LDS interviews are double-edged swords. Predator bishops can take advantage of minors which is absolutely disgusting. The church needs to do more stop such horrendous crimes.
However, sometimes LDS interviews can be used for good. For example, in many cases children abuse other children. A child (victim or perpetrator) can be too afraid (or embarrassed) to tell his/her parents what happened.
I suspect many teenagers do confess sexual misconduct, abuse, or rape to their Bishops.
Religion is a powerful psychological tool, it makes many offenders confess their sins.
There are a lot of bad parents that never teach their children anything about sexual misconduct, so there is no doubt some teenagers do need a good Bishop. Please give me some feedback if I am wrong.
A little more than a third of all sexual abuse of children that comes to the attention of police is committed by another minor; typically a teenager between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. I find that to be a rather remarkable statistic that most people probably are not aware of. Moreover, about sixteen percent of juvenile sex offenders are under the age of twelve. Again, these are cases that are known by law enforcement. One can understand that the younger the age of the "perpetrator" the less chance there is that police would be involved. Not surprisingly, it is not hard to understand that a proportion of abusive sexual behavior committed by children less than twelve years of age is never brought to the attention of law enforcement. Very likely even a majority....
The sexual abuse of children is a significant and disturbing reality in our society. We know that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused in some manner prior to reaching adulthood. We now understand that a considerable number of kids that are abused are abused by other children or teenagers. Sadly, every year, thousands of kids if not more will have to endure the sexually abusive or sexually intrusive behavior of another child. It is crucial that parents understand this problem and teach their children how to avoid any hurtful and unwelcome sexual behavior of other children.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/White House ... ildren-who For the sad fact that there are terrible parents
I cannot entirely support the idea of ending youth interviews at this moment . I know a Bishop can never replace a parent, but in some circumstances a Bishop may be what a child needs.
