Minnesota Company Seeks to Prevent Sexual Offences

November 7, 2005
New ads are appearing in Minnesota that directly target a group which few, if any, have ever advertised to—potential sex offenders. One such ad features a visibly distressed mother guarding her young daughter from the father. The ads are for a group called "Stop it now!", an organization which aims at encouraging potential sex offenders to seek help before their behavior hurts another person. Emphasizing prevention through educating and providing counsel for adults, the group lays out its goals as the following:

• Increasing the public’s knowledge of the perpetration of child sexual abuse.
• Teaching adults the skills to recognize signs of sexually abusive behavior.
• Working with families, peers and friends on how to intervene before a child is harmed.
• Challenging those who abuse, and families and friends who influence them to seek help, stop abusing, and face accountability

The group is unique in its approach to understanding sex offenders as a demographic group. Their research has yielded not only the organization’s distinctive advertisements, but also possible new methods for screening and detecting potential sex offenders. Although "Stop it Now!" functions only on a local level, its director, Yvonne Cournoyer, has hopes that they will be able to expand in the near future.

For more information see the Washington Post Online, and Stop it Now!’s Website