Published January, 2010
Special Report: Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09, Allen J. Beck, Paige M. Harrison and Paul Guerino, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (2010)
The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report on sexual abuse of youth in juvenile corrections facilities confirms that sexual abuse occurs far more frequently against young adults than adult offenders, and that queer youth are the victims of this abuse ten times more frequently than their heterosexual counterparts.
Nearly one in eight of the adolescents who participated in the survey reported sexual abuse at their current facility during the previous year. The study is based on a survey given to 9,198 youth detainees in 195 facilities from all fifty states and the District of Columbia. The BJS report also included these findings:
• Queer youth reported being sexually abused by another inmate at a rate more than ten times higher than that of youth who identified as heterosexual
• Victimized youth usually endured repeated sexual abuse, often more than ten times, and frequently by multiple perpetrators.
• 80 percent of the reported abuse was perpetrated by a member of the facility's staff.
• 95 percent of youth who alleged abuse by staff reported at least one female perpetrator.
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