NCJ Number
227463
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 24 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2009 Pages: 367-376
Date Published
August 2009
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This chart review of 31 female sex offenders (FSOs) focused on variables related to the characteristics of the offender, victim, and the crime; and these data were compared to the same types of data for 31 male sex offenders (MSOs), 31 female violent offenders (FOs), and 31 male violent offenders (MOs), using a 2 (female or male) by 2 (sex or violent offender) design.
Abstract
Both male and female violent offender groups were significantly younger than both sex offender groups at the time of their first offense. The sex offender average age was 30 years for both males and females; whereas, the average age of both male and female violent offender groups was 23 years old. Forty-five percent of the FSO group reported being victims of sexual abuse, followed by the MSO group (39 percent); FOs (33 percent); and MOs (3 percent). Both of the sex offender groups, however, reported significantly more sexual victimization than the MO sample and did not differ from each other or the FO group. These findings are consistent with previous research. The sex offender groups reported less history of alcohol and drug use. The FSO group victimized the highest percentage of both genders, and the MSOs had the largest percentage of female victims; the FOs had the most male victims. The FSOs were more likely to know their victims and to be biologically related to their victim compared to the MSOs. The FSCOs had fewer admissions of guilt to the crime than the violent-offender groups. The samples were obtained from three West Virginia State prisons. Data were obtained from reviews of their files. 6 tables and 34 references