ETAY: Personal Stories

On other sites

Cases of Persecuted Juvenile Sexual Activity
Brief descriptions of 66 cases of children and teenagers, from four to 19 years of age, who were either formally admonished by their schools or criminally prosecuted as a result of innocent or consensual sexual acts.

Child Sex Offenders
A blog about children 18 years of age and under being charged with sex crimes and labeled sexual offenders.

Changing the Law
The girl was 15. They chatted for 18 months+ and he never knew where she lived, never met her in person, he never touched her; but for saying the wrong thing online, he was sentenced to three years hard labor and then must register as a sex offender for twenty five years.

Operation Awareness
I was between the ages of fourteen and fifteen when the crimes were commited, and turned myself in. There were no complaints ever made by the victims or their families. I had to bring up more victims and acts that I had committed. If I didn’t I would be deemed "Untreatable" and therefore receive more time. I was given five years prison time and lifetime probation.

Citizens for Second Chances
The 20 year old son of one of our members was found dead of a drug overdose March 19, 2004. Part of the plea agreement was to keep the boys from having to register. February 24, 2004 Justin's Probation Officer made him sign the papers to register.

Save our Texsons
A young man made some irresponsible choices in a teenage consensual sexual encounter when he was 17. Two years later he was charged with sexual assault.

Wisconsin's War on Kids
The assistant D.A. charged a 10-year-old boy with sexual assault for touching a next-door neighbor during a game of truth or dare, and creating a new rule for a game of capture-the-flag where the girls had to lift their shirts when they were captured.

More articles about abusive treatment

Don't Shoot, We're Your Children
Child Maltreatment
We have listened to teenage boys hesitantly confess that they admitted to offense histories and deviant fantasies they did not have, simply because it was expected and required.

Reform needed in abuse of young inmates
Citizen-Times, Asheville, NC
Juveniles at the Swannanoa Center are being wrongfully treated - and allegations of sexual abuse and other physical aggression must be thoroughly investigated...And according to the parents, at that time, no meaningful investigations were conducted into the charges and no medical treatment was obtained for the children.

Legal issues affecting juvenile sex offenders in prison/juvenile facility
E-Advocate
Complaints about physical and sexual abuse and improper use of restraints aren't limited to Swannanoa Valley Youth Development Center. Juvenile facilities and detention centers all over the country are a problem.

Dangerous Doctor Games (in German)
Telepolis
Children and teenagers in the USA are subjected to sex offender treatment that reminds one of 'Clockwork Orange.'
See also: records from a treatment program in New York City documenting its use of plethysmographs on 12 to 17 year olds.

Drastic Steps
Mother Jones
The boys are required to report on their masturbation, confessing whatever fantasies are left in their strip-searched imaginations...They must submit to random drug tests and inform potential lovers that they are a sex offender.

Aversion Therapy Still Funded by UK Health Service
Data Lounge
Mental health groups and psychiatrists in Britain note that aversion therapy can cause long-term mental illness.

Aversion Therapy
GLBTQ Encyclopedia
It has been documented that some homosexual men who underwent aversion therapy have suffered serious long-term psychological effects, including depression, despair, and attempted suicide.

Aversion Therapy
Las Vegas Bugle
The story of a 19 year old who was subjected to the "intense psychological torture" of aversion therapy to cure him of homosexuality.

Aversion Therapy Exposed
THUD
A 29 year old gay man died after being given aversion therapy to cure his homosexuality. The authorities covered up his death, falsely claiming it was due to "natural causes".

Shocking Cure
CBC News (Video link at bottom)
The story of two men in South Africa who received electric shock aversion therapy to cure them of homosexuality.

Ethical Treatment for All Youth
www.ethicaltreatment.org
Email: etay@ethicaltreatment.org

About the author

PERSONAL STORIES

Young lives destroyed
Note: Some of the following stories were submitted to this site by parents who felt a need to withhold their names and/or locations in order to prevent accusations that they were resisting their children's treatment. They feared that such accusations could result in permanent separation from their children, or other retaliation against them or their children.

A Mother's Poem

Melissa's son, age 13, Indiana
I have a 13 year old son that has been accused of child molestation of an 8 year old boy. Plea agreement--I thought this would be a quick answer and end our nightmare. Then it came to me: Why let my son accept guilt for something he swears didn't happen? What would that do to him later down the line? Could I live with this? Then I found out that if he takes a plea agreement and then states to his probation officer that he didn't do anything...well then we are back in court for perjury.

