Person-first language. Throughout this report we strive to avoid labels and instead utilize “person- first language,” in which we mention the person before the behavior, illness, or experience that, in part, characterizes that person. The goal of person-first language is to help both writers and readers consider the whole individual and to keep in mind that no one is defined by a single issue. Children with sexual behavior problems and adults who engage in harmful sexual behavior are commonly referred to as “juvenile sex offenders” or “sex offenders.” However, these and similar labels promote the mistaken concepts that children with problem sexual behavior represent a homogeneous class of individuals at uniformly high risk to reoffend with increasingly egregious sex crimes.14 Moreover, research demonstrates that these labels influence readers against viewing CSA as a preventable public health problem.15 In reality, the vast majority (95%–97%) of youth adjudicated for sex crimes never reoffend sexually,16 while experts recognize both CSA and problem sexual behavior as preventable public health problems.17,18 By using person-first language, we seek to respect the individual and convey a more accurate depiction of CSA and problem sexual behavior. In no way do we intend to minimize the harm done when an adult sexually abuses a child or when a child engages in problem sexual behavior with other children.
Adults versus children. As noted in the Glossary, we purposefully distinguish between adult- perpetrated CSA versus problem sexual behavior initiated by a child. This distinction recognizes the vast developmental differences between adults and children and serves to reinforce the fact that different strategies are needed to prevent and to appropriately address adult-perpetrated versus child-initiated sexual behaviors. Children with problem sexual behavior—even behavior that harms others—are still children, a concept that often gets lost once children are identified as having engaged in problem sexual behavior. YSOs rightly invoke a “zero-tolerance” policy that requires the removal of any adult who sexual abuses any child (or attempts to do so). With children, however, it is both just and developmentally appropriate to identify alternatives to expulsion that focus on identifying and reducing risk factors, addressing the needs of anyone who was harmed, and ensure the safety of all child participants.
