by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Last September legislation was enacted into law creating a special task force created to find ways to prevent and reduce child sexual abuse from occurring on Guam. This Thursday an oversight hearing will be held during which the task force will present its first report and recommendation to lawmakers.

According to former Supreme Court of Guam chief justice, Committee Chair on Judiciary and vice speaker of the 31st Guam Legislature, Senator B.J. Cruz introduced the Lanikate Protehi Y Famagounta Act. "It was a young woman who emailed me and said, ‘You need to do something more about trying to address how to help the victims,' and so that's the result of that," he said.

In September his bill became law, creating a task force, comprised of various government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and private companies - the task force was led by Attorney General Leonardo Rapadas. Their job to come up with a strategy to prevent and reduce child sexual abuse from occurring in Guam. According to the task force's report sexual abuse is a public health problem and has become a significant dilemma on Guam.

Last year there were 74 arrests made for criminal sexual conduct, 22 for forcible rape. In 2011 there were only 42 criminal sexual conduct convictions, while there was still 126 CSC charges pending. The AG's Office also reported there were 22 juveniles charged with offenses related to some form of sexual abuse. Public Health in the meantime reported in 2011 there were more than 1,800 referrals, and from those Child Protective Services reported there were more than 2,500 children that were involved.

CPS also reported that last year there were 434 children who were subjected to sexual abuse, while the report also indicated that there were 78 children referred to the agency for teen pregnancy. "A lot of this is just more reporting now there was a time when people just didn't talk about the fact that you had been abused in the past," he said.

Matter of fact, according to the task force, the number of unreported cases is far greater because adolescents are afraid to tell anyone what has happened, and the legal procedure for validating an episode is viewed as a difficult and traumatic process.

So what needs to be done to prevent these cases? Key solutions to reducing and preventing child sexual abuse is the early identification of victims and offenders, and the implementation of education and proper treatment services. According to the task force getting a clearer understanding of the identification of potential offenders is a key component to its goal in seeking to reduce and prevent sexual abuse to children. This is crucial because research has shown that these children are at a higher risk for later becoming offenders themselves and studies further indicate that this is especially true if the victims are boys.

He said, "Some very compelling information in there about understanding sexual abuse. It's not just sexual gratification its power and so a lot of those things and also the cycle of violence some of these people themselves have been victims in the past and are coming around of being perpetrators themselves as a result of either becoming victims themselves or being exposed to victimization in the past."

According to the report some of the recommendations to address sexual abuse of children may include:

-age appropriate curriculum for students in pre-k through 5th grade, training for school personnel on child sexual abuse, educational information to parents or guardians provided i the school handbook on warning signs of a child being sexually abused along with any needed assistance, referral or resource information..

-ensuring there's available counseling servicing and resources for student to report sexual abuse..

-and ensuring emotional and educational support child a child affected by sexual abuse to continue to be successful in school..

Although this is the first of annul reports to come to curb the hidden epidemic of child sexual abuse on Guam, the vice speaker says its important for the community to be aware of how serious the problem really is here at home.

"I invite people to read it, it will give them a better understanding of some of the problems everybody is facing in dealing with this," he said.

Thursday's oversight hearing will; be held in the Legislature Public Hearing Room starting at six o'clock in the evening.