Deviant Sexual Behavior in Children and Young Adolescents: Frequency and Patterns

Abstract

A descriptive statistical study was performed to assess the characteristics of youth who began committing sexual offenses in childhood. The youth in this study ranged in age from 12 to 15. They had been committed to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice for sexual offenses and met the criteria for residential sexual offender treatment. Three instruments were used in this study. A questionnaire was independently administered to each youth by an examiner and corroborated, when possible, by information in the youth's file. The questionnaire was supplemented by the Hare Psychopathy Scale—Revised and by information from the Risk Assessment Interviewing Protocol for Adolescent Sex Offenders. The results suggested that deviant sexual behavior may begin in early childhood, with some offenders developing patterns of offending prior to the onset of adolescence. These youth committed a median of 69.5 sexual offenses each, with each offender having a median of 16.5 victims. They used either force, threats, or violence in the large majority of their contact offenses. They predominantly came from multiproblematic families, were abused in early childhood, and were exposed to pornographic materials at a young age. The results suggest that children have the capacity to commit serious sexual offenses similar to those of older juvenile and adult offenders. The clinical implications of this study are discussed.

Keywords

children's sexual behaviors family violence juvenile sexual offenders psychopathy sexual aggression.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abel, G.G. , & Rouleau, J.L. (1990). The nature and extent of sexual assault. In W. L. Marshall , D. R. Laws , & H. E. Barbaree (Eds.), Handbook of sexual assault: Issues, theories, and treatment of the offender (pp. 9-22). New York: Plenum Press.

Abel, G.G. , Rouleau, J. , & Cunningham-Rathner, J. (1986). Sexually aggressive behavior . In W. Curran , A. L. McGarry , & S. A. Shah (Eds.), Modem legal psychiatry and psychology. Philadelphia, PA: Davis.

Abel, G.G. , Osborn, C.A. , Twigg, D.A. (1993). Sexual assault through the life span: Adult offenders with juvenile histories. In H. Barbaree , W. Marshall , & S. Hudson (Eds.), The juvenile sexual offender (pp. 104-117). New York: Guilford Press.

Barbaree, H.E. , Hudson, S.M. , & Seto, M.C. (1993). Sexual assault in society: The role of the juvenile offender. In H. Barbaree , W. Marshall , & S. Hudson (Eds.), The juvenile sexual offender (p. 10). New York: Guilford Press.

Becker, J.V. , Kaplan, M.S. , Cunningham-Rathner, J. , & Kavoussi, R.J. (1986). Characteristics of adolescent incest sexual perpetrators: Preliminary findings. Journal of Family Violence, 1, 85-97.

Brown, E. J., Flanagan, T. J., & McLeod, M. (Eds.) (1984). Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics-1983 . Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Cavanaugh-Johnson, T. (1988). Child perpetrators-children who molest other children: Preliminary findings. Child Abuse & Neglect, 12, 219-229.

Forth, A. , Hart, S. , & Hare, R. (1990). Assessment of psychopathy in male young offenders . Psychological Assessment, 2, 342-344.

Gray, A.S. , & Pithers, W.D. (1993). Relapse prevention with sexually aggressive adolescents and children: Expanding treatment and supervision. In H. Barbaree , W. Marshall , & S. Hudson , (Eds.), The juvenile sexual offender (p. 291). New York: Guilford Press.

10.

Groth, A.N. (1977). The adolescent sexual offender and his prey. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 21, 249-254.

11.

Hare, R.D. (1991). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist Manual-Revised . Toronto: Multi-Health Systems .

12.

Isaac, C. (1986). Identification and interruption of sexually offending behaviors in prepubescent children. Paper presented at the 16th annual Child Abuse and Neglect Symposium, Keystone, CO, July.

13.

Leib, R. , & Felver, B. (1991). The 1990 community protection act: One year later . Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy.

14.

Loss, P. , & Ross, J. (1988). Risk assessment/interviewing protocol for adolescent sexual offenders. Unpublished manuscript, New Hope Treatment Centers, Summerville, SC.

15.

Marshall, W.L. (1989) Invited essay: Intimacy, loneliness and sexual offenders. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 27, 491-503.

16.

Marshall, W.L. , Hudson, S.M. , and Hodkinson, S. (1993). The importance of attachment bonds in development of juvenile sexual offending. In H. Barbaree , W. Marshall , & S. Hudson (Eds.), The juvenile sexual offender (pp. 164-181). New York: Guilford Press.

17.

National Adolescent Perpetrator Network (1988 ). The preliminary report from the National Task Force on Juvenile Sexual Offending. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 39, 2.

18.

National Adolescent Perpetrator Network (1993 ). The revised report from the National Task Force on Juvenile Sexual Offending. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 44, 4.