The sex offender registry failed them: Students abused by school counselors despite tool.
According to the American School Counselor Association, “School counselors are a key link in the child abuse prevention network. School counselors are responsible for reporting suspected cases of child abuse or neglect to the proper authorities. School counselors must be able to guide and assist abused and neglected students by providing appropriate services. School counselors are committed to providing high-quality services, with research-based intervention techniques, to children who are victims of abuse and neglect.”
Often times, school counselors are the trusted authority figure children go to when being victimized, but in some cases the counselors are the perpetrators. This past week that was the case in West Virginia, where an elementary school counselor was sentenced to 25 years for posing as a teenage boy in order to solicit sexual images and videos from children. That was also the case in Missouri, where a high school counselor was sentenced to 15 years for grooming and abusing students. But how?
More than most, school administrators should be using the sex offender registry in order to prevent these individuals from harming students. Also, many municipalities have set up residency restrictions designed to prevent these individuals from living within hundreds or even thousands of feet of schools. Yet despite the publicly available registry and exclusion zones, somehow the registry failed students in West Virginia, Missouri (and that’s just a sampling from one week). How many people who are actually on the registry in West Virginia or Missouri have sexually assaulted a student last week? Last month? Last year?
Perhaps it’s time we come up with solutions that will actually protect our students and not just give families a false sense of security.
Give it time. Soon the registry will become overloaded and the officers overstressed. Hopefully they will do away with it forever so we can move forward as law-abiding citizens.
A few years ago I abandoned the assumption that, ‘the bigger the registry, the more likely it will collapse under pressure.’ ‘Give it time’ was my view as well.
Instead, larger registries mean lawmakers approve ever larger budgets for law enforcement to enforce them. More law enforcement jobs, more overtime pay, more lucrative contracts for OffenderWatch.
Registries and associated restrictions grow fastest wherever they are not actively fought. Educate, legislate, litigate.
You’re on a roll with this theme, FAC. Sometimes the stats on who offends don’t grab the public’s attention as the anecdotes. And even then it takes FAC to help the public put two and two together. Thank you!
Again, from the inside of the 95% mentioned many times before, those in a position of trust…
What is further interesting are the links to the other articles of similar nature at the bottom the MO link above. That is a treasure trove of articles which would fit under the “Registry failed them” category.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/former-jacksonville-sheriff-s-office-emergency-dispatcher-sentenced-60-years-federal
No way! Another one hiding in a position where no one would suspect them of this? (Extreme sarcasm) 🙄
And one posted as a teen boy online to find young girls to exploit? You mean they didn’t just go to an adult dating or hookup site or any other adult online sex forum to find kids to exploit, like law enforcement and vigilante groups have been claiming for many years that these are the online places predators are using to find kids to exploit? This didn’t happen on one of those adult hookup sites? Wow! This is so shocking! 😳
NOT! (extreme sarcasm AGAIN)
‘Permanently removing the images from the open internet is nearly impossible, child sex abuse experts say, because pornographers throughout the world are constantly downloading the images, storing them and reposting them.’
https://apnews.com/article/video-victimizes-child-long-after-abuser-is-gone-a749889073eccc7e0d9d5e6c6af38b92
AL: >6% of state population listed on child abuse registry. If registries work, then AL must be the safest state for children!
https://www.courthousenews.com/attorneys-sound-alarm-over-alabama-child-abuse-registry/