The following was prepared and provided by Ethical Treatment for All Youth (ETAY).

We encourage parents to visit www.ethicaltreatment.org for more information.

Your Child Could be Arrested and Forced Into Treatment for His or Her Sexual Behavior

Children as young as 8 can be arrested, mandated to treatment, and placed on sex offender registries--even for non-aggressive behavior. Don't let this happen to your child. Know the facts.

A Brave New World: When Abuse Doesn't Always Mean Abuse

Due to a nation-wide crack-down on child sexual abuse, all 50 states have enacted laws that can treat young children and teenagers as "juvenile sex offenders" or "sexual predators" for uncoerced sexual behavior with each other.¹

Extensive sexual behavior seen as abuse

There are no scientifically established standards of normal sexual behavior among children. Behavior varies widely depending on individual differences, social class, culture, and parental values, and research shows some children engage in more extensive sexual behaviors than most people realize.² However, society sets standards of sexual behavior according to its moral values. In the U.S., police and therapists often enforce standards by labeling socially inappropriate sexual behavior as "assault"--even in the absence of violence or coercion.³

Sibling sex play

Research shows that play among siblings often becomes sexual.⁴ In many states, this is considered "incest" and is illegal. Police and therapists may make no distinction between coerced and willing behavior.⁵

Sex play among friends

Any parent knows that children have friends who differ in age, size, or mental ability from themselves. But what you may not know is that play among these children may become sexual without any coercion or manipulation.⁶ If your child is older, bigger, or brighter, he or she can be arrested and treated as a sex offender, regardless of the willingness of the other participants. Laws vary from place to place, but the age difference can be less than two years.⁷

Underage romantic relationships

Adolescents are sometimes arrested and classified as sex offenders for consensual romantic sexual relationships with each other. Usually this happens when there is an age difference (which varies from state to state), but in some states it is a felony for same-age underage couples to have consensual sex, and they are arrested for "assaulting" each other. What was once called "underage sex" is now called "child sex abuse."⁸

The Consequences Can Be Devastating

Children and teens labeled as sex offenders can be treated the same way adult sex offenders are:

• Isolated from other children

• Imprisoned

• Placed on public sex offender registries for decades or for life

• Monitored and subjected to community notification

• Banned from future colleges, occupations, and neighborhoods

• Mandated to treatment intended for violent sex offenders

Abusive Treatment

Youth who violate sex laws are often mandated to treatment programs using methods never used on violent non-sexual offenders.

• Cognitive restructuring, used by 81% of programs, requires youths to admit to violent behavior, to identify themselves as permanently dangerous and mentally defective, and to detail their sexual feelings and behaviors to peers in a castigating atmosphere.⁹

• Arousal reconditioning, used by 77% of programs, attempts to change sexual feelings. These methods may include covert sensitization (repeated descriptions of sexual fantasies with harmful consequences), satiation (prolonged masturbation or recounting of fantasies), and aversion therapy (exposure to ammonia or electric shock in conjunction with deviant fantasies).¹⁰

• Medications are used by 44% of programs, sometimes to reduce sex drive ("chemical castration"). Some of them are not FDA-approved for this purpose and have dangerous side effects, such as liver injury or a delay in puberty.¹¹

• Plethysmographs connected to boys' penises are used by 13% of programs for teenagers to measure their response to sexually arousing photographs or audiotapes involving adults and children. The scientific validity of the plethysmograph has not been established.¹²

What You Can Do

• Educate yourself by reading the information at Ethical Treatment for All Youth (ETAY)

• Talk to your children about the disastrous consequences of underage sexual behavior.

• Join with parents from around the U.S. and/or in your local area who wish to advocate for rational laws and humane treatment of children who violate sex laws. See Ethical Treatment for All Youth or email ETAY.

• If your child is accused of a sex crime, find a lawyer who specializes in this type of case. Miscarriages of justice are common in sex crime cases because of overzealous police, prosecutors, and treatment providers.

• If your child is mandated to sex-offender treatment (SOT), find another therapist who can work with your child to counteract the harmful effects of SOT.

References

Source: ISAC Corporation - www.isaccorp.org