By Sarah Schulz
sarah.schulz@theindependent.com

Perpetrators often prey on the most vulnerable people in our communities, and the majority of the time, particularly when young children are involved, the offender and the victim know each other.

"It's a horrifying thing," Hall County Attorney Mark Young said. "As adults, we'd just as soon believe it didn't happen, especially when kids are involved."

Child sexual abuse is defined as the forcing, coercing or persuading of a child to engage in any type of sexual intercourse, including sexual contact and noncontact, such as exposure to pornography, voyeurism or communicating in a sexual manner by phone or the Internet, according to Darkness to Light, a nonprofit organization aimed at raising awareness of child sexual abuse.

Nearly 70 percent of sexual assaults nationwide occur to children age 17 and younger. The median age for reported sexual assault is 9 years old, according to Darkness to Light.

As with most sexual assault cases, the victims and the offenders usually know each other. In cases where both are juveniles, they are often related or have some close association, Young said. It is also common for sexual offenders to prey on vulnerable people, such as the very young or the developmentally delayed, he said.

In more than 90 percent of sexual assault cases nationwide involving children, with both juvenile and adult offenders, the child and the child's family know the offender, according to Darkness to Light.

Young estimates his office receives 40 referrals each year from law enforcement for sexual assault of a child, including both juvenile and adult perpetrators. He also estimated that charges are filed in 30 to 35 cases each year, he said.

In addition, four to five cases where both the offender and the victim are juveniles are referred to his office each year by law enforcement. Of those, charges are filed in three to four cases, he said.

As with any case, prosecutors have to look at whether they have enough evidence to support the charge and bring a case to its conclusion. They also have to determine if the case should be filed in juvenile or adult court, he said.

Young's personal guideline generally involves filing charges in adult court when the offender is age 16 or older. However, the final say lies with the judge, who can send a case to juvenile court, Young said.

Young bases the decision, in part, on availability of long-term treatment. Punishment is involved in both courts, but the juvenile court only has jurisdiction over a case until the convicted juvenile turns 18, he said. In many cases involving sexual assault and abuse, long-term treatment is necessary, and the court may only be able to order such extended treatment through the adult court.

Child victims are difficult to work with when it comes to getting evidentiary information. They often have difficulty relating things in a chronological fashion, he said.

To aid in making children comfortable and to ease the traumatic nature of sexual abuse, interviews can be conducted at the Child Advocacy Center.

Director Sondra Schwehn said the center, which also offers advocacy services, focuses on children age 18 and younger from Hall, Howard, Merrick, Hamilton, Adams, Greeley, Garfield, Wheeler, Clay, Nuckolls and Webster counties.

In the last few years, workers at the center have seen an increased number of juvenile sex offenders. Most of them are teen males with victims age 9 and younger, she said.

Part of the reason for the increase could be the education children are receiving about what's OK and what's not OK for others to do to them. That education could be helping make children more comfortable about reporting when they've been touched inappropriately, she said.

Interviews at the Child Advocacy Center are conducted by trained interviewers who often work for law enforcement or the Department of Health and Human Services, she said.

On the flip side, the sexual abuse of perpetrators sometimes comes to light as attorneys begin dispositions or during sentencing. However, such statements are to be taken with caution because research has shown that many adult offenders make claims of significant sexual abuse to gain sympathy at their sentencings, Young said.

Schwehn said there is a concern that offenders were victims too, especially if they are age 12 to 14 and have had multiple victims. The question of where they learned the behavior arises, she said.

"Did something happen to that kid that went unnoticed or unreported?" Schwehn said. "How did they learn so young and become an offender? What can be done to address it?"

It can happen here

A 19-year-old Grand Island man is serving three to five years in prison for sexually assaulting his younger sister sometime between September 2006 and August 2007.

The 6-year-old girl was treated at St. Francis Medical Center and was later interviewed by law enforcement. She told officers her brother had sex with her after her mother had gone to work, according to court documents.

Another person also reported to police that he had seen the man, who was 17 or 18 years old when the assault occurred, touch the girl inappropriately.

The siblings' parents told officers that the teen had sexually assaulted his little brother about five years prior to the incidents with his sister, according to court documents.

Community Resources

The following community resources are available to help families and respond to concerns about sexual abuse or any type of child abuse:

Child Advocacy Center (offers interview and advocacy services), 385-5238

Hope Harbor (homeless shelter for women and children), 385-5190

Salvation Army (shelter for men), 382-4855

Heartland Court Appointed Special Advocates (help for abused/neglected children in the court system), 385-5125

Hall County Juvenile Services, 385-5124

Wellness Works/Por Su Salud (information on a variety of health/education topics), 398-5050

Building Nebraska Families (assistance for moving from welfare to work), 385-5088

Center for Advocacy and Resource Education/Youth Encouraging Support (for families with physical, mental or emotionally challenged children), (877) 225-0500

Girls and Boys Town Shelter, 381-4444

Heartland Visitation Center (supervised visitations, exchange point for parents), 385-5665

Mid-Plains Foster Care Services, 385-5555