NCJ Number
115114
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1988) Pages: 259-274
Date Published
1988
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Penile responses of 14 heterosexual, 7 homosexual, and 4 bisexual child molesters from a maximum security psychiatric institution were compared with those of 8 men of low socioeconomic status from the local community and 6 offenders from the same institution who had not committed sex offenses.
Abstract
Penile tumescence changes were measured in response to 22 audiotaped descriptions involving consenting sex with an adult partner, sex with a child (at three levels of force and violence), nonsexual violence with a child victim, and neutral interactions with a child. Half of the target persons in the stories were male and half female. Child molesters preferred stories depicting sex with children to sex with adults, showed sexual interest in children of both genders, and did not respond to depictions of nonsexual violence. Compared to other child molesters, those who had physically injured their victims responded relatively more to children than adults and to coercive sex with children. Comparison subjects showed no sexual interest in any of the stories involving children. Taken together with the studies reported by Abel et al. (1981), Avery-Clark and Laws (1984), and Marshall et al. (1986), the present results indicate that phallometric examinations of child molesters should not be limited to determining age preference but should also include the measurement of sadistic sexual interest. 2 tables, 3 figures, 20 references. (Author abstract modified)