NCJ Number
206058
Date Published
June 2004
Length
156 pages
Annotation
This literature review of sexual abuse and sexual misconduct by staff against students in U.S. schools was done to fulfill the mandate in Section 5414 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as amended.
Abstract
This synthesis of the literature on the subject focuses on research data related to educator sexual misconduct and the methods used to collect the data. The behavior at issue in this literature review is "behavior by an educator that is directed at a student and intended to sexually arouse or titillate the educator or the child." "Educator" includes any person older than 18 who works with or for a school or other educational or learning organization. "Students" include any persons, whatever age, in an education institution up through 12th grade. The sexual behaviors encompassed by the review may be physical, verbal, or visual. The review encompasses the incidence and prevalence of the behavior at issue, offender description, target/victim profiles, patterns of misconduct, school district responses, legal remedies, effects on targets and others, consequences of allegations for offenders, the role of unions and professional organizations in addressing the issue, and prevention. The review identified nearly 900 relevant citations, which included "sui generis" original studies, secondary analyses of existing data, journal articles, reports for professional and governmental organizations, and other related scholarship. Reference databases were searched in the areas of education, juvenile and criminal justice, social sciences, law, and public policy. More than 1,000 researchers, educators, and policymakers were contacted to identify current studies of educator sexual misconduct. Since few empirical studies on educator sexual misconduct were found, this synthesis is limited to a review of existing empirical literature and the identification of issues that require initial or further study. This report does not review discussions of best practice that are not based upon relevant data. There are few data on the incidence of educator sexual misconduct against students, and there are even less data on offender and victim profiles. Because so little has been done to prevent educator sexual misconduct, there are no studies on the effectiveness of prevention programs or legislation. Although not empirically documented, there are practices that many believe are likely to reduce educator sexual misconduct. These include the development of district and school-level policies against staff sexual misconduct, hiring practices that carefully screen for prior sexual misconduct, assignment of a case coordinator and the centralization of information, a report on all allegations to both child protection and law enforcement agencies, the development of thorough investigative practices, employee training, instruction to students about acceptable staff behavior, and the dissemination of information on the signs of educator sexual misconduct. A table indicates the data available on each subject addressed in this review, and research needed on each subject is recommended. 19 tables and 2,632 references