Juvenile Sex Offenders: Toward the Development of a Typology

• NCJ Number: 199079
• Journal: Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2003 Pages: 27-48
• Author(s): John A. Hunter; Aurelio J. Figueredo; Neil M. Malamuth; Judith V. Becker
• Date Published: January 2003
• Length: 22 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Netherlands

Annotation

The psychosocial functioning of adolescent males who sexually offended prepubescent and postpubescent females is examined in this article.

Abstract

Juveniles account for approximately one-fifth of rapes and one-half of all of the cases of child molestation committed annually in the United States. In this article, the authors describe a clinical model that suggests that the juvenile sex offender population is quite diverse. Following a presentation of various typologies of adult rapists and child molesters, the authors describe the juvenile sex offenders recruited from public and private institutional treatment programs in the United States who participated in this study. The 182 juvenile sex offenders administered a social history questionnaire in this study were assessed concerning their hostility towards women, mating efforts, psychosocial deficits, and nonsexual aggression and delinquency histories. Analyzing the data using both the SAS 8.0 (SAS Institute, 1999) and the EQS 5.7b (Bentler, 1995) statistical software packages resulted in the authors finding that adolescent males who sexually assaulted prepubescent females had greater deficits in psychosocial functioning, used less aggression in their sexual offending, and were more likely to offend against relatives. Assessing theorized relationships between developmental risk factors, personality mediators, and sexual and nonsexual offense characteristics, the authors found that deficits in psychosocial functioning were found to mediate the influence of childhood exposure to violence against females on the adolescent perpetration of sexual and non-sexual offenses. The authors suggest that future research needs to be conducted in order to further distinguish the differences between adolescent males that sexually offend against children and those that target pubescent females. Tables, references