NCJ Number
218192
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2007 Pages: 23-41
Date Published
March 2007
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study examined the methods that 103 adolescent sex offenders used to commit their sexual offenses against children (12 years old or less).
Abstract
The study found that the intrusiveness of the offender's sexual behaviors was dependent on the victim's degree of participation during sexual offenses. Victim participation was, in turn, dependent on the offender's ability to maintain the victim's silence through strategies of emotional "blackmail" and by gaining cooperation through desensitizing strategies. Cooperation was secured at a prior stage in which the offender gained the trust of the victim through a set of strategies that involved giving love and attention to the child. The findings suggest that the giving of gifts and privileges may be more effective in gaining victim cooperation when the victims are girls. Adolescent offenders who abused both boys and girls were more likely to use desensitizing strategies in order to achieve victim participation than adolescents who abused only boys or girls. Because desensitizing strategies involved gradually involving the victim in sexual episodes, these strategies were particularly efficient in gaining the victim's compliance. This finding supports the rational choice theorists' hypothesis, which states that crime involves the attainment of a proximate goal that is instrumental in achieving an ultimate outcome. The sample consisted of 103 male adolescents who had committed at least 1 sexual offense against a child (less than 12 years old) who was at least 3 years younger than themselves. The offenders were recruited from eight treatment programs in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Strategies for gaining victim cooperation were measured by participants' response to the Modus Operandi Questionnaire. 4 tables and 45 references