Study: Ohio Worst State In U.S. For Sexual Victimization Of Youth Inmates

A new federal report says in 2018, Ohio was the worst state in the nation when it came to incarcerated youths reporting being forced or coerced into sexual activity.

The report released this week by the U.S. Department of Justice says 15.3 percent of juvenile inmates reported being sexually victimized by fellow inmates or staff last year.

“With a statewide rate of 15.3 percent and a 95 percent confidence interval of between 10.0 percent and 22.5 percent, Ohio was the only state that met the statistical standard of having a high juvenile sexual-victimization rate,” reads the report, which comes as part of the 2019 National Survey of Youth in Custody.

Wisconsin had a higher rate, but the report says the survey response rate was too low to be considered reliable.

Among facilities that required parental or guardian consent in order for youths to be surveyed, the Circleville Juvenile Correctional Facility had the nation’s second highest rate of sexual victimization at 16.7 percent. That’s actually down sharply from the rate 0f 28.2 percent identified in a  similar report in 2012.

Ohio’s overall youth victimization rate of 15.3 percent is also down from 2012, when it stood at 17.1 percent.

Nationally, the 2018 sexual victimization rate of 7.1 percent was down from 9.5 percent in 2012. The latest survey included 6,049 youths from at least facility in each state and the District of Columbia.

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