There has never been a more aware time for sexual crimes than today. The number of sexual misconduct crimes have been on the rise since society has had the means to track and punish sexual offenders. We must realize the child can't be expected to protect themselves from sexual abuse and predators, it is up to the parents and authorities at the institutions that our children attend.
In the past, we have done too much to protect child sex offenders, to accept that it happens, and accept the people who do it. It ranges from churches to schools and kindergarten to college, sexual assault and abuse has been much too accepted behind the scenes.
The problem with stopping this is, that up until now the prevention has been focused on responsibility of the individual. More responsibility should be placed on the institution the child finds themselves in. If the schools, churches, and even daycare centers would be more responsible and take certain new measures, they would have a broader sense of responsibility toward what happens to the children or student on their property. Many times the campuses and religious hubs hide and collude with the sex offenders to ensure their security, when it is the young that they should be concerned with.
It may be something the institutions aren't meaning to do, but by keeping these types of securities for sexual predators, they are giving them the chance to commit another sex crime. It allows them the opportunity to go undetected, having the chance to harm somebody again. We must strive and demand that the institutions we entrust our children to, have policies that are adequate enough to protect them from outside harm, especially the most heinous kind.
Most institutions only employ these types of rock solid policies for sex offenders and predators after gaining a bad reputation for sexual abuse and assault cases. That was the case for Syracuse and Penn State, where breaking an unsaid code of silence toward sex offenses meant being fired or expelled. Since then, these types of institutionalized cover-ups have ruined reputations and now they are forced to institute the strictest of sex predator policies.
The National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation stated earlier this week, “The normalization of such abuse and exploitation for individual or commercial gain is socially, politically, and spiritually unacceptable in all communities throughout our nation.” Every institution in the United States needs to conform to a unified code of conduct, that way no school, church or other institution can hide or hire child predators..
There is a simple way to keep these types of crimes from happening in schools. The first, is more camera's by the institutions caring for our children. The next should be complete reforms of the school or church policies to never employ child predators and to do thorough background checks on all the individuals they hire. On top of this, the U.S. Congress can pass a child predator act to require stronger policies to protect our children while they are required to be in school or in religious study.