Did you know that 20 percent of girls and 5 percent of boys may have been victims of child sexual abuse by an adult? Those alarming child sex assault statistics were reported by the National Center for Victims of Crime in Washington, D.C.
Sadly, even those estimates may be lower than reality, since child sex assaults aren’t always reported.
In fact, child sexual assaults may not be reported in up to 88 percent of cases, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. In part, that’s because an estimated 75 percent of child sex crimes are committed by a person in the child’s family — or a trusted person outside the family — and then the crime is covered up and unreported.
Yet, disparities in numbers can also work the other way because not all child sex crimes reported to the police are true.
Many people have been falsely accused of sex assaults on children, as well as on adults. In such cases, an experienced sex crimes attorney is needed to protect a defendant’s legal rights — especially since Texas punishments for sex crimes can be particularly severe for sex crimes against children.
As for actual child victims, it’s believed that children between the ages of 7 and 13 are most vulnerable to sexual assault. But older children are also vulnerable, with an estimated 16 percent of youths age 14 to 17 being sexually victimized in a recent one-year period.
The toll such child sex crimes take can extend for years after the sexual assault. In fact, the repercussion can last for a lifetime. Child victims of prolonged sexual assaults — again, often by a family member — can develop low self-esteem and a distorted view of sex, reports the NCVC. Such children can become withdrawn, mistrustful of adults and even suicidal.
As for what constitutes child sex assault or child sex abuse, it can range from rape to such non-contact abuses as voyeurism, indecent exposure, and child pornography.
Even more alarming, child sex assault statistics that come from Chaucie’s Place, a child advocacy organization, reports that 25 percent of girls and around 16 percent of boys are sexually abused. Also, 20 percent of children are solicited sexually while on the Internet.
This advocacy group claims that around two-thirds of all reported sexual assaults — that’s including assaults on adults — happen to children age 17 and younger. It also claims that about 42 million survivors of child sex assault live in America.
The plague of child sex assaults in America has spurred law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and legislators to emphasize apprehension, prosecution, and punishment of offenders.
But not everyone snared in these widespread nets is a sexual predator.
Distinctions must be made between persons who are guilty of actual sex crimes and innocent persons who are perceived as being guilty, perhaps due to false accusations based on misunderstandings, attention-getting, revenge, leverage in divorce proceedings, and other factors which prompt false allegations.
If you or someone you love in Houston, Harris County, Fort Bend County or Montgomery County has been falsely accused of a child sex assault, notify an experienced sex crimes defense attorney at the Neal Davis Law Firm.
We’ll hasten to give you a confidential legal review of your case. Then, you can decide how you wish to proceed with a child sex assault legal defense.
