The story behind Sexual Assault
Lawrence Journal-World managing editor Dennis Anderson talks with reporters Shaun Hittle and Christine Metz about their work on the recent sexual assault series.
Sexual assaults and children
- Sexual abuse reports at Central not cause for alarm, district says
- The littlest victims: Legal system not always a good fit for children who suffer sexual abuse
- Child sex predators not usually strangers: Family members, friends responsible for most assaults
- Cycle of abuse can be seen in families
- Signs of sexual assault
- How to help a child
- Who must report suspected abuse
Sexual Assaults in Lawrence: Not an uncommon crime
In the past five years, more than 450 adult sexual assaults have been reported in Lawrence. There's a rape in Lawrence every four days. Each case represents an instance where someone’s life has been irrevocably changed. LJWorld.com, the Lawrence Journal-World and 6News are taking a deeper look at what those numbers really mean.
The area of southern Lawrence between Holcom Park and Louisiana Street, south of Clinton Parkway/23rd Street, is a mixture of apartment complexes, single-family homes, churches and businesses.
What sticks out here is that nothing sticks out. This section of the city is characteristically Lawrence in many ways.
But it is also home to nearly a quarter of all the reported sexual assaults against children reported to Lawrence police between 2004 and 2008.
Why?
What is it about this area that makes it, statistically, the place where sexual assaults against children are most often reported?
There doesn’t appear to be a simple explanation, and an examination of the data points to much complexity in trying to determine why sex crimes against children are more commonly reported in certain areas.
The Journal-World and 6News used 2000 U.S. Census data to compare this part of the city with the city as a whole, looking for some characteristics that might help explain the higher concentration of offenses.
Factors
The first question to ask is the most obvious: Are there just more people and children in this neighborhood?
In looking at both population density and percentage of the population under 18, there were no consistent differences. For instance, this section of the city is as heavily populated as northwestern Lawrence, where only six crimes were reported.
In regard to percentage of children in the area, again, there were differences among the areas of Lawrence, but this section of the city did not have the highest, or lowest, percentage of children.
Other socioeconomic factors, including education and poverty level, also did not point to any clear connection for this section of the city to have the most reported sexual assaults against children.
Local and national experts on the issue of child sexual assault and abuse say that pointing out specific factors in explaining where child sexual assaults occur is difficult.
Yolanda Jackson, a Kansas University psychology professor who specializes in child abuse, said the statistics can sometimes be misleading.
“Where someone lives or their economic status oversimplifies the issue a bit,” Jackson said.
Jackson pointed out different factors involved in the reporting of child sexual assaults that can skew statistics.
“It’s a reporting issue,” she said.
Sexual assaults that occur in poor families are more frequently reported because of the increased contact with social service agencies who may notice signs of abuse. Abuse in wealthier families is more likely to go unnoticed, she said.
Risk factors
But environmental risk factors for child sexual assaults do exist, said Laura McCloskey, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan who specializes in sexual abuse. Factors sometimes associated with single-parent households, such as a lack of supervision and an increased number of people who come into the home, increase the risk of sexual assaults against children.
During the data comparison, the Journal-World found that the two areas of Lawrence with the most reported child sexual assaults also had the highest percentage of single-parent households. In part of both of the neighborhoods, the percentage of single-parent households was more than 16 percent, compared with the roughly 6 percent average for the city.
Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said that in cases his offices sees, lack of parental supervision can be a factor, but that it isn’t necessarily a case of parental neglect. He said that a lack of supervision sometimes results when single parents are forced to work longer hours and have few options with regard to whom they put in charge of their children.
The dynamic of a single-parent household, particularly households with single moms, can be a situation sex offenders exploit.
“Single moms are sometimes targeted by pedophiles,” McCloskey said.
And with the statistics that most sexual assaults against children are perpetrated by someone the child knows, looking in the neighborhood for potential threats may be less useful than looking in the home.
“What people need to realize is that the vast majority of sex offenders are in their circles,” McCloskey said. “Be more cautious about the people you bring into your home.”
Comments
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moveforward (anonymous) says…
SIngle parents, absentee fathers, long hours and a second job to pay the rent. It often adds up to kids being on their own for hours at a time. There is just so much that can happen... and not much of it is good.
cowboy (anonymous) says…
Come out of your ivory tower at the LJW , it's the low rent low life district. Look at the daily arrest records , the number of stabbings , gunshot reports. It's Lawrence's own little multi racial Cabrini Green.
lawrencechick (anonymous) says…
So glad we embraced single motherhood in the early 90s and now it's the norm....
Jersey_Girl (anonymous) says…
"Sexual assaults that occur in poor families are more frequently reported because of the increased contact with social service agencies who may notice signs of abuse. Abuse in wealthier families is more likely to go unnoticed, she said."
I also wonder if it is also the stigma associated with sexual abuse. Wealthier families don't want the embarassment whereas poorer families are already looked down upon by society, so what's one more label?
SettingTheRecordStraight (anonymous) says…
Great point, lawrencechick.
midwestmom (anonymous) says…
Cowboy, you are completely wrong. The area is large and diverse. We live in this area and we are neither poor, low rent or low life. The area described does have a large apartment mix (north of 27th Street), but there are many, many single family homes. We are well educated and in many instances owners or in the process of purchasing our homes. The block we live on includes a scientist for KDHE, professors at KU, public school educators, police officers, etc. Do not disparage the entire area. We live quietly in our quiet neighborhoods and carefully tend our children. However, Naismith Valley park has long been a dangerous area for children to travel unattended. There have been several sexual assaults or attempts at the park over the past 15 years that we have lived in our home. I think I agree with Jersey Girls comments about reporting. I also think that 'wealthier' predators may have access to greater resources that change the 'name' of their offenses to prevent them being labeled as a sex offender. I looked at a website a couple of years ago that allows you to see the number of registered sex offenders in a particular area and our area wasn't even in the top 3 in Lawrence.
Larry_No_Longer (anonymous) says…
I also think the park is mostly to blame for this. It is a very large area that is almost completely secluded. I think the city should try to address this by getting better lighting in the park, but ultimately the responsibilty does lie with the parents. Make sure a trusted adult accompanies them when they leave the house, or don't let them go.
shaunepec (Shaun Hittle) says…
To Midwestmom,
Thanks for your comments. You make some valid points about the neighborhood that are consistent with the analysis we did on the neighborhoods.In comparing the census data (which is ten years old....) this portion of town was very similar to the rest of Lawrence. Education level, poverty rates, home values, are were within the norm for Lawrence and don't point, at least statistically, to the area being low-rent, etc.
brandx (anonymous) says…
Is this really a front page headline "news" story, or is it just another local magazine feature that the Journal World provides on a too-regular basis? Catering to the local law enforcement/social services crowd?
viewfromahill (anonymous) says…
hmm... best to avoid Area 51....
Practicality (anonymous) says…
brandx,
what a ridiculous comment.
Practicality (anonymous) says…
MNBTY,
??????
Practicality (anonymous) says…
I must be slow today,
didn't get the meaning behind your previous post.
Practicality (anonymous) says…
Ahhh,
thanks for the clarification, I remember that incident now. I knew my wit-o-meter was off today. Good luck, I have a feeling you are about to get a barrage coming your way.
brandx (anonymous) says…
Practical ity.
I thought you'd appreciate it. You must be a "life coach" or in some other inane occupation that thrives on telling others how to live...... "Be careful who you allow near your children"..... That's supposed to be news?? Talk about our society being dumbed down.