Lecture 5: Sex Offenders Flashcards
How prevalent is child sexual abuse for boys and girls?
Child sexual abuse (CSA) experienced by:
- 10-25% of girls worldwide
- 5-25% of boys worldwide
How prevalent is adult sexual abuse for men and women?
Adult sexual abuse (ASA) experienced by :
- 8 to 24% of women
- 0.6 to 7% for men
What groups are more at risk for sexual abuse?
Some groups are more at risk: -Persons with disabilities -Sex workers -Foster care -LGBTQ2 -Homelessness Prevalence differ across countries
What are the official rates in Canada?
- Between 2009 and 2014: 117,238 police-reported sexual assault incidents in Canada
- Since 1999, the rates of victimization for sexual assault have remained stable
- When an accused is identified, 69% resulted in a charge being laid (physical assault = 65%)
- 12% sexual assaults reported by police led to a criminal conviction (physical assault = 23%)
Is sexual abuse increasing or declining?
Self-report victimization surveys and official sources show decreases in sexual victimization in the 1990s
Why?
- Aging population
- Obesity and other health-related issues
- Economic prosperity in 1990s
- Better sex offender management and treatment
- Cultural and Societal Changes (End of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll, Awareness: children supervised differently,
Consent and sex education)
What is the relationship between consent and alcohol abuse?
- Research has suggested that half of all victims and perpetrators had been drinking beforehand.
- Role of sex education.
SA victimization increases risk for long-lasting deleterious effects on…
- Mental and physical health
- Behavioral health
- Revictimization (sexual and physical)
- Sexual and nonsexual criminal offending
What is the cost of SA victimization?
- USA: Estimated annual economic burden of CSA is approximately $11 billion
- Estimated average lifetime cost = $323,736 US per female victim of nonfatal CSA
- Lacked data to estimate the cost for male victims of nonfatal CSA
what is the focus on for sexual offenders?
- Focus is on punishment and social control
- lengthy sentences
- Indeterminate sentences (Dangerous Offender, Civil commitment)
- registration & notification
- residence, employment & education restrictions
- Intensive supervision
What is the typical profile of a sex offender in Canada?
Most offenders are young - based on official rates (12-17 years old = 90 per 100 000, 18-34 years old = 55 per 100 000)
- Majority (69.1%) are Caucasian (23% Aboriginal)
-Most offenders who victimize children are known
1/3 by family members
-Remaining are acquaintances
-Few are stranger (7%-15% for kids, 15%-25% for women)
(Stranger: did not know the assailant 24 hours before the assault )
-Most offenders are males (90-97%)
What is the heterogeneity among sex offenders?
- Offender Age (young, elderly)
- Victim Type (age, gender)
- Victim Relationship (stranger, related)
- Competence (cognitive impaired, socially skilled)
- Work history (unemployed, professionals)
- Date of offence (historical, recent)
- Degree of Violence (touching, torture)
What are the types of sex offenders?
- Sexual offenders against adults (rapists)
- Extrafamilial sex offenders against children: unrelated children
- Intrafamilial sex offenders against children : related children (Incest offenders)
- Online sexual offenders (e.g., child pornography)
- Offline non-contact sex offenders: exhibitionists, voyeurs
What is different about intrafamilial offenders?
- Fewer criminogenic needs than sex offenders against unrelated children
- lower on measures of antisocial tendencies
- less sexual arousal to children and less sexual self-regulation problems
- Given they are typically lower risk, most incest offender require minimal intervention
What are the challenges in this field?
- A number of studies examining risk factors for the onset of violence
- Much less on the onset sexual offending
- Studies suggest possible testable risk factors, but their research design precludes conclusions about causality
- Convenience samples, pre-selected, small, self-report or interview
- A lot more is known on factors that predict reoffending (Maintenance, next section)
What are the risk factors for onset?
-Socioecological model: individual, relationships (peers, siblings, parents), community, social
-Individual level: Sexual criminality (Atypical sexual interest
Pedophilia: exclusive vs. nonexclusive). Sexual preoccupation (Antisocial tendencies. Psychopathy, attitude tolerant of crime, norm violations, etc.)
What is sexual criminality?
-Sexual preoccupation
-Any atypical sexual interest: Sexual interest in children,
Sexualized violence, Having multiple paraphilias
Does paraphilia equal behaviour?
- About half are pedophilic (Seto, 2008)
- Not all pedophiles commit a sexual offence
- Hard to estimate (1-5% of the population, Dunkelfeld: 52% of those seeking anonymous help for pedophilia committed a sexual offence) Likely overestimate
if not pedophilia then why?
-Most child victims are 13-15 year (Has secondary sex characteristics)
-Sexual preoccupation
Emotional congruence with children (for sex offenders against children)
- general criminality
What asepcts of general criminality increase the likelihood of sexual offending?
- these factors apply within general criminality but are applicable to sexual risk as well
Offence-supportive attitudes
Lifestyle impulsivity (poor self-regulation, impulsive/reckless, unstable work history)
Poor cognitive problem-solving
Grievance/hostility
Negative social influences
Resistance to rules/supervision (childhood behaviour problems, non-compliance with supervision, violation of conditional release)
Attitudes tolerant of sexual offences
Lack of emotionally intimate relationships with adults (e.g., never married, conflict with intimate relationships- child offender)
Hostility towards women (rapists)
What kind of relationship increases likelihood to commit a sex offence?
Having a family member who is convicted of a sex offence increases your risk of committing a sex offence
Is sex offending genetic or environmental?
- there is an important genetic predisposition (moreso in sex offending against children [46%] than sex offending against adults [19%])
- however the majority of it is due to nonshared environment and error
What are the parental and perinatal risk factors for sexual offending?
- Young parents (< 25)
- Older parents (>40-45)
- Parents with lower education, violent criminal convictions, psychiatric diagnoses, and suicide attempts
- Indicator of in utero experiences (small birth weight, small head circumference, being small for gestational age)
What are the recidivism rates for sex offenders?
- From 27 to 84 studies with mean follow-up of 5 to 6 years (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2004)
- Sexual = 13.7%
- Non-sexual violent = 14%
- Any violent (including sexual) = 25%
- Any = 36.9%
- extrafamilial offenders who assault stranger male victims have the highest likelihood to reoffend in the next 5 years
What are the two strongest predictors of sexual recidivism?
Atypical sexual interest
Antisocial tendencies
