Shattering the Silence

It was the most ambitious project ever undertaken by the editorial staff at the Daily Journal. For five days, from Jan. 13-17,  the newspaper devoted a number of its pages to the devastating impact of child sexual abuse. Additional stories, not included in the published series, also ran on the Internet.

When the silence is ended and the secrets are exposed, the healing can begin.

The information highway includes dangerous detours where sexual predators and pornographers troll for victims.

Convicted child sex offenders can expect a wide range of sentences in prison along with treatment in a program that makes them accountable and helps them change their behaviors.

Threats, shame and fear of rejection keep them from telling. As time goes on, it gets even harder to share their secret, because they have waited so long, they think no one will believe them.

It begins in the dark recesses of a troubled mind, grows in secrecy and is nurtured by desire for power, the need for control, or misplaced desire. Unchecked, child sexual abuse destroys lives, leaves lifelong emotional scars and all too often, continues into the next generation.

Threats, shame and fear of rejection keep them from telling. As time goes on, it gets even harder to share their secret, because they have waited so long, they think no one will believe them.

A record number of federal child exploitation cases in eastern Missouri in 2007, the arrest and conviction of pedophile Michael Devlin, and at least 20 child sex abuse and/or child pornography cases in St. Francois and surrounding counties led the Daily Journal to take a close look at the problem of child sex exploitation and what can be done to stop the abuse.