Utah Highest Sex Abuse Rate

[2BizE]

Utah has the highest rate of sexual abuse of children of all states in the United States.

How are you going to help fix this problem?

https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-has-high-rates-of-child-abuse-sex-abuse-of-children

[ksfisher]

3 minutes ago, 2BizE said:

Utah has the highest rate of sexual abuse of children of all states in the United States.

How are you going to help fix this problem?

https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-has-high-rates-of-child-abuse-sex-abuse-of-children

A couple of points from your link that are valid to include for the discussion:

"Carrie Jensen of Prevent Child Abuse said Utah has tougher laws than other states and may pursue child abuse more vigorously and that might help explain the high rates."

and

"Only 13 percent of the cases were neglect, one of the lowest rates among all states."

[LoudmouthMormon]

How about this: Utah culture helps more victims come forward and report, and that is a good thing.  How can other states do it as good as Utah?  Because underreporting is endemic everywhere.

Probably a good first step is to help remove ignorance surrounding the difference between rates of reporting, and rates of abuse.  Both are important to know, but they mean different things. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by LoudmouthMormon

[ksfisher]

9 minutes ago, 2BizE said:

Utah has the highest rate of sexual abuse of children of all states in the United States.

How are you going to help fix this problem?

https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-has-high-rates-of-child-abuse-sex-abuse-of-children

The story also appears to be at least 5 years old, as one of the headlines down below is "LDS Church president's wife dies at age 86."  Assuming this is talking about Frances Monson, who died at age 86, this would have been in 2013.

Is there any more current information?

[Gray]

Houser explained the criminal statue concerning sex abuse does not place any limits or restrictions based on the age of the perpetrator. The law would still apply regardless of it was a 7-year-old or a 45-year-old man accused of inappropriately touching a child. DCFS is legally required to open a case in both situations.

In other states, DCFS will not investigate any alleged sexual abuse committed by individuals under the age of 17. In Utah, approximately 35 percent of offenses were committed by minors between the ages of 10-17 in 2015, according to DCFS data.

“This is a thing that is unique to Utah,” Houser said. “Our numbers a higher because we treat those numbers differently than most other states.”

 

For some reason I can't link to the source

Edited October 16, 2018 by Gray

[hope_for_things]

22 minutes ago, 2BizE said:

Utah has the highest rate of sexual abuse of children of all states in the United States.

How are you going to help fix this problem?

https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-has-high-rates-of-child-abuse-sex-abuse-of-children

Thanks for sharing, this is interesting.  I wonder if this might also be a contributing factor toward our high suicide rates in Utah.  

I wish church leaders would wake up to these disturbing statistics and make substantive changes in policies and practices that contribute to these outcomes.  Instead they seem much more worried about protecting their institutional image.  Its not surprising as most large institutions do this, its just disappointing.  

[ksfisher]

Just now, hope_for_things said:

Thanks for sharing, this is interesting.  I wonder if this might also be a contributing factor toward our high suicide rates in Utah.  

I wish church leaders would wake up to these disturbing statistics and make substantive changes in policies and practices that contribute to these outcomes.  Instead they seem much more worried about protecting their institutional image.  Its not surprising as most large institutions do this, its just disappointing.  

So this is the church's fault?  What evidence do you have that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the factor that is driving these numbers?

[hope_for_things]

2 minutes ago, ksfisher said:

So this is the church's fault?  What evidence do you have that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the factor that is driving these numbers?

I'm not interested in trying to prove anything to you.  Just sharing my opinion, feel free to agree to disagree.  

[RevTestament]

31 minutes ago, Gray said:

Houser explained the criminal statue concerning sex abuse does not place any limits or restrictions based on the age of the perpetrator. The law would still apply regardless of it was a 7-year-old or a 45-year-old man accused of inappropriately touching a child. DCFS is legally required to open a case in both situations.

In other states, DCFS will not investigate any alleged sexual abuse committed by individuals under the age of 17. In Utah, approximately 35 percent of offenses were committed by minors between the ages of 10-17 in 2015, according to DCFS data.

“This is a thing that is unique to Utah,” Houser said. “Our numbers a higher because we treat those numbers differently than most other states.”

Yep. Many cases of "abuse" are by siblings, cousins and neighborhood children. Since those are not counted as "abuse" in other states, and usually go unreported, this comparison of Utah rates is artificially inflated.

[hope_for_things]

2 minutes ago, RevTestament said:

Yep. Many cases of "abuse" are by siblings, cousins and neighborhood children. Since those are not counted as "abuse" in other states, and usually go unreported, this comparison of Utah rates is artificially inflated.

