Report from the Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children

By Nature and Dynamics
Sexual Abuse of Children
January 4, 2013

http://media.trb.com/media/acrobat/2013-01/108731320-03141256.pdf

[with pdf]

Child sexual abuse is a silent epidemic in Missouri and throughout the nation. Studies suggest that twenty- five percent of girls and sixteen percent of boys experience sexual abuse during their

childhood years.1

Child sexual abuse is any interaction between a child and an adult (or an older juvenile) in which the child is used for the sexual grati1cation of the adult. It can include contact (touching of the vagina, penis, breast or buttocks, oral-genital contact or sexual intercourse) and non-contact behaviors (voyeurism, exhibitionism, or exposing the child to pornography). Force, as it is typically undersood, is often not involved, but perpetrators use deception, threats and other forms of coercion.2

Children are most often molested by someone they know. A third or more of victims are abused by a family member, and only seven percent are molested by a stranger. Seventy-five percent of abuse

occurs inside of homes, behind closed doors.3