Juvenile Offenders

Tracy Lamperti

Thursday, May 9th, 6-9pm
$25 per person
Location to be announced – central to Orleans


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Tracy Lamperti, LMHC, BCETS
57 Route 6A
Orleans, MA 02653


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APRIL 28th


Juvenile Offenders – Epidemic Proportions!



  • 34% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by juveniles. In fact, 7% of sexual abuse is perpetrated by youth under the age of 12 (Snyder, 2000).


  • The younger the child victim, the more likely it is that the perpetrator is a juvenile. Juveniles are the offenders in 43% of assaults on children under age 6. 14% of these offenders are under the age of 12 (Snyder, 2000).


When your child is with another child…


  • Is there adult supervision, if so, how closely monitored?
  • Is there are size, personality, age or other power imbalance between your child and the other child?
  • Is your child easily led or a “tattle-tail?” (Tattle-tails fair better).
  • Is your child very shy, or very open? If they are very shy they may not speak up, but they also may not be targeted by another youth, for fear that they will go “running to mommy.” If they are very open they may be a loud-mouth, running to mommy, OR they may be willing to gleefully try just about anything.
  • IS YOUR CHILD IN A ONE:ONE SITUATION WITH ANOTHER YOUTH? Older children seen as “mentors” or “leaders in training” as many of the camp programs have, are often seen as a very positive influence for young children. While most older youth who are placed in this position WILL in fact be an excellent role model, some will not and pose a very high risk to younger children.
  • Do you have an open door policy when cousins and friends are playing together in your home or in their home? Incidents of sexual experimentation and games played where there is an imbalance of power and secrets are forced to be kept present a large number of experiences where children are exposed to things that are not appropriate sexually, like pornography, or where they are pressured into sexual acts.
  • Is the internet only available to your children at your home and friend’s homes in a public area?


Yes, to address many of these questions you are going to have to broach the subject with friends and relatives. How do you tell your sister-in-law that when your child is at their home with the cousins, the door needs to remain open? Or that the internet ready devices need to be tabled in the kitchen when the children go into the bedrooms or playrooms?


How do you ask the camp director if your child will be participating with older youth or leaders-in-training programs?


How do you ask your child’s friend’s mom if doors will remain open at the slumber party?


Another aspect of the problem is our (rather, the culture’s) tendency to want to wash away the issue with the mentality, “boy-will-be-boys.” Or, “They were just experimenting.” Or, “It’s normal curiosity.”


When I work with adults and couples with current issues of sexual difficulties in their life, and we draw a roadmap of sexual experiences from the first memory of a message they got about sex, these are the experiences that most frequently come up; “I remember being in a dimly lit room at my cousin’s house with my cousins and brother. I was just little. They were playing this game with me…..” I don’t think I need to continue.


Sadly, over many years as a therapist, I have heard story after story where an adult has had their first sexual experience as a child with a youth relative or friend, RIGHT IN THE BEDROOM OF THEIR HOME WITH THEIR PARENTS AWAKE IN ANOTHER PART OF THE HOUSE.


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Please, if these informational posts are triggering you because sexual abuse has touched your life in a personal way, now is the time to seek assistance. “IT IS THE SILENCE THAT POISONS OUR FAMILIES” (Former Miss America, Marilyn van Derbur, Stewards of Children)


I urge every parent to take this training or call me directly for assistance. Between my services, other qualified professionals, Children’s Cove, Independence House, and others, every adult; parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle….should be trained, along with EVERY person providing any level of care to a minor.


This is an empowerment program, not a paranoia or scare based program. Even given the numbers of 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys being sexually abused before their 18th birthday, it is important to keep a sense of perspective. While we have to keep in mind that there are offenders in the local community, the vast majority of people do not sexually abuse children. Our #1 defense and method to keep children safe in our community is to begin to talk about CSA and educate ourselves about CSA.


It is an adult responsibility to protect children from sexual abuse!


By Tracy Lamperti,
Psychotherapist, Educator, Consultant


Please see http://www.tracylamperti.com for more information about working with children and families or specifically about sexual abuse.
If you would like 1:1 assistance, please contact Tracy Lamperti for a consultation.


Tracy Lamperti, LMHC, BCETS
Psychotherapist, Educator, Consultant


My Blog
My Website
tracy@tracylamperti.com
774-722-5919

The Dopifying of Men and Boys These Days

By Tracy Lamperti • March 30, 2025
Do you get it that every time we seem to turn on the tv, news or in the movies these days the boys and men are getting terrible representation? Whether they are kowtowing to a bossy woman, making obscene gestures or noises, getting drunk or on drugs, committing some stupid crime, espousing the effeminate or acting like a pompus a__, or the countless other ways that they are being portrayed. What was wrong with Davy Crockett, or Huck Finn, Andy Griffith, Superman? Why have Sponge Bob and Homer Simpson and the many other “men” of today been selling by being so stupid? I am not up on any of today’s shows, but I get the point from the stories I hear, that it is not good. Even when an olympic star comes into the spotlight, all too often the story is tainted by some remark or behavior he made, not realizing everyone was watching. Where are the boys supposed to get their education? And what about the girls? Where are they supposed to learn who would make a good husband and father?  What brought this on was my prepping for morning meeting tomorrow at the Lamperti Homeschool. I was looking for something good in The Children’s Book of Virtues , Edited by William J. Bennett, Illustrated by Michael Hague. I just happened to open to page 38, Boy Wanted , by Frank Crane. I won’t put the whole story here, but here is a sample.

Before You Seek Therapy For Your Child

By Tracy Lamperti • March 30, 2025
Photo by Michelle Kaye

Talking Beans

By Tracy Lamperti • March 30, 2025
What are those? Are those beans? What are they for? Can I touch them? One can learn a lot about a child by watching them play. Play gives us a glimpse into the thought process, emotions, relationships and the way they organise and put things together. With beans, even a teenager or adult can “sort things out” with beans, sand and other materials. Beans make a good medium for tea parties, hide and seek, play ground play, imaginative water, etc. In fact, beans can bring comfort to all ages. Children who don’t feel like they have a voice or have trouble sharing their thoughts and feelings often find themselves running their hands through the field of beans. The same goes for teenagers. Little ones, of course want to play with the beans, which provides a great opportunity to evaluate self-control, adherance to limits and their depth of imagination or level of organization. Beans are awesome! The video shown here represents a variety of bean benefits! An older adolescent, actually, a young adult, worked out many complicated issues in her sessions week after week while sorting beans. This person successfully sorted out ALL of the kidney beans, sorting on many levels! It is so curious to children to come to their therapy session and notice that something has happened involving the beans. It gives children and teens a real sense of commonality with others as well as insight. They come to learn that some people think like they do and some think differently, and it’s all ok. They learn that, while I may share something about the “beans,” I won’t “spill the beans.” They can trust that I will keep their confidence, just like I keep the confidence of the last “bean worker.” As you see in the video, a young person is re-mixing the kidney beans. This young person, being someone who really struggles with self-control and had been held back for weeks from mixing the beans that had been sorted out. We shared such a delightful moment when she was finally permitted to “mix!” Timing is so important, but relationship is more! So the cycle will continue when many young people come in this week and discover the new state of the beans!  Tracy Lamperti, Psychotherapist, Educator, Consultant
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