Of 1,762 confirmed incidents of youth being sexually harassed, abused or assaulted in juvenile facilities from 2013 through 2018, roughly 28.3% involved adult staff victimizing youth and 71.6% involved youth victimizing youth, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ most recent data.
“These incidents could have had multiple victims or multiple perpetrators, which could result in more persons involved than the total number of incidents,” wrote researchers, who collect that data to meet mandates of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Most of the victims were boys, who, as a group, outnumber incarcerated girls, analysts found.
Using data submitted by juvenile officials from across the country, those analysts also found that:
- 62% of youth-on-youth sexual incidents happened in areas of juvenile correction facilities with security cameras.
- 51% of incidents in local and private facilities occurred in an area with security cameras.
- About 63% of victims and 73% of perpetrators of incidents of youth-on-youth sexual victimization were male.
- There were 657 victims and 511 perpetrators of staff-on-youth sexual victimization in juvenile justice facilities.
- Female staffers accounted for 29% of the perpetrators of sexual harassment and 61% of sexual misconduct perpetrators. Male staffers accounted for 71% and 39%, respectively.
- In 40% of incidents involving staffers who sexually harassed youth were reprimanded.
- In 32% of incidents involving staffers, those workers either were fired or did not have their contracts renewed.
- In 57% of cases of youth-on-youth sexual harassment, a loss of privileges was the most frequent sanction against those youth perpetrators.