Sex abuse crimes with juvenile perpetrators a trend of growing prevalence says county prosecutor

Intermountain Catholic

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Narda Beas-Nordell, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Salt Lake City, has a newly created position in the office of the Attorney General in Salt Lake County – juvenile sex offender specialist. She prosecutes sexual abuse crimes in which both victim and perpetrator are under the age of 14. "Sometimes it's hard to determine who is at fault," she told the Intermountain Catholic. IC photo by Barbara S. Lee

SALT LAKE CITY — The cases that come across Narda Beas-Nordell's desk these days are disturbing. The newly appointed juvenile sex offender specialist for the office of Salt Lake County Attorney Lorha Miller, Beas-Nordell prosecutes sexual crimes in which both the victim and the perpetrator are under the age of 14.

A 1992 graduate of the University of Utah School of Law, Beas-Nordell, comes to her new position after 13 years prosecuting crimes in the juvenile courts.

"I've been prosecuting everything from curfew violations to attempted homicide," Beas-Nordell told the Intermountain Catholic Nov. 9. "But juvenile sex crimes committed against juveniles are growing in number and the county attorney is making them a priority."

It's difficult enough to think about children having sex, Beas-Nordell said, "but juveniles offending on each other – when they're really close in age, sometimes it's hard to determine who is at fault."

In Utah, anyone of any age having sex with someone under the age of 14 is a crime, she said. "There is the presumption that people under the age of 14 can't consent to sex. We don't want children to be having sex, but when they do and there is at least three years difference in the ages of the victim and the perpetrator, the crime ceases to be a misdemeanor and becomes a felony."

Juvenile court proceedings are generally regarded as rehabilitative actions, "all crimes are considered delinquencies, and subject to one big abeyance because the records are expunged when the perpetrators reach the age of 18," she explained. "Felony juvenile sex crimes are not subject to diversions or legal set-asides. They are prosecuted very carefully. Perpetrators are assessed for sex behavior risks and they are faced with no-contact orders. We don't let anything squeak by. If there is a conviction it becomes an adult process."

While some attorneys don't want to prosecute sex cases (because often the acts can be seen as consensual, non-victim crimes), Lorha Miller wants to see sex crimes with juveniles prosecuted with seriousness, Beas-Nordell said.

"I am dedicated to this new job," she said. "I want to help build a system in which we care about both the victim and the perpetrators." Beas-Nordell may be on the cutting edge of building that system. She is writing a proposal that would create a special juvenile sex crimes task force.

Currently, all sex crimes against children are screened at the Children's Justice Center (CJC), facilities run by the Attorney General's office. There juvenile offenders are assessed on Wednesday mornings and adult offenders on Wednesday afternoons. With two CJC offices, one in Salt Lake City and the other in West Jordan, Beas-Nordell has a counterpart – another prosecutor with whom she shares the CJC responsibilities.

In gathering statistics for her proposal, Beas-Nordell produced some staggering numbers for the last three years. In 2005, the district attorney's office reported 274 juvenile sex cases. The CJC reported 710, with 640 of those referred for screening. The difference in the numbers accounts for cases that didn't have enough evidence and cases in which, for some reason, the charges were dropped. In 2006, the district attorney's office reported 268 juvenile sex cases, the CJC 568 with 304 referred for screening. The numbers for the past eight months indicate 186 cases reported by the attorney general. The CJC numbers will not be available until after the year's end.

"It should surprise and concern everyone that there are so many children having sex these days," Beas-Nordell said.

Her commitment to children precludes her work for the attorney general. Before turning to the law, Beas-Nordell was a teacher at Kearns Junior High School for four years. She taught dance, Spanish, and coached the school's girls cross-country track team.

"I was astounded at how sexually engaged students were in the hallways when I was teaching," she said. "I grew up in Los Angeles, and my mother wouldn't let me see ?Hair' because someone on stage was naked. But my students and the young people we are seeing in court grew up with MTV and VHI. I'm still shocked by the amount of nudity these young people are exposed to. I tried to uphold some moral standards for my dance students, but I wasn't always backed up by their parents."

Health difficulties, long hours, and budgeting difficulties sent Beas-Nordell looking for a different career. Although she had never intended to be a lawyer (and her husband is not fond of lawyers) she met a few, and came to the conclusion they were really no smarter than she was. Now she comforts her husband, telling him, "I'm not a lawyer, I'm a prosecutor."

As she studied law, served internships, and did odd jobs to fill in the financial gaps, she "lived in the law library." And whenever she opened up a law book, she seemed to always find herself on the chapters about sex crimes.

"I could have been outraged and paranoid about how I was treated in Los Angeles when I was growing up," she said. "I've been attacked and I've been mugged. But I had my guardian angel and my brothers who defended me."

After stretches during which she practiced poverty law, she turned to criminal law. She served an internship in the District Attorney's office as a law clerk, hoping to be hired by the County Attorney.

"Now, I believe I'm making a difference," she said.