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.
by the U.S. Department of Justice says 15.3% of Ohio's juvenile inmates reported being sexually victimized by fellow inmates or staff last year.
鈥淲ith a statewide rate of 15.3% and a 95% confidence interval of between 10.0% and 22.5%, Ohio was the only state that met the statistical standard of having a high juvenile sexual-victimization rate,鈥� 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鈥檚 second highest rate of sexual victimization at 16.7%. That鈥檚 actually down sharply from the rate 0f 28.2% identified in a
Ohio鈥檚 overall youth victiminzation rate of 15.3% is also down from 2012, when it stood at 17.1%.
Nationally, the 2018 sexual victimization rate of 7.1% was down from 9.5% in 2012. The latest survey incluced 6,049 youths from at least facility in each state and the District of Columbia.
