Compared to the rest of the nation, California ranks relatively low in the number of sexual assaults among its juvenile wards, according to a first-ever national report on the problem.
O.H. Close youth facility, Stockton
Five California facilities reported a rate of sexual assault slightly above the national average, but the rest of the 16 facilities in the survey had lower rates. One lockup, the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino, ranked among the nation's safest, with 3.5 percent of wards reporting they had been sexually abused.
The National Survey of Youth in Custody, released through the Bureau of Justice Statistics, showed that an estimated 12 percent of juvenile wards nationwide had reported one or more incidents of what the DOJ calls sexual victimization.
About 4.3 percent of inmates reported they'd been raped or sexually assaulted by facility staff, while 6.4 percent reported sexual contact with staff members without any force, threat, or other explicit form of coercion. Approximately 95 percent of these abusers were female staff members, the report said.
In south San Diego, five boys at the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility reported that they had been sexually victimized by a jail staff member, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Three female staffers at East Mesa have been investigated for alleged sexual misconduct, San Diego County Chief Probation Officer Mack Jenkins told the Union-Tribune.
“Of the three, two of the staff resigned prior to us completing the investigation, and the third allegations was unfounded,” he said.
About 700 juveniles nationwide reported an incident involving another ward, while 2,730 reported an incident involving facility staff. From the report:
Nearly half of the youth victimized by another youth reported they had experienced physical force or threat of force (46 percent), 30 percent had been offered favors or protection, and 17 percent had been given drugs or alcohol. Among youth victimized by facility staff, more than two-thirds (69 percent) did not report any force, threat of force, or offers of favors, protection, drugs, or alcohol to engage in the sexual activity. Nearly 20 percent of youth sexually victimized by another youth reported being injured in the incident, compared to five percent of youth victimized by staff.
The survey discovered 3,220 cases of sexual victimization – defined as any unwanted sexual activity between juveniles and all sexual activity between wards and staff. The survey was conducted between June 2008 and April 2009 in 175 state-owned juvenile facilities, and among a sample of more than 9,000 juvenile wards that took the survey.
The national report found some ethnic differences among sex-assault victims: White youth were more likely than African American and Hispanic inmates to report sex crimes by another youth, but African American inmates reported slightly higher rates of abuse by staff than did white inmates.
Gay and bisexual inmates reported "significantly higher rates of sexual victimization by another youth compared to heterosexual youth," according to the report.
Here's the rundown of California facilities, with the percentage of sexual victims at each from June 2008 to April 2009:
- Barry J. Nidorf Juv. Hall: 0.0%
- Central Valley Juv. Det. and Assess. 10.3%
- East Mesa Juv. Det. Fac. 14.3%
- Fresno Co. Juv. Justice Campus 11.3%
- Heman G. Stark Yth. Corr. Fac. 3.5%
- Los Padrinos Juv. Hall 0.0%
- N.A. Chaderjian Yth. Corr. Fac. 14.5%
- O.H. Close Yth. Corr. Fac. 13.9%
- Orange Co. Juv. Hall 4.0%
- Preston Yth. Corr. Fac. 14.0%
- San Mateo Co. Yth. Services Ctr. 0.0%
- Santa Clara Co. Juv. Hall 3.6%
- Southern Yth. Corr. Reception Ctr. and Clinic 8.7%
- Ventura Co. Juv. Fac. 2.5%
- Ventura Yth. Corr. Fac. 12.4%
- West Valley Juv. Det. and Assess. 8.3%
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Herman G. Stark, Correctional Facility has been closed. Thanks Ahrnold!
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