
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994                   TAG: 9404060043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

BEYER: EARLY REHAB HELPS BREAK SEX-ABUSE CYCLE

Virginia has made promising efforts to treat young sex offenders, but stopping adult sexual predators will require new ideas and strong public cooperation, Lt. Gov. Don Beyer said Tuesday.

Beyer, who heads a state task force to combat sexual assault, said recent changes to Virginia law will help curb abuse.

"We have a responsibility to prevent sexual assault, especially against our children," Beyer told a group of about 150 people gathered in Richmond for a conference on sexual assault. "We must empower our children to resist, to speak out, to refuse to be victims."

In the last two General Assembly sessions, the task force negotiated several changes to state law to help reduce the incidence of sexual assaults, Beyer said.

As a result, schools, day-care centers and state residential facilities can get a registry of sexual offenders.

Children will be treated as competent witnesses at their abusers' trials, and convicted sex offenders will serve at least two-thirds of their sentences, Beyer said.

Because some sex offenders also were victims of sexual abuse as children, Beyer said the state needs to help break the cycle through early rehabilitation.

"The evidence for adult offenders isn't encouraging," he said.

The low success rate for rehabilitation of sex offenders over the age of 20 has prompted Virginia to examine other methods, including the possibility of drugs to control the sex drive of some offenders.

Beyer said the success rate for treatment of children and adolescent offenders is high.

by CNB