders missing in this nation. This is the path to a society of children sexually and mentally healthy. We can and should only elect leaders who have the courage to require real change.

Rob Welch

* Sources of Facts ...

Russell, D.E.H. and Bolen, R.M., 2000. The Epidemic of Rape and Child Sexual Abuse in the United States. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications.

Snyder, H.N., U. S. Department of Justice Statistics, 2000. Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics.

Center for Sex Offender Management, (2001). Recidivism of Sex Offenders, Full Report and Statistics.

The National Center for Victims of Crime 

National Institute of Mental Health, 1988

Mendel, 1993

CCPCA, 1992

Burgess & Groth, 1984

Because of the methodology of the National Crime Victimization Survey, these figures do not include victims 12 or younger. While there are no reliable annual surveys of sexual assaults on children, (PDF, 37KB) the Justice Department has estimated that one of six victims are under age 12.

Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report 

U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics on Child Sexual Abuse

National Criminal Justice Reference Service