In fact, 1500 women are in prison in the U.S. for molesting children, usually boys. They share many of the same personality characteristics of male sexual predators, including poor coping skills, relationship difficulties, cognitive distortions and an inability to empathize with victims. They also feel a connection to children because their personalities have not matured beyond an early adolescent stage.

Should female sex offenders receive more lenient or different treatment than male sex offenders? Are they more or less likely to respond to prevention programs as inmates? Because there has been relatively little research on this group, there are few answers currently available. 

Children usually know who the sexual predators are in a community. But generally they tell no one. They may learn to stay away from the adult criminal, often as a result of being molested, but they usually keep the dark secret to themselves. It is only the adults in the community who are ignorant, for the children and the predators often know each other.

Given these circumstances, it is easier to understand the high rates of substance abuse, depression and suicidal ideation among victims of child sexual abuse, for these kids lose their parents in the systemic context of these crimes.

As parents become better informed about sex crimes, they are less likely to fear unfair accusations. And then fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, uncles and brothers will be reassured about their attachment to children.

Child Abducted, White Chevy, DAA1219

Somewhere, parents and relatives, shocked and horrified, were waiting for word of a missing youngster. Amber Alerts are used only when an abduction has occurred, and they have been helpful in finding kids and returning them to their families. Sometimes perpetrators have become aware that they are being tracked, and they release their victims.

The White Chevy is somewhere and a child’s life hangs in the balance.

Bullying can also involve sexual exploitation, because children are a vulnerable population and can be the targets of many types of intimidation. Forty percent of sexual predators are themselves minors, usually teenagers, so when children learn to protect themselves from bullies, they can also develop techniques to avoid sexual abuse from older kids.

The characteristics of young people that make them vulnerable online are the same as those that make them vulnerable offline: immaturity, inexperience and impulsiveness. The young teen who is likely to go joyriding with young men she meets at the mall is also likely to become involved in sexual conversations online.

This suggests that educational approaches to youth protection might more productively focus on teaching kids how to identify criminal sexual behavior, healthy sexual behavior and child pornography. Targeting the most vulnerable adolescents would likewise be protective.

But parents need to be aware of kids’ activities when they play together, particularly when there are older children involved. Most parents know intuitively that large differences in size and maturity may not lead to cooperative play, but the same power differences can put small children at risk.

Forty percent of sexual predators are themselves minors, and it appears that may adult offenders begin their predatory acts in the adolescent years. Young children are protected when parents insist that everybody keep their hands to themselves, that there are no secrets and no sex talk, and that everybody stays dressed in children’s play.