June 1997 NCJ 163390:
civil commitment study skewing this study.
Executive Summary
Over the past 25 years, the problem of child sexual victimization has received significant attention from researchers, clinicians, and policymakers. Yet underreporting of sexual offenses against children has made it impossible to gauge either the frequency of such incidents or the size of victim and offender populations. In addition, deficient research methodologies have yielded incompatible or contradictory findings with regard to the characteristics, motivations, and recidivism rates of offenders. As a result, critical decisions about offender dangerousness, control, and treatment have been made in the absence of a sound knowledge base. In recent years, however, efforts have been made to (1) develop and validate an empirically based model of the agents and factors that lead to child sexual abuse, and (2) design and test statistical methods for assessing reoffense risk.
Important findings:
n The classification, diagnosis, and assessment of child molesters are complicated by a high degree of variability among individuals in terms of personal characteristics, life experiences, criminal histories, and reasons for offending. There is no single “profile” that accurately describes or accounts for all child molesters.
n Sexual focus in child molesters has two independent dimensions: intensity of pedophilic interest and exclusivity of the sexual preference for children. The more an offender’s sexual preference is limited to children, the less socially competent (as measured by the strength and range of social and sexual relationships with adults) he is likely to be.
n Most victims of childhood sexual abuse do not go on to become child molesters. However, sexual victimization as a child, if accompanied by other moderating factors—such as the co-occurrence of other types of abuse—may contribute to the child-victim’s later emergence as a perpetrator of child sexual abuse. Similarly, social competence deficits are clearly significant in child molestation, but an individual’s inadequate social and interpersonal skills do not, by themselves, make his sexual abuse of children inevitable.
n A history of impulsive, antisocial behavior is a well-documented risk factor for certain predatory, extrafamilial child molesters; offenders who have this background and who began their offending careers in adolescence have also evidenced higher degrees of nonsexual aggression.
n Early childhood experiences, such as a high turnover in primary caregivers (which is a strong predictor of adult sexual violence), may interfere with the development of viable, age-appropriate adult relationships, making it more likely that children are selected as sexual targets.
n Physiological arousal to children often accompanies a sexual interest in them. Phallometric assessment of sexual arousal in response to depictions of children can differentiate child molesters from nonmolesters, same-sex molesters from opposite-sex molesters, and extrafamilial molesters from incest offenders.
n An empirical classification typology for child molesters, based on stable traits that have identifiable roots in childhood, is being developed by NIJ-supported researchers. Known as MTC:CM3, the system classifies child molesters according to variables on two coordinates: the first focuses on fixation and social competence, and the second focuses on contact with children, injury to victim, and
sadism. The system is an important first step in the design of research on etiology, treatment, disposition, and prognosis. Although further revision and refinement of the typology are necessary, studies support the reliability and validity of the classification structure.
n Recidivism rates across studies are confounded by differences in legal guidelines and statutes among States, length of exposure time (i.e., time in the community, where the opportunity exists to reoffend), offender characteristics, treatment-related variables (including differential attrition rates, amount of treatment, and integrity of treatment program), amount and quality of posttreatment supervision, and many other factors.
n A 25-year followup study of 111 extrafamilial child molesters included extensive data from criminal justice records and rationally derived composites of variables. The study demonstrated an ability (1) to discriminate among offenders who committed sexual crimes involving physical contact with a victim, nonsexual crimes involving physical contact with a victim, and nonsexual crimes in which no physical contact with a victim occurred and (2) to predict reoffense probabilities with reasonable accuracy. If these results can be replicated in studies of other offenders, use of a scale based on archival records may represent an easy, cost-effective, and reliable substitute for intrusive and time consuming physiological assessment.
n Although optimal treatment interventions have yet to be identified, the most effective intervention to date—cognitive behavior therapy and, when appropriate, antidepressant and antiandrogen medication— has reduced recidivism among child molesters.
n Intensive community-based supervision and management of child molesters are essential to reduce sexual victimization rates; child abusers have been known to reoffend as late as 20 years following release into the community. ..more.. by Robert A. Prentky, Ph.D. -and- Raymond A. Knight, Ph.D. -and- Austin F.S. Lee, Ph.D.
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