12-Year-Old Girl Arrested for Sexual Assault

Lula, what happens if the rehabilitative therapy is successful in her case, and she never re-offends, yet she is registered as a sex offender for the rest of her life? That seems a bit harsh to me, especially because as a 12 year old who was likely abused, I wonder about her capacity to truly understand that what she did was wrong, at this point.

Maybe she should be on the list but able to have herself removed after some period of time without any additional offenses? Especially for juvenile offenders (of either sex), I would be in favor of this, I think.

You’re right, Lula. I was having difficulty figuring out how it could be a positive thing in any way to permanently mar this girls future for some acting out at age 12. Turns out that I, personally, am just against sex offender registries in general. Thanks for helping me figure that out.

I have very mixed feelings about sex offender registries myself, but I also have completely un-mixed feelings about child sexual abuse (which is not unexpected for someone who’s a survivor of child sexual abuse). I’m not a huge fan of registries because I think their purpose is primarily punitive instead of protective. But on the other hand, people who sexually abuse children unfortunately have high recidivism rates - they tend to abuse repeatedly, and they tend to become very good at it as they gain more experience with manipulating victims. I don’t know if research shows at approximately what age the average child sex abuser starts abusing - and since such research would have to be done on abusers who’ve actually been caught, it would be focusing on the minority of abusers anyway. But whatever: I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that a peek into the adolescence of the average adult abuser would show that they didn’t suddenly start abusing at the age of 18 or 21.

12 is young, but it’s the beginning of adolescence. And in terms of child sexual development, the behavior of a 12-year-old who acts out sexually against 4, 5, and 7-year-old children is considered a pretty serious sign of possible future abuse potential. This is why I’m glad this girl was caught abusing the younger children, and why I’m glad she’ll have this criminal offense noted in her record. She needs and deserves intervention and support, and I sincerely hope she can start healing from her own victimization and find a better way to deal with the trauma than to perpetrate it against other children. But *I’ve* never abused anyone as a result of my own sexual abuse history. Lots of survivors don’t. The survivor who does, even in very early adolescence, needs to be helped to take responsibility for both their own healing and their violent actions against others ASAP, before they get worse. And if we as a society have decided that people who are at reasonable risk for sexually abusing children should be watched via sex offender registries or what-have-you, then I think she qualifies as someone who bears watching. What if she DOES sexually assault a younger child again? What if she feels compelled to do so despite therapy and support, and she seeks out jobs as a camp counselor or child-care aide in order to gain access to young children? Do you want to know if your child’s camp counselor or childcare provider has a history of molesting children, or not?

The 4, 5, and 7-year-olds who were victimized by this 12-year-old do not see her as another child, even if we do. Developmentally, the 5-to-8 year age difference here is huge. If this was a 7yo sexual abuse victim acting out with 4- and 5-year-olds, it would not be considered perpetration because 7yos are not developmentally in the same place as 12yos, emotionally or sexually.

Unless they’ve repeatedly committed sexual offenses before age 18, of course. Then I’m totally decided - I want to know.

Managing the impact of child sexual abuse is a lifelong process, so don’t congratulate me until I’m dead. I am doing relatively okay, though, as survivors go. Thanks for your nod, Patricia.

if the girl hangs out with kids of these age usually then she probably see’s them as peers and thought nothing wrong of what she did. She is hitting or already has hit puberty and does not know how to handle the feelings, like i said if she hangs out with kids of this age regularly and see’s them as peers she prob didnt think it was so bad.

Comments I agree with Lula 100%, I am a 19 year old male who was sexually molested at 13 years old, I have met literally “more people who WERE molested that were not as a pre teen or in their early teens”
The sex offender registry does not work at all, nobody uses it to verify the safety of their neighborhood, or to screen day cares or babysitters, but instead it is just clearly a way to embarrass offenders as retaliation. and to force them to move out of the area. Problem is, instead it forces them to provide false information to the authorities and causes them to not be eligable for any decent paying jobs, thus forcing them to work entry level jobs which ironically are mostly filled with our younger workers. Giving them an excuse for why they are surrounded by young boys and girls. SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE TO LAW ENFORCEMENT ONLY