Dionne's son, age 10, Texas
My son was falsely accused of "indecency with a child" and held at the Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center where he was hazed repeatedly by the detention officers and was threatened and told not to tell anyone. There have been two suicides and at least one allegation of rape. The mom who had accused my son went on the local news station and told the whole town that she "stopped a child molester from being allowed in school."

Mary's son, age 16, Oklahoma
“He admitted he had sex with her twice back when they first met before he learned she was fourteen. My son was arrested on two counts of sexual abuse, third degree felonies. He was facing charges as an adult and a twenty year prison sentence.”

Justin Wilson, age 10, Texas
“Justin's stepmother caught him and his 5 year old younger brother 'looking at each other naked.' They were comparing pee pees. Justin was given one year probation, he had to complete 'crisis counseling', and he was required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.”

Pam's son, age 12, Pennsylvania
“My son was charged in Michigan with a "felony 1 criminal sexual conduct child under 13." He in fact did indecently touch a boy of 6 years old. He was 12 when this happened. He performed oral sex on him. He has to register for life. At least that is my fear. Now we have the fear also that this new Jessica's Law will make it so he cannot go to school anymore.”

Shannon, age 13, California
“The reason for placement was a sexual offense done when I was 13 in California. Basically I engaged in consensual sexual acts with 3 neighborhood boys ages 13, 11, and 8. Treatment involved putting a rubberband appearing contraption hooked up through a computer around your penis while you sat in a dark room with your pants to your ankles listening to various audio recording stories.”

Garrett Daley, age 13, Arizona
“Our daughter Devon came to us and said Garrett had been touching her. The night our son was to be awarded his Eagle Scout award, he was arrested and put in jail. The next day, Saturday, the county attorney decided to change his charges to the adult court. On Sunday, our daughter Devon, came to us and told us she had lied. We again went to the authorities but no one would listen.”

Anonymous, age 6-10, Washington
“I was charged with rape of a child in the first degree and two counts of child molestation in the second degree. I was told it did not matter that most of the abuse had happened under the direction of my stepfather. It did not matter that I was between 6-10 at the time.”

Anonymous, age 8, Washington
“He was held in solitary confinement...He was fingerprinted, photographed, and subjected to intrusive questioning. He was berated several times for wetting the bed, and laid in a wet bed all night because he was too afraid to ask anyone for help.”

Anonymous, age 11, Michigan
“He is looking at being put on the public registry when he turns 18, along with his picture...Because of the registry and the stigma which accompanies it, we have had suicides, attempted suicides and youths who are ready to give up.”

Linda 's son, age 13, Texas
“He was watching another 13 year old boy and his 10 year old female cousin bumping each other fully dressed. My child was charged with sexual assault as well as the other boy, because he did not tell the girl's mother what was happening.”

Joe, age 14, Wisconsin
“A police sergeant indicated that the sex was consensual. My son was very frightened, as the detective was shouting at him and had a gun. He did not write a confession. The detective wrote it for him. Approximately two weeks later, we received papers in the mail indicating that he was being charged with second degree sexual assault.”

Matt, age 14, Arizona
“I came home from work and Matt was not home. I called and was told that he admitted to everything and was arrested. Matt didn't admit to anything, he was coerced into it. He is on lifetime probation and is never allowed to live at home again. He has been in homeless shelters and may be in one again.”

Anonymous, age 14, West Virginia
“He paid with 10 months of his life locked up, then was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital, forbidden to have any contact with his family. Our son had gone through complete psychological testing at The National Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital, giving complete opposite results and recommendations than these experts.”

Randi's son, age 14, location withheld
“My son is a convicted sex offender. A felon at the age of 14...The detectives told me it didn't matter that this younger boy started this contact.”

Janet Boeldt's grandson, age 14, Indianapolis, Indiana (Resolute Treatment Facility)
“He was arrested and charged with child molestation. He was involved with a group of kids, mostly around the same age, who were voluntarily performing various sex acts. There was never any accusation of force or intimidation.”

“J”, Indianapolis, Indiana (Resource Treatment Facility)
“My son 'J' was accused of molesting his younger brother. He was placed in a sex offender treatment institution. His brother admitted that he had lied because he was mad. 'J' consistently denied doing anything to his brother and passed several polygraphs. They still didn’t send him home.”

