One in Five

Why Child Sexual Abuse Is Our Biggest Public Health Crisis—and What We Can Do to Stop It

By: Elizabeth J. Letourneau PhD, Luke Malone

An urgent argument that child sexual abuse is preventable, not inevitable—and that we are the first generation with the tools to stop it

One in five children will experience sexual abuse before their eighteenth birthday. It happens in every country, every state, every city, every neighborhood, on every street. The consequences can be devastating. Many survivors suffer from depression and PTSD, struggle in school and at work, and face higher risk of heart disease and cancer. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

In One in Five, experts Elizabeth Letourneau and Luke Malone argue that child sexual abuse is not only the most pressing public health issue of our time—it is also the most preventable.

Together, they unveil the scope and reality of child sexual abuse—including that most abuse is perpetrated by other kids—and how efforts to stop it have fallen short. Until now, it has been treated primarily as a criminal justice problem, which it is. But that response comes too late. Letourneau and Malone explain how we can prevent abuse from happening in the first place, and provide a road map to protect children and intervene with those at risk of causing harm.

Compassionate, clear-eyed, and deeply researched, One in Five is the definitive guide to stopping abuse before it starts.

Critic reviews

“The sexual abuse of children is both the most common crime, and the one whose victims have the least power to report and resist. Thanks to One in Five, we can no longer ignore this reality. It’s up to all of us to be aware and report this crime that's damaging so many vulnerable lives.”—Gloria Steinem