Schoolteachers and employees often act as guardians for the students, and parents entrust their children’s welfare to their care. Unfortunately, they may not be successful in protecting the children all the time. In fact, in a lot of incidents the culprits of crimes against the students were the schoolteachers and employees themselves. The range of crimes they have committed has included sexual assault. School sexual assault injury lawyers are the ones that can help in situations like this.
The media have long featured numerous accounts of teachers and school coaches who have abused students. What’s worse is that many of these abusive school employees have committed numerous incidents of sexual abuse before they were caught.
School Sexual Assaults Happen Often
In a study conducted by USA Today, it was revealed that the education system has made it easy for these criminals to commit their crimes and hide their actions:
- School administrators are almost never penalized when they don’t report to state licensing officials about resignations of teachers accused of sexual abuse and molestation.
- State education agencies are forbidden by law to reach deals with teachers accused of sexual abuse, but they do so anyway. These officials don’t publicize the details of their sexual crimes and they may even pay teachers to resign quietly. This means it’s easy for these teachers to get a new job somewhere else where they can do the same things.
- Youth organizations and private schools are more at risk, since they have no access to the system that tracks teachers disciplined by state authorities.
- Sometimes private schools don’t even do the most basic background checks for their employees. In Louisiana, a registered sex offender was actually hired to work as a teacher in a private high school. Students later discovered the teacher’s past with a very basic Google search.
All across the US, the number of reported cases of school sexual abuse and assault have risen exponentially. In 2013 in there were states where the number of cases grew 300% from 2009. Cases of inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have increased by 27%. In California, 330 cases were investigated in 2014, and that was almost double the number of cases in 2008-09.
Know Your Legal Options If you Have Been Injured
If you or a loved one has been sexually assaulted by a school employee, you must take legal action promptly. You need to report the crime to the proper authorities as soon as possible.
You should also consult a law firm that specializes in school sexual assaults. At our law firm, we have injury attorneys from San Diego that have handled various sexual assault cases and have filed lawsuits against the school employee and even the school, to protect the rights and interests of our clients.
The school may be held liable for the crimes of their employees, if it can be proved that it acted negligently. If they failed to properly investigate their employees or potential hires, or if they knew of their previous sexual crimes and did nothing, then they may be deemed negligent in their duty to protect the students in their care.
If you or a loved one is a victim, contact our school sexual assault lawyer so that you can get the recovery you deserve.