FBI Reports "Epidemic" Levels of Child Sex Abuse

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Aug 03, 2015

FBI Reports "Epidemic" Levels of Child Sex Abuse

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reported that the number of children exploited in sex abuse cases in the US has risen to “epidemic” levels recently. 

Joseph Campbell, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division, stated that last year the FBI rescued 600 children from human traffickers. Campbell went on to say that there seems to be no set demographic for those who propagate these criminal offenses. 

"The level of paedophilia is just unprecedented right now,” Campbell disclosed, as reported in a Christian Today article. “We have so many cases constantly of individuals in all walks of life, from the very wealthy, to other levels engaged in child pornography, child exploitation.”

Campbell also added that poverty plays a major role in the growing numbers of child sex abuse. 

The victims of child sex abuse tend to be young women in between the ages of 12 and 18, such as one sex abuse victim who told BBC News that her abuser knew she was underage, but that this did not restrain him: "He [human trafficker] knew I was 14, he had to know that I was underage... When he actually found out how old I was it didn't stop him... he wanted me even more.”

Another young women reported that, at the age of 12, she was lured into a room filled with toys by her neighbor and his friends where she was then bribed with money to take topless photos. 

"I see more and more younger girls out here now and it's really sad... It's not a choice. At 12, it was not a choice," the woman told BBC News. 

Publication date: August 3, 2015



FBI Reports "Epidemic" Levels of Child Sex Abuse