Female Sex Offenders: An Analysis of Crime Scene Behaviors (original) (raw)
Related papers
Women Don't Do Such Things! Characteristics of Female Sex Offenders and Offender Types
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 2010
The authors studied offender, offense, and victim characteristics in a cohort of 111 adult female sex offenders comprising all female sex offenders known to the criminal justice authorities in the Netherlands between 1994 and 2005. In 77% of the cases, the female sex offenders had abused children; almost two thirds of the women had cooffended with a male co-offender. Their backgrounds are on average problematic with sexual abuse being prominent (31%); mental disorders were also prominent (59%). Using multiple correspondence analysis, the authors distinguished four prototypical offender types. They identified the young assaulter and the rapist who are relatively young solo offenders. Two prototypes, the psychologically disturbed co-offender and the passive mother, comprise older women. They mostly abused their own children together with their male/intimate partner. These prototypes partly overlap with previous typologies. The authors discuss implications for theory and treatment.
Female sex offenders: Clinical and demographic features
Journal of Sexual Aggression, 2002
This paper provides clinical and demographic data on l2female child sex offenders in the correctional system in Victoria. Information was obtained through clinical assessments completed whilst women were incarcerated or in the community setting and from sentencing comments. An analysis of this information revealed that the characteristics of these women and their offences generally fitted the profile offemale sex offenders described in the current literature. However, the findings also revealed that the women differed in some respects to the typical portrayal offemale sex offenders. Although the majority of women were co-offenders with males, only a few females appeared coerced and motivated by fear. In the group of male accompanied oflences, women were also motivated by rejection and revenge, leading to the development and extension of a new categorythe male accompanied: rejectedhevengeful.
Review on female sexual offenders: Findings about profile and personality
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2011
Introduction: Although in the past sexual abuse was perceived as an issue connected only with males the contemporary literature is placing increasing emphasis on the role of female sexual perpetrators. There is still disagreement about the definition of sexual abuse, the frequency that it occurs and the characteristics of the women that are sexual abusers. Methods: Thorough research of the main databases (MEDLINE and PsycInfo), for case reviews and studies along with restriction on European and North American literature, is due to perceived culture differences. Further investigation for relevant studies through web search engines such as Google, locates agencies and organizations that are interested and connected to sexual abuse issues. Results: Distinction between sexual offense and sexual abuse has as a result difference in the characteristics of female sexual perpetrators. They are mainