The issue of teaching staff perpetrating sexual misconduct is prevalent within academia, and more specifically, in graduate education programmes. In the United States (U.S.), 24.2% of women and 15.6% of men report being sexually victimised as undergraduates on a college campus in just the last 2 months (Jouriles et al., 2020); and, 1 out of every…

This article addresses the controversy surrounding the Safe Schools Coalition Australia. Certain politicians and media commentators have accused the initiative of harming the students it ostensibly aims to benefit. Those accusations have, in turn, been labelled 'homophobic' by supporters of the Coalition. This article suggests that the term…

This article presents the author's comments on the article "Family Experiences of Young Adult Sex Offender Registration" by E. B. Comartin, P. D. Kernsmith, & P. W. Miles (2010). In the article "Family Experiences of Young Adult Sex Offender Registration", Comartin, Kernsmith, and Miles (2010) put forth a telling argument about the impact of the…

Basic human respect compels everyone to ask about the effect of the current policies to prevent further abuse on family members of those who have abused. Sadly, only a handful of researchers are examining the effects of policies on the affected parties, such as victims, the abusers themselves, or their families. No one yet has asked a random…

This paper presents the author's comments on the Michigan sex offender registration article "Family Experiences of Young Adult Sex Offender Registration" (Comartin, Kernsmith, & Miles, 2010). The article is an important piece of research that addresses a much neglected and almost invisible population in the annals of research: the…

Although the propensity for child abuse is shared among adults of all occupations and economic strata, this article is concerned mainly with child care professionals. Whatever the case may be, the result is the same: tragic violation of the trust that should exist between child and adult. What can be done to correct the situation? In this article…

Within the context of recent controversies over child abuse, including sexual abuse, by school officials, discusses the indispensability of trust. Asserts that an acknowledgment of wrongdoing is the first step towards restoring public trust, but is not sufficient on its own. Explains that it must be accompanied by a demonstration of genuine…

Two types of response are needed to deal with growing public concerns about the dangers of sexual abuse of children in child care. First, sound and reasonable advice to parents should focus on the comparative statistical safety of child care, clues from children about the possibilities of abuse, the importance of parent monitoring of child care,…

The article encourages special educators to be more aware of their responsibilities regarding preventing, identifying, reporting, and intervening in child sexual abuse. Information on indicators of sexual abuse, issues in reporting sexual abuse, effects of reporting on the child victim, school-based interventions, and school-based preventive…

With heightened national attention to the problem of child sexual abuse, school districts have responded by seeking out and implementing prevention programs in an attempt to prevent abuse from occurring. Unfortunately, many such programs are based on questionable assumptions, limited understanding of how children learn and process information, and…

Discusses the dimensions of child sexual abuse, its prevalence, relationship to other problems, and behavioral manifestations. Also discusses various aspects of prevention, including allocation of resources, educative programs for children, consultation with professionals, treatment for families involved, and monitoring of the problem. (AS)

School board members should be wary of prepackaged programs to prevent child sexual abuse. Many program elements (body ownership, secrecy, intuition, and blame) are problematic from a child development and learning perspective. Tips for selecting such programs are provided. (MLH)

This commentary notes that solid empirical evidence on the effectiveness of classroom-based child sexual abuse prevention programs is lacking. Prevention efforts need to target potential victims, potential perpetrators, and those aspects of the social fabric that nurture abusive behaviors; and the merits of prevention efforts must be discussed…

Elementary school personnel should be aware of possible unintended consequences of using school sexual abuse prevention programs and materials, including emphasizing a simple solution to a complex social problem and contributing to victim blaming. Dilemmas that arise for classroom teachers around predeveloped curricular materials and mandatory…

Presents data on incidence of date rape and advocates concentrated effort to educate college students about data rape and to teach them behaviors that could lead to the prevention of data rape. Lists four goals of such an educational program and provides suggestions for implementing a program. (NB)