181 Teachers Charged With Sex Crimes During First Half Of 2022
In just the first half of 2022 alone, at least 181 teachers have been arrested for child sex crimes with many more likely not reported.
Issues in the public school system are perpetually worsening. One disturbing area seeing record reporting involves child sex crimes. According to information released by the federal Department of Education nearly a decade ago, 1 in 10 students are sexually abused in school, today, that statistic is likely higher. Two months ago, as schools across the nation were winding down, we reported that 135 teachers in 2022 alone were charged with sex crimes against students. Today, that number is much higher, with now at least 181 teachers having been charged in the first six months of the year.
In just two months, 46 more teachers have been charged with child sex crimes across the nation. More instances are likely, but have simply not been discovered yet. This tracking is made available in reports from Fox News. These charges all contain horrific allegations all against minors ranging from rape to child pornography. This includes all types of educators, including principals, teachers, substitutes, aides, and other school personnel.
Of those documented in the report, the arrests that were made between January 1st and June 30th contained four principals, 153 teachers, 12 aides, and 12 substitute teachers. Overall, the majority of the child sex crimes (77%) were against students the perpetrators knew. While there is a growing trend depicting how females are committing these crimes more and more, the majority of these new arrests (78%) were males.
While each and every assault against a child is horrific, some of the details of the child sex crimes were more sinister. In one case involving Roger Weaver Freed, the 34-year-old Pennsylvania principal allegedly groomed a male student. He gave the minor student alcohol and formed a sexual relationship with him, which he kept going on for more than a year.
Shannon Hall was a teacher in a New York City school. She was arrested on claims that she inappropriately groped a female student. Likewise, she is said to have threatened the student’s life if she told anyone. In another child sex crime case, 45-year-old Norman Merrill was a teacher at Green Mountain Union High school in Vermont. He was arrested on multiple accounts of sexual abuse against minors. According to reports, he secretly filmed female students and was found to have possessed child pornography he created.
As these reports and allegations against educators continue to increase, lawmakers are looking to enact stricter policies in the hope that these incidents will be deterred. A common term in education known as “pass the trash” is said to occur when districts are made aware of child sex crimes and allegations, and attempt to quietly let go of the employee so as not to attract negative attention. Proposals in the department of Education’s provisions for Title IX are touted to fix these issues.
Part of the issue with many of these child sex crimes reoccurring over and over again is because of loopholes in various state laws. For instance, only 19 states require school districts to request information from a potential employee’s current and former employers –which could expose imperative information about those individuals. There is still half a year left for more appalling reports like this to continue, and unfortunately, this number will only increase.
