SACRAMENTO — Studies show that 80% of adult sex offenders began such misconduct as juveniles, and there is a fledgling effort underway here to stop tomorrow's adult molesters or rapists by treating them while they are young.
On Tuesday, lawmakers took a first step on that road by approving a bill that would expand and regulate programs that have proved successful in reforming young sex criminals. The bill's authors have emphasized that its provisions in no way take the place of punishment.
The measure, AB 2009 by Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), was approved unanimously and with little debate by both liberal and conservative members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee at its first legislative airing.
At a cost of $10 million, the measure would expand a successful treatment program run by California Youth Authority psychologists.
The program's results show that with treatment, young criminals seldom repeat their sex offenses, but now fewer than 300 young sex offenders are involved. The bill would extend the program to all sex offenders in the custody of the youth authority at any one time, a number that usually hovers around 1,000.
Treatment includes sessions in which the young inmates are required to detail their crimes in the presence of others, must confront the harm caused to their victims and families, and are forced to take full blame. A bad home life, for example, is not considered an excuse for a sex crime.
The bill also would provide for better evaluation of young offenders by county probation officers, in part for the benefit of juvenile court judges who place the youths in a variety of treatment and custodial settings.
In addition, the measure would require strict training of private clinicians who treat youths referred to them by probation departments.
As it is, said Brian Abbott, executive director of the nonprofit Giarretto Institute of San Jose--the nation's first clinic for incest victims and offenders--some clinicians with little or no training in the treatment of young sex criminals are getting referrals from public agencies.
As a result, he said, youths do not receive adequate treatment and tend to grow into adult sexual predators who cause "tragic consequences for the community."
The bill also would require probation officers to take a six-hour course in the basics of criminal sexual behavior by juveniles.
