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Vicki Saxton's daughter was sexually assaulted several years ago as a 4-year-old.
The girl was put in therapy after the experience, and has coped well.
But Saxton worries about another child: the boy who did the assaulting.
A victim of sexual abuse in his own home, the 8-year-old went on to more serious crimes, imitating what had been done to him. Now 11, the youth is in long-term residential therapy after being involved with another juvenile in a sexual assault on an elderly woman.
"He went through hell as a child, I know that," says Saxton. "He should have gotten counseling then. I hope it's not too late for him to understand that what he has done is wrong, and that it was wrong when it happened to him, too.
"It's when they don't get help and they go on believing their actions are OK that these kids continue their behaviors as adults."
Unfortunately, the boy's situation is not unique in Utah. Juvenile sexual offenses are increasing at an alarming rate, and without adequate resources to serve the young perpetrators, nearly half -- many sexual-abuse victims themselves -- may not be getting any treatment.
Dave Fowers, a clinician and program specialist for the state Division of Youth Corrections, believes juvenile sex offenders do not get the attention they need because society does not want to believe they exist.
"It's a population no one wants to believe," said Fowers. "If I told you that last year we had a 5-year-old who pulled a knife on a 3-year-old girl and threatened her with that knife if she didn't perform sexual acts on him -- which really happened -- you wouldn't want to believe it. The quicker you can put it out of your mind, the less you have to think about it.
"It doesn't make sense; it's incomprehensible."
And yet, the children who committed these crimes are but two of an estimated 800 youths charged in 1994 with one or more sexual offenses.
Fowers, who also is a founding member in the 7-year-old Utah Network on Juveniles Offending Sexually (NOJOS), is hoping legislators will address the issue in their upcoming lawmaking session by renewing a Juvenile Sex Offender and Victim Treatment Program and Funding bill and providing...