WIDESPREAD ABUSE BY FEMALE CORRECTIONS OFFICERS OF MALE TEENS IN CUSTODY
A recent Department of Justice report found that about 8% of the almost 9,000 juveniles surveyed across the country said they had been sexually abused by supervising staff in detention centers. 90% of the victims were male inmates abused by female guards.
ProPublica’s Joaquin Sapien has a great article that illuminates the emotional complexity of the issue. Here are some clips:
The Justice Department released its second report last month, and this time researchers surveyed more than 8,700 juveniles housed in 326 facilities across the country. In all, the facilities house more than 18,000 juveniles, representing about one quarter of the nation’s total number of youngsters living in detention centers.
Drawing on their sample, Justice Department researchers estimate that 1,390 juveniles in the facilities they examined have experienced sex abuse at the hands of the staff supervising them, a rate of nearly 8 percent. Twenty percent who said they were victimized by staff said it happened on more than 10 occasions. Nine out of 10 victims were males abused by female staff.
Nearly two-thirds of the abused youngsters said that the officials lured them into sexual relationships by giving them special treatment, treating them like a favorite, giving gifts and pictures.
Twenty-one percent said staff gave them drugs or alcohol in exchange for sex.
Stannow [Executive Director of Just Detention International] said that the rate of abuse perpetrated by female guards on male victims is the result of a “dangerous combination” of cultural and institutional problems, not the least of which is the fact that women forcing males into sex does not comport with society’s conventional definition of rape.
“When you have an extreme power differential and absolute unchecked power, bad things start happening,” Stannow said. “When you combine this with a culture where sex abuse by females on males isn’t taken seriously, then you have the perfect set-up for women with all this power to get away with it.”
LA POLICE COMMISSION GETS HEATED OVER AUDIT OF OFFICER LAWSUITS
The LA Police Commission Tuesday sharply criticized the LAPD over an audit by the inspector general that found that not much has been done to stem the flow of costly lawsuits brought against the department by LAPD officers who claim they were victims of workplace misconduct. (Here’s more on the report.)
LA Times’ Joel Rubin has the story. Here’s a clip:
Commissioner Rafael Bernardino wasted no time at the panel’s weekly meeting in leveling a sharp criticism at department officials, calling the audit findings “horrible.”
“A fail across the board,” he said, visibly dismayed.
Richard Drooyan, another member of the commission, was less harsh in his criticism, but said he was troubled to learn from the audit that the department routinely destroys case files once lawsuits are resolved.
Gerald Chaleff, who oversees the LAPD’s response to lawsuits, bristled at the criticism. He told the commission some of the findings in the audit, including the record destruction, were not accurate.
Alex Bustamante, the inspector general, pushed back, saying top LAPD officials reviewed the audit for factual errors before its release last week and did not raise any concerns.
The commission directed the department to respond to the audit’s findings in writing in three weeks.
FOUR NEW APPOINTEES TO BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION
Last week, the LA County Board of Supervisors voted to establish a Blue Ribbon Commission for Child Protection to assess and address rampant dysfunction within DCFS. The Supes will each appoint two members to serve on the commission.
Supe. Gloria Molina announced Tuesday that she had chosen Andrea L. Rich and Richard Martinez to serve on the new commission.
Dr. Rich was the President, CEO, and Director of LACMA for six years and had a thirty-four year long career at UCLA. Martinez currently serves as the Superintendent of the Pomona Unified School District, has been involved with an education pilot program for foster kids, and is a former foster youth himself.
Supe. Mike Antonovich selected Judge Dickran Tevrizian and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sergeant Dan Scott as his two appointees for the commission.
Judge Tevrizian was the first Armenian to be appointed a US federal judge, and was also on the Citizens’ Commission for Jail Violence. Scott has spent over twenty-six years with the LASD Special Victims Bureau.
There are more appointments still to come from the three other Supervisors. We’ll keep you updated.
Here’s a clip from Molina’s announcement:
“Dr. Rich has a strong eye for institutional reform and business strategy and is a no-nonsense, direct communicator, whose leadership skills will be essential to the commission’s success. Her non-profit and private administration experience makes her uniquely well suited for the Blue Ribbon Commission,” Supervisor Molina says. “I also appointed Richard Martinez to the commission because he possesses wide-ranging experience working on child welfare issues, particularly issues pertaining to at-risk children, and has distinguished himself as a leader in the field of Education in the First District. Mr. Martinez has shown a unique ability to partner with LA County on wide variety of issues pertaining to children and has an intimate understanding of the Department of Children and Family Services.”
And here’s a clip from Antonovich’s announcement:
Dickran M. Tevrizian, Jr. served as a judge on the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1972 to 1978, and on the California Superior Court in Los Angeles from 1978 to 1982. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, and confirmed to the United States District Court for the Central District of California in 1985, Judge Tevrizian recently served as Supervisor Antonovich’s appointee to the County’s Commission on Jail Violence.
In over 26 years with the Special Victims Bureau, Sergeant Dan Scott has supervised over 4000 criminal investigations in child abuse, rape and sexual assault including the Miramonte teacher abuse case. One of the nation’s leading experts in child abuse, he has conducted over 1500 criminal investigations in which he has interviewed over 1800 child and adult victims and over 1500 suspects.