See also: Indianapolis Treatment Centers

Anonymous, age 16, Colorado
“My son, too, underwent three torturous years of therapy, after accepting an Alford plea because of a false accusation.”

Tony Meinelt, age 17, Texas
“My son was a registered sex offender because of an encounter he had with a 13 year old girl who misrepresented her age...Tony was literally kicked out of a sex offender's treatment program, because he chose to confront the leaders about trying to force him to lie.”
A Mother's Poem, by Tana Fillingame

Asa Morton, age 19, Texas
“She stated she had just turned 17...We had no idea that my son could be charged with sexual assault of a child. Asa was given 8 year deferred adjudication, with lifetime registration as a sex offender. He cannot find work. He cannot live with anyone in his family because of minors. He is now in the county jail.”

BJ's son, age 17, Michigan
“The only crime my son had committed was having consensual relations with a girl who was 2 1/2 weeks away from being the age of consent (16). He was in the SO treatment for 14 months and they WOULD NOT release him UNTIL he had admitted to something he didn't do.”

Carolyn's son, age 18, Vermont
“My son was convicted of sexual assault on a minor for consensual teenage sex...He had to sign a contract when he entered treatment agreeing to aversion therapy, penile plethysmograph, and lie detector tests. It also stipulated that therapy may involve masturbation.”

Articles and reports

I Fell for a Man Who Wore an Electronic Ankle Bracelet (in the New York Times)
"He and the girl had mingled at a party and drifted off drunk together before winding up back in her room, where, several hours later, they had sex...In treatment, he was shown lewd images of various kinds, including those of prepubescent girls, with his state of arousal at each image being measured, judged, dissected...Desire, once joyful, became a source of stress, something dangerous and potentially ugly that needed to be suppressed, an urge of apologetic shame. In the end, I found it harder to love an emasculated boyfriend than one accused of rape."

Three-part series in The Texas Examiner:

Branded for Life
"Many parents do not know that consensual sex, even when the female is the initiator, is currently being punished by the State of Texas based solely on the difference in ages."

Attorneys Deal with What Is Law
"As a prosecutor, my sense is that at least half of the cases of child sexual assault filed with the district attorney’s office involved consensual sex..."
Readers respond to story of young lives ruined

Perp & Victim Bonded for Life
"Nikki Rodriguez, 24 is the 'victim.' The 'perpetrator' is her husband and only boyfriend, Frank Rodriguez, 27."
Readers respond

Molested (in Salon magazine)
“A mother discovers that the legal system's nightmarish 'cure' for child sexual abuse can be worse than the disease.”

Reject (from Overexposed, by author Sylvere Lotringer)
“You feel so bad, you start thinking of suicide…I tried to kill myself in jail.”

Swannanoa: An inmate's story (in the Citizen-Times, Asheville, NC)
“Joel will be released from the Swannanoa Valley Youth Development Center...in those four years he's learned other lessons, too: He's learned what it feels like to be hogtied for hours...He's learned what sexual abuse feels like...'After they put me on suicide watch, they handcuffed and shackled me.' Joel says he stayed in handcuffs and shackles for about 48 hours. After that, there was no discussion in therapy sessions about what had happened to him, he says. Instead, they returned to talking about his own past, his own transgressions.”

A Question of Abuse (in Mother Jones magazine)
“Tony was 9 years old...Juvenile Court put Tony in a 'sexually reactive children's' group...The American Civil Liberties Union Prison Project has sued a number of similar programs for adults...Tony suffered harshness and betrayal from adults; he is depressed and mistrustful.”

Sex Therapy 'Nightmare' Or Cure? (from the Arizona Republic)
“The hospital had told the girl to record a sexual fantasy. Then every time she listened to it, she had to use that ammonia...her therapists persisted until one day she tried to kill herself...”

Also: Testimony to the Committee on Children's Psychological Treatment Programs
“children are subjected to nude slides of men, women, and children, including photographs depicting bondage.”

Teen Sues Clinic Using Penis Device (from Newsday)
He was “forced to wear earphones and listen to pornographic tapes including descriptions of sex between adults and children...Afterward the youth was encouraged to masturbate...”

The Unforgiven (from Spin magazine)
“Log on to South Carolina's Internet registry of sex offenders, and listed there...you'll find Lucas Tanner II...he was 12 years old when it happened.”