Addressing Utah's child sex abuse problem

Utah consistently reports abnormally high rates of child sex abuse, but officials say that might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Counties throughout the state, including Iron County are consistently reporting an increase in the amount of sex offenses against children.

In 2016, the Iron County Children’s Justice Center reported 159 incidents – a 48 incident increase from 2015. For a county of 46,500 residents, that’s 3.4 incidents per 1,000 residents.

In contrast, Washington County, whose population size is nearly triple that of Iron County’s at 147,800, reported 249 offenses in 2016 and 275 in 2015 – 1.9 and 1.7 per 1,000 residents, respectively.

Iron County even outranks statewide numbers. According to the Utah Department of Child and Family Services, 2,023 substantiated incidents were verified during the 2015 Fiscal Year. A slight decrease to 1,909 was reported in FY 2016. With a population topping 2.9 million, that’s an estimated .7 offenses for every 1,000 residents in 2015 followed by .66 per 1,000 residents in 2016.

Based on the amount of incidents reported in 2015 and 2016, Iron County saw nearly five times the amount of sex offenses against children per capita when compared to the statewide average.

Utah regularly ranks in the top 10 states with the highest rates of sexual abuse of children. Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicated Utah reported the eighth highest amount of offenses in 2015. Texas topped the list with 5,720 incidents, while Ohio came in second 4,683 incidents.

While the numbers are startling, Sarah Houser, program administrator for Child Protective Services, said the high rates may actually indicate that Utah is tougher on sex crimes.

“It’s not that we have the most horrible people here who sexually abuse children,” House said. “It actually mostly has to do with how it is defined in Utah.”

Houser explained the criminal statue concerning sex abuse does not place any limits or restrictions based on the age of the perpetrator. The law would still apply regardless of it was a 7-year-old or a 45-year-old man accused of inappropriately touching a child. DCFS is legally required to open a case in both situations.

In other states, DCFS will not investigate any alleged sexual abuse committed by individuals under the age of 17. In Utah, approximately 35 percent of offenses were committed by minors between the ages of 10-17 in 2015, according to DCFS data.

“This is a thing that is unique to Utah,” Houser said. “Our numbers a higher because we treat those numbers differently than most other states.”

The increase in incidents may also be an indicator that progress is actually being made in combating the high rate of sex crimes in both Iron County and Utah statewide, according to Iron County Children’s Justice Center Director Stephanie Furnival.

Furnival noted their overall case load has increased significantly over the last few years. That doesn’t necessarily mean there are more offenses though, just that more offenses are being addressed by the center.

There are currently 22 Children’s Justice Centers throughout the state. Nevada, which has roughly the same population as Utah, only has two facilities.

“The fact that Utah has 22 and Nevada has two shows the difference of why Utah has the highest reported numbers – it’s because it is actually being addressed,” Furnival said. “Utah really leads in regards to their response to child abuse in the entire nation.”

Furnival has focused heavily on increasing the amount of community awareness. With each community event or training, Furnival said parents are becoming more willing to reach out if they believe their child has been sexually abused because they are more familiar with the CJC and the resources they offer.

Washington County Children’s Justice Center Director Shelly Teeples noticed a similar trend.

“As I look at the increase in numbers, I have to feel like a part of that is because of awareness,” she said,

Utah is one of two states that provide guaranteed state funding to cover the operational costs of the CJC. Approximately $2 million is allocated annually and then administered through contracts between the state and the counties. The state also provides additional funding to support enhanced services and trainings.

The Iron County CJC receives supplementary funds as they are one of the nine centers statewide that have a medical exam room on-site. Previously, victims would have to be referred to an off-site physician for any medical exams to determine whether they had been sexually abused. Oftentimes, many families were frustrated that they had to go through an additional step or experienced discomfort doing so, Furnival said.

“It was really awkward for people to have to say they are there because their child was sexually abused,” she said. “This makes it much more comfortable for both the families and the victim. Because their children have already been here, it’s more comfortable for them.”

Since the addition of the on-site medical facilities in 2015, Furnival said she’s seen the amount of medical exams increase from less than 10 to more than 80.

The 22 Children Justice Centers throughout the state work with local law enforcement, CPS and local partnering agencies, such as Canyon Creek Women’s Crisis Center and the Iron County School District, to ensure each case is handled properly and efficiently. All of the necessary information is gathered during the victim’s interview at the center. This way, the victim does not have to be interviewed multiple times by each involved agency and eliminates the likelihood of having to testify in court before their alleged attacker.

This collaboration has helped make the investigation and subsequent prosecution more effective, Houser said.

“It’s not only for the benefit of that child, but the whole community to get sexual predators off the street,” she said. “Over time, we’ll likely see fewer victims, which is ideal.”

Throughout his law enforcement career, Cedar City Police Sgt. Jerry Womack has noticed a positive change in the way both adult and juvenile sexual abuse cases are handled. Previously, Southern Utah University students would come into the police station after a sexual assault and acknowledge that they knew nothing could be done because it was one word against another, Womack recounted.

Now, law enforcement has more training and local resources available to help them effectively investigate in these cases. While not every allegation of sex abuse leads to an arrest, Womack said at least now they are properly equipped to handle these issues.

“It was a group effort,” Womack said. “The whole criminal justice community could see that we were not adequately serving this population of victims . . . Now we’re talking about these cases and trying to constantly figure out what we can do better and where we can improve.”

That doesn’t mean their work is done yet, though. Both Furnival and Womack acknowledged they’re both constantly participating in trainings, implementing new programs, and working on community outreach in an attempt to decrease the amount of incidents of child sex abuse that aren’t being reported.

“We know it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Womack said. “We’re all trying to do our best to combat it.”

Follow reporter Bree Burkitt on Twitter, @BreeBurkitt . Call her at 435-218-2241.

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