Yes, but I'm sure there are unique aspects to reporting across various different states, this shouldn't give us cause to completely ignore the results of statistics like this.  Abuse of this kind is such a serious problem for society and for Utah as well.  

[ttribe]

11 minutes ago, RevTestament said:

Yep. Many cases of "abuse" are by siblings, cousins and neighborhood children. Since those are not counted as "abuse" in other states, and usually go unreported, this comparison of Utah rates is artificially inflated.

Why the scare quotes? Are you saying these things aren't actually abuse?

[The Nehor]

1 hour ago, 2BizE said:

Utah has the highest rate of sexual abuse of children of all states in the United States.

How are you going to help fix this problem?

https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-has-high-rates-of-child-abuse-sex-abuse-of-children

What are you doing to fix the problem? Have you made an effort to abuse fewer children?

[RevTestament]

3 minutes ago, ttribe said:

Why the scare quotes? Are you saying these things aren't actually abuse?

Scare quotes? I am merely pointing out the difference in the definition of "abuse." For example what may pass off as playing doctor in other states can be "abuse" in Utah. Do I believe that unwanted intercourse by minors is not abuse? No. To me it is abuse, but maybe not in some states.

[Danzo]

1 hour ago, 2BizE said:

Utah has the highest rate of sexual abuse of children of all states in the United States.

How are you going to help fix this problem?

https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-has-high-rates-of-child-abuse-sex-abuse-of-children

This article is quite old and I believe there have been several threads discussing the topic.

[Jeanne]

Whether it is the church's fault or not...something is so not right with Utah.  I want to help.  Tryiing to work with CAPSA at the moment but haven't heard back..I am sick about this..

[ttribe]

4 minutes ago, RevTestament said:

Scare quotes? I am merely pointing out the difference in the definition of "abuse." For example what may pass off as playing doctor in other states can be "abuse" in Utah. Do I believe that unwanted intercourse by minors is not abuse? No. To me it is abuse, but maybe not in some states.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes

[rpn]

Without seeing the research on which this statement is based, it is impossible to know what is happening or what needs to change, if anything.   It could be that there is more reporting of child sexual abuse (meaning more belief and more support for victims).   If they are saying that there is a higher percentage of sexual abuse crimes, then it could be because Utah is a state where prosecutors charge 18 year olds with 16 or 17 year old girlfriends engaged in consensual with sex abuse crimes, where few if any other states do that regularly, and if such couples take photos of each other, also with sexual performance of children.

[kllindley]

58 minutes ago, ttribe said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes

I read this enlightening article.  What strikes me is that it consistently defines the term scare quotes in relation to the author's intent and meaning.  It provides no means to distinguish whether their usage is meant as scare quotes or as appropriate punctuation denoting a specific word. 

From this I gather that you are confident enough in knowing the intent and meaning behind RevTestament's usage to insist that they are scare quotes rather than intentional punctuation.  I'm curious then, which of the purposes of scare quotes was he using?

• a) using a word in a non-standard sense
• b) using it in an ironic manner
• c) using it in another special sense
• d) using someone else's term
• e) implying skepticism
• f) implying disagreement
• g) believing the word is misused
• h) indicating that the writer intends a meaning that is opposite the word

Please enlighten those of us who can't read minds.  

 

[pogi]

1 hour ago, hope_for_things said:

Yes, but I'm sure there are unique aspects to reporting across various different states, this shouldn't give us cause to completely ignore the results of statistics like this.  Abuse of this kind is such a serious problem for society and for Utah as well.  

Show me the numbers.  Just what are those “unique” aspects of reporting that might inflate other states numbers in relation to Utah’s?

You are right.  We shouldn’t just “ignore” these statistics, but neither should we take them at face value as raw numbers.  We need to take them in context of how they are reported.  My understanding is that most child sexual abuse cases are actually kid to kid.  If other states are not reporting those numbers and we are, are you really suggesting that we should assume that our rates of abuse are truly higher in Utah?

I don’t know if it is possible to determine who has the highest actual rate without access to accounts of how all states report - and I don’t think it really matters when even 1 case is too many.  We should be doing all we can if we have the lowest rates or the highest. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by pogi

[hope_for_things]

8 minutes ago, pogi said:

Show me the numbers.  Just what are those “unique” aspects of reporting that might inflate other states numbers in relation to Utah’s?

