LONGVIEW, Texas — More reports of sexual assault against a child have been made in the past five years in Longview than reports of cases involving adults — a sobering fact that underscores the need for April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month and campaigns like it.
Since 2016, 212 sexual assaults of children have been reported to Longview police compared with 186 cases involving adults.
Roxanne Stevenson, executive director of The Martin House Children’s Advocacy Center, believes that prevention is key to addressing the issue.
“Educating children about private parts and respecting boundaries and understanding that somebody touching their private part is not OK,” Stevenson said. “When abuse is going on in the home, a lot of times, children think that’s a normal part of every child’s life. They don’t understand it’s inappropriate and that it’s wrong. And so just teaching children what is appropriate ... would go a long way in reducing victims or reducing the number of times a child is victimized.”
Read the rest of the story with our news partners, the Longview News-Journal.
