NCJ Number
119236
Date Published
1989
Length
45 pages
Annotation
A task force created in 1987 to determine the extent to which juveniles contribute to Utah's problem with child sexual abuse found that the number of juveniles referred to juvenile courts for these offenses is increasing rapidly and that the majority of these youths are not receiving the necessary specialized treatment to prevent their inappropriate behaviors from continuing into adulthood.
Abstract
The task force recommends that Utah establish a continuum of legal intervention and treatment services for juvenile sex offenders. This continuum should include definition, investigation, assessment, adjudication, and treatment of the juvenile sex offender. The task force also proposed guidelines to aid in defining juvenile sex offending behavior. These guidelines recognize the needs of both the general population of juvenile sex offenders and special populations such as children under 12, developmentally disabled juveniles, and female juveniles. The task force found that all geographic areas of the State lacked resources providing the needed specialized treatment. The State legislature should develop and fund such programs and enact a Juvenile Sex Offender Act to allocate funding for developing resources and providing needed training. Figures, 57 references, and appended forms, lists of types of offenders, State laws, and related information are included.