Isolation and Normlessness: Attitudinal Comparisons of Adolescent Sex Offenders, Juvenile Offenders, and Nondelinquents

• NCJ Number: 211571
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 49 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2005 Pages: 491-504
• Author(s): Michael H. Miner; Rosemary Munns
• Date Published: October 2005
• Length: 14 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A preliminary version of this article was presented at the 2001 Conference of the Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers in San Antonio, TX.

Annotation

Based on three variables drawn from integrated delinquency theory--conventional attitudes, normlessness, and social isolation--this study examined attitudinal differences among adolescent male sex offenders, juvenile delinquents, and nondelinquent youth.

Abstract

Study participants included 78 juvenile sex offenders recruited from outpatient (33 percent) and inpatient (67 percent) sex offender treatment programs in both rural and metropolitan areas of a Midwestern State. All offenders were male and ranged in age from 12 to 19. The comparison groups (juvenile delinquents and nondelinquent youths) were selected from the Denver Neighborhood Study, which had a stratified multistage probability sample that consisted of 662 families and 820 youths. The juvenile delinquent comparison group (n=156) was a stratified sample of males who had been adjudicated for property or violent crimes, but had no record or self-reports of sex offenses. The nondelinquent group (n=80) was a stratified sample of males who had no arrests, convictions, or self-reported criminal activity. Data were collected for all three groups between January and December of 1995, using a structured in-person interview that measured conventional attitudes, family normlessness, school normlessness, peer normlessness, family isolation, school isolation, and peer isolation. Data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows, Version 10.0. There were differences among the three groups on conventional attitudes; however, regarding normlessness, both the sex offenders and the juvenile delinquents had more school normlessness than the nondelinquents; and the sex offenders showed greater peer normlessness than either of the other two groups. Regarding perceived social isolation, sex offenders perceived themselves as more isolated than the other groups within their families, schools, and peers. Results suggest that interpersonal factors, in addition to a lack of social controls and normlessness, are associated with juvenile sex offenses. 1 table and 42 references