That is the implication of One in Five, a new book by Elizabeth Letourneau and Luke Malone, which hypes child sexual abuse as the “biggest public health crisis of our time.” The book argues that we urgently need to create a federal “Office of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention” to fund researchers like them. While the book usefully argues that more focus needs to go into education and prevention rather than punishment of offenders (whose incarceration costs $5.4 billion per year), the book’s title may provoke a degree of alarmism and moral panic that is not constructive. As the book admits, 70% of the “abuse” is committed by other children, much of it is online activity rather than in-person contact, and the definition of abuse does not distinguish between cases of wanted and unwanted interactions. The book does point out that only about half of the adult perpetrators are “pedophiles” in terms of sexual orientation, and many genuine pedophiles avoid ever offending. However, it fails to note that many other forms of child maltreatment by adults are both more prevalent and more psychologically damaging. The Percy Foundation has posted a review of the book.
Are 1 in 5 Kids Victims of Molestation?
