NCJ Number
144957
Journal
Journal of Sex Research Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1992) Pages: 109-130
Date Published
1992
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article critiques the emergence of a new category of criminal deviant -- the very young juvenile sex offender or child perpetrator -- in the professional literature.
Abstract
This author contends that the literature on child perpetrators has failed to employ fundamental safeguards against investigator bias and error in designing its operational definitions, methodology, and rhetorical practices. He maintains that many of the behaviors included in the category of juvenile deviance should instead be labeled as species-typical behaviors. After tracing the historical context in which the literature on child perpetrators developed, the analysis applies Becker's (1973) typologies on moral entrepreneurs and moral crusades to this trend. The results indicate that representatives of certain moral and economic interests reflect symbolic concerns rooted in an opposition to sex-positive interpretative changes characteristic of the social and professional discourse of the 1960's and 1970's. Another factor contributing to this development has been widespread social fears that children are no longer safe while engaged in their normal daily activities. 8 notes and 116 references