Child Sexual Abuse

1
Child Sexual Abuse

• Dr. Michelle Meloy

2
Child sexual abuse

• 1/3 of all sex offense victims known to law
  enforcement are minors
• 1/3 of all rape victims are minors between the
  ages of 12-17
• 1/3 of all forcible sodomy victims are between
  the ages of 6-11
• Nearly 1 out of 3 sex. assault w/object victims
  are between the ages of 0-5
• 1 out of 7 sex crime victims were below the age
  of 6 (14 of the total)
• The older the victim the more likely it is to be
  female

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Gender characteristics

• Nearly 9 out of 10 sex crime victims are female
• Nearly all forcible rapes are committed against
  female victims (99)
• Nearly all sex. Assault w/ object victims were
  female (87)
• Forced sodomy the only category where males are
  more likely to be victimized (54)

4
Victim-offender relationship

• The younger the victim the more likely it is that
  the offender is a direct family member (up to
  50)
• Only 12 of adult sex crime victims are directly
  related to their offender
• However, very few sex offenders were strangers to
  their victims- regardless of age. This means that
  acquaintances, friends, neighbors, etc. are
  usually the perpetrator

5
Quick facts

• Most sex offenders are not mentally sick
• Offenders who violate children often have
  immature personalities
• Stranger attacks are very rare especially against
  young children

• Pedophiles are mentally sick and will often
  work in jobs to get near kids
• Most sex offenders were NOT molested as children
• Sex offender treatment can be effective for some
  types of offenders

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Child sexual offenders

• Child molesters (legal classification) and
  pedophiles (clinical condition) are not the same
  thing
• Child molestation describes a situation or
  criminal act often are opportunistic crimes
• Pedophilia describes psychological diagnosis (DSM
  IV-R)
• Intense/recurrent sexual urges re child under 14
• Urges/behaviors cause significant distress or
  impairment
• Person is at least 16 and at least 5 years older
  than the child
• Most convicted sex offenders against children do
  not meet the clinical criteria for pedophilia

7
Treatment efficacy?

• Sex offenders are not the same and their
  likelihood of recovery or recidivism are not the
  same
• Specialized sex offender treatment seem effective
  at controlling sexual deviance for most types of
  sex offenders, but research designs are
  non-experimental
• Most conventional criminal justice policies for
  dealing with sex offenders are not consistent
  with empirical findings for best-practices

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Signs of child sexual abuse

• Consistent sexual interest early sexual
  activity
• Knowledge of sex exceeds biological age
• Physical irritations or injuries in mouth,
  genital or rectal areas
• STDs, bedwetting, eating disorders, sleep
  disturbances, academic problems
• Chronic running away or other behavioral problems

9
Male child sex victims

• Male sexual victimization has been understudied
• Male victimization is believed to be even more
  underreported than female victimization
• Estimates range from 2.5 of the male population
  being victimized as children to upwards of 16
• Mendels (1995) review of self-report data among
  college males indicated that 4.8 to 33 of male
  undergraduates report child sexual victimization

10
Underreporting of male sexual victimization?

• Challenges notion that males can take care of
  themselves
• Stigma of homosexuality since most offenders are
  believed to be men
• Young men victimized by female offenders do not
  consider the sex act as abuse or criminal
• Societys reluctance to identify these males as
  victims of sexual abuse
• Societys resistance to accept that women can be
  sexual offenders

11
Female sexual offenders of children

• Limited empirical information
• Female offenders may account for 5 or more of
  all child sexual abuse
• Finkelhors (1984) review of existing literature
  found women were the sexual abusers in 5 of all
  cases involving girls and 20 of the cases
  against boys
• Female sex offenders seem to have a higher
  prevalence of childhood victimization than male
  sexual offenders

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Typologies of female sex offenders

• Teacher/lover views her victim as a romantic
  partner and the relationship as mutually
  beneficial psychologically immature responds
  well to therapy
• Predisposed offender severe childhood trauma
  acts alone in their victimizations usually
  selects family members - severe psychological
  problems successful treatment outcome is
  unlikely
• Male/coerced offender involved in violence
  relationships with abusive and domineering
  partners, initially engage in victimization with
  children to keep their men around but can also
  move towards committing crimes on their own