NCJ Number
184227
Date Published
1999
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses females who commit sexual offenses against children.
Abstract
The chapter presents demographic, psychiatric morbidity, characterological, and psychodynamic issues regarding female sex offenders, as well as case illustrations and treatment strategies. Compared with male child molesters, female offenders have lower income and higher rates of unemployment, more unstable families of origin, a higher incidence of childhood and spousal victimization, and less marital satisfaction. Female offenders are also more likely to molest a child with an accomplice, are less likely to acknowledge their guilt and are likely to have more impairment than their male counterparts. Variables identified as relevant in attempts to establish a typology of female child molesters include contact versus noncontact offenses, individual offending versus offending with an accomplice, incest versus extrafamilial offending, intense loving attachment with victim versus angry interaction and male versus female victims. Potential risk factors predisposing females to molest children are severe childhood victimization experiences, psychiatric impairment, cognitive deficits, abnormal sexual behavior, impaired social skills and conditions that increase impulsivity, such as substance abuse or central nervous system impairment. References