On October 4, 2017, Dr. Elizabeth Letourneau gave a talk at the World Congress for Child Dignity in the Digital World, a conference that brought together leaders and researchers from around the world to discuss the dangers of children becoming victims of online sexual abuse and bullying. The conference took place in Vatican City and was convened by the Child Protection Centre at the Pontifical Gregorian University. (Featured at left: Dr. Letourneau and Fr. Thomas Rosica.)

Dr. Letourneau’s talk was one of the few that introduced the idea of prevention and the importance of viewing child sexual abuse as a public health issue. She also discussed how most of our efforts in the U.S. go toward detection and punishment.

Minimum sentencing, sex offender registration and living restrictions are all policies that have been implemented after harm has already been done. None of these costly policies prevent child sexual abuse.

Another important concept that Dr. Letourneau covered was the idea that as long as we view people who sexually abuse children as monsters, we are going to overlook the people in our children’s lives that we would never suspect: coaches, priests, teachers and family friends are more likely to sexually abuse our children than strangers. We wrongly believe that people that hurt children are on a trajectory toward more offending and greater harm, when in fact, once caught, people who commit sex offences have very low risk of committing other sex offenses.

Headlines about child sexual abuse prevention, research and policy from around the country

World Congress Child Dignity

Last week Dr. Letourneau, along with other researchers in the field of child sexual abuse prevention, attended this event held in Vatican City and convened by the Gregorian University's Center for Child Protection.

• The Crux: Child safety summit reflects Pope’s ‘extraordinary’ power to convene
• National Catholic Reporter: Church more aware of crime, harm of child abuse, Vatican official says

Dallas County’s Sex Offender Program is Letting Teens Down

State watchdog group issues report that details horrific negligence in the Dallas County Juvenile Department.

• Dallas News: Negligence in Dallas County's juvenile sex offender program let teens down

Halloween sex offender hysteria is starting early this year (see the long list of Patch.com’s sex offender maps)

• Moore Prevention News: The Biggest Danger to Kids on Halloween is Drivers, not Sex Offenders.  Dr. Letourneau’s study looked at whether more sex offenses occur on Halloween night. The study found that there is no significant risk for child sexual abuse. The greatest risk to children on Halloween night is getting hurt by drivers who may not be able to see them in the dark.

Michigan’s Sex Offender Registry Needs Reform

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that the state cannot apply the sex offender registry laws to people retroactively. Michigan will have to revise the registry.

• Michigan Public Radio: Michigan’s sex offender registry needs reform, U.S. Supreme Court decides
• New York Daily News: Supreme Court declines Michigan sex offender registry case

California Sex Offender Registry Laws to Change

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that could purge 90 percent of the names off the state’s lifetime registry for sex offenders.

• SF Gate: New California law allows sex offenders to be removed from registry

Colorado Lawmakers May Change Sex Offender Registry 

Lawmakers are reconsidering the fairness of the state’s sex offender laws

• CBS Denver: Lawmaker hopes to revamp state’s sex offender registry

In her role, Dr. Rebecca Fix will be conducting research on child sexual abuse prevention, specifically around juvenile registration, and studying the discrepancies that exist in the juvenile justice system that adversely affect at-risk racial/ethnic minority populations. Before joining the Moore Center, Rebecca was a clinical psychology resident at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

“I joined the Moore Center so I could have the opportunity to conduct more extensive research that will hopefully inform policies that concern children with problem sexual behaviors and evaluate intervention programs designed to prevent child sexual and physical abuse,” says Rebecca.

Rebecca, who hails from Milwaukee, earned a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a master’s in clinical psychology from West Virginia University and a PhD in clinical psychology from Auburn University.

Rebecca likes to recharge by hiking, dancing, running, playing video games, playing board games (e.g., Carcassonne and Agricola) and painting. Her reading recommendations include The Perversion of Youth by Frank C. Dicataldo and The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.