NCJ Number
133804
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 446-460
Date Published
1991
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Clinical assessments of 49 male adolescent sexual offenders (age range 11 to 16 years) referred to the Toronto Family Court Clinic over an 8-year period and a comparison group of 24 delinquents and 45 child molesters showed that a majority of the 49 sexual offenders who had sexually assaulted females their age or older were recidivists; they had a history of antisocial behavior predating and coinciding with their sexual offenses and came from a disturbed family background.
Abstract
Both the sexual assaulters and child molesters had experienced comparable and high rates of physical abuse, 14 or 33 percent and 12 or 27 percent, respectively, but only two of the sexual assaulters had a known history of sexual victimization. The incidence of past sexual victimization was significantly higher among the child molesters. The assaulters were less likely to be socially isolated than the child molesters and more likely to socialize with older peers than the comparison group of delinquents. There was known sexual pathology in about 25 percent of the parents. Sexually deviant impulses and antisocial traits emerged as motivating factors for the majority of the assaults, but alcohol and drugs did not play a prominent role. 2 tables and 16 references (Author abstract modified)