It’s interesting to look at risk factors for sibling sexual abuse and how those align with many of the Duggar family dynamics. One of these includes being responsible for younger siblings. This responsibility can lead to an abuse of power; clearly older children caring for younger ones is a dynamic in the Duggar household. Another risk factor is physical or emotional neglect. With 19 children, it’s likely that at any given moment somebody is feeling neglected! Sometimes these behaviors can be a way to try to give and/or receive physical or emotional comfort in a home in which these things are lacking. Inadequate, misleading education about sex and healthy sexual behaviors as well as inadequate socialization are two additional risk factors. Teens who aren’t permitted to socialize outside the home may be more likely to abuse their siblings. We know how the insular Quiverfull community feels about outside influences; in fact, the Duggars epitomize many of these common risk factors.

In an ideal world, this is what would have happened when the Duggar parents learned of the abuse. They would have immediately reported the abuse to the child protective agency in their area. At that time the police would have been notified, and it is likely that Josh would have been removed from the home until it was determined that all of the children were safe. A thorough investigation would have been conducted, and treatment for everyone involved would have been provided. In treatment Josh may have had to consider the effects of his actions on the girls, to try to develop empathy for them, to take responsibility for his actions, and to come up with a relapse prevention plan. He may have had to write them a letter with specific details regarding these issues. Before he could be reunited with them, long before he could even consider returning home, determinations would have been made about a number of issues. Are the Duggar parents capable of supervising him? Are they capable of keeping the victimized children safe, and do the children trust in the parents’ abilities to protect them from this kind of harm? Are there clear rules in place to prevent future abuse? Are the needs of the victimized children being met? This type of treatment is complex and thorough, and apparently not the type of treatment in which the Duggars participated.

Supporters of the Duggars have called on the rest of us to show compassion and understanding. Compassion and understanding are unfortunately qualities that have been gravely lacking in our juvenile justice system and indeed in many of these supporters’ own previous statements about how to deal with wayward youth. Criminalizing youth because of their race or sexual orientation is a priority for these leaders; yet the moment one of their own is caught up in this situation they change their narrative. They are “tough on crime” because they know that this toughness is unlikely to ever be applied to them. They can call on powerful friends to fail to report crimes and to destroy evidence, if necessary. One of the problems with sex offender registry laws is that the limitations are so constricting that parents may be less likely to report abuse because they fear ramifications far into the future, and many parents who find themselves in this tragic situation are not in positions of power so that they can avoid these negative consequences for their children.

But the Duggars held themselves to a different standard. Indeed, rehabilitation of “criminals” is not seen as a worthwhile goal for many members of the religious right, although they themselves seek forgiveness for their transgressions. Their focus (for the criminalized “other”) tends to be on punishment. Yet the tragedy here is that Josh Duggar received neither punishment nor treatment. The greater tragedy is that it is unlikely the girls received the type of trauma-informed, evidence-based therapy that could have helped them to heal.

Obviously the goals of treatment for the perpetrator are first and foremost to prevent relapse. If possible, reunification with the family can be a goal as well, if, and only if, the parents are able to protect the non-offending children in the home. What the Duggars believe is so far removed from evidence-based treatment that it is hard to imagine how anyone in the family can be healthy or functional. Maybe this awful situation can provide an opportunity for all of us to rethink how we deal with incidents such as these, really focusing on ways to treat people who commit crimes and to prevent harm to all children, even those whose parents believe that if they were abused, it is because they did something to deserve it.