PORTRAIT OF A SEX OFFENDER (Local cases of sexual abuse match national trends)

When David Carpenter pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy in Sullivan County Court on February 7, the case may have seemed an aberration.  But national and local statistics say the case, sexual assault on a child, committed by someone the victim knew, is really the typical portrait of sexual assault in the United States.

Roughly two-thirds of sexual assault cases reported to police, based on preliminary statistics for 2001, involve victims younger than 18.  Thirty-four percent are under 12.  According to federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, 88 percent of sex offenders who victimized children knew their victims.  Almost a third were their victim's stepfather of father and the ages at which children are most likely to be sexually abused are 14 and 4.

(Monticello)