Offender Locator App Highlights Need for Prevention App

According to the Chicago Tribune, one of the top 10 iPhone apps allows you to search for sex offenders in a particular location.   The difficult truth is that the vast majority (88%) of sexual abuse goes unreported. This means that 9 times out of 10, a person who sexually abused a child will have no criminal record at all and won't be listed on a registry -- even though they may have abused in the past.

In the Chicago Tribune article, Deborah Donovan Rice speaks to the danger of fear based prevention.  “Fear is paralyzing.  It adds to the stress parents are already under to be the best parents they can be.  Instead, a quick visit to StopItNow.org offers actions that can help you keep children safe all the time, not just when there is a known offender.”

The police and the courts cannot warn us about the people responsible for most of the abuse that is committed across the United States. They don’t know who they are. But most likely, we do. Chances are, those most at risk to abuse our children are people we know in our families and in our community, who have horribly lost control.

“It's hard to believe that someone we know - and even love - might be sexually abusing a child” notes Donovan Rice, “But we can learn "Warning Signs" for what to look for in adults or in the adult/child interactions that may give you a sense that there is reason for concern.”

If you have questions or would like resources or guidance for responding to a specific situation, visit our Online Help Center.

Stop It Now! is looking for collaborators to help develop a prevention app for the iPhone and similar devices. A prevention app would offer instant access to a wide range of tools from healthy behaviors to how to report possible abuse.  Contact Deborah Donovan Rice to discuss this.

For a different perspective, see this link:  http://sexoffenderresearch.blogspot.com/2009/08/advocate-alert-iphone-rs...