You are right.  We shouldn’t just “ignore” these statistics, but neither should we take them at face value as raw numbers.  We need to take them in context of how they are reported.  My understanding is that most child sexual abuse cases are actually kid to kid.  If other states are not reporting those numbers and we are, are you really suggesting that we should assume that our rates of abuse are truly higher in Utah?

I'm making a logical assumption that if Utah has some unique differences in how it tracks these statistics that other states surely also have unique differences.  

I agree that it would be important to understand the statistics better, with the goal in mind to more effectively address this serious problem, not to feel comfortable or to get stuck in comparisons between how we rank with other states.  The fact of the matter is that there are still a massive # of people that experience abuse.  I'm essentially just warning that we need to be careful to not dismiss what this report says because of some unique differences.  

Edited October 16, 2018 by hope_for_things

[changed]

The problem:

Involves young children - really really young children.  The case I was involved with involved babies and infants who were not old enough to talk, a mentally ill child who was unable to talk - this high priest found kids who were not yet able to communicate effectively.  

Another part of the problem - abuse is often done by people who know the kids - fathers abusing their own children, brothers, uncles, family members who have groomed the kids from birth.  The kids do not know any better, this is how they have lived their entire lives.  Their entire world - their understanding of what a family is, or what their life should be - they have no understanding of what "normal" is.  

Part of the solution:

Apply two-deep youth protection policies, background check for those working with children, training for anyone working with kids on identification, reporting, and intervention strategies.  Video surveillance of public areas (some of the abuse in my case happened in a church building).  Talk about abuse in church lessons - publicly condemn it over and over again, abusers should NOT feel comfortable coming to church - make church comfortable for victims NOT abusers.  

"forgive 70Xseven, those who do not forgive are worse than those who commit the sin, forgive forgive forgive" = happy inviting place for abusers to come, and rationalize "everyone is human, I will be forgiven, I am not a horrible person"

If there were as many lessons on the horrors of abuse - as many lessons on repentance as there are lessons on forgiveness, that would be a great place to start.

Church should also work with local law enforcement, local social services groups.  Bishops should have a list of resources - not just church resources - public resources - for helping people.  

 

Edited October 17, 2018 by changed

[2BizE]

2 hours ago, The Nehor said:

What are you doing to fix the problem? Have you made an effort to abuse fewer children?

Nehor, thanks for asking what I am going to do.

I participate in scouting as a leader, and recently completed the new training on abuse.  Several things I can do is to ensure 2-deep leadership, ensure no one-on-one contact with boys in my troop.  We usually have various boys ages at campouts.  One of the BSA guidelines is not to have boys with more than 2 years age sleep together in the same tent. The training stated, that perpetrators are rarely strangers, but usually people close to the family and known by the child.  

I also ensure me or my wife are present with our children for all interviews with the bishop or counselors. 

These are some things I am doing.

[Calm]

3 hours ago, Gray said:

For some reason I can't link to the source

If it has child and sex and abuse or something similar in the url it may 403 it.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Calm

[Calm]

2 hours ago, rpn said:

Without seeing the research on which this statement is based, it is impossible to know what is happening or what needs to change, if anything.   It could be that there is more reporting of child sexual abuse (meaning more belief and more support for victims).   If they are saying that there is a higher percentage of sexual abuse crimes, then it could be because Utah is a state where prosecutors charge 18 year olds with 16 or 17 year old girlfriends engaged in consensual with sex abuse crimes

The state did this around ten years ago (unless I got the age of the girl wrong), he was definitely 18 though. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Calm

[Calm]

Date of article was Monday, November 2nd 2015, which means stats are likely a few years older 

Since it is talking about of percentages of types of child abuse, I don’t believe the article give rate of overall child abuse for Utah and given that Utah apparently includes numbers for sex abuse differently, that difference could drop us as well.

The study is saying out of 100 cases of abuse, 13 are from neglect and 27 are from sexual abuse. If absolute neglect numbers get raised as apparently they would in most states, that percentage goes up while the other types go down if they stay the same. 

Also included are child on child cases. I find it hard to believe other states don’t report this stat since I have seen it, so there may be something in addition that is being referred to. Maybe it is just this department in Utah and elsewhere some other dept investigates  

The absolute number was 6900 (which for the size of the state population may be high or low), so sex abuse was around 2000.  If the reported where others don’t add amounts to 35% of that percent, that drops to about 1250 (just guessing).  Probably would need to divide that by total population or Perhaps total population under 18 in each state to get comparable due to Utah also having a larger percentage of youth units pop than most states, which would raise absolute numbers and possible general rates. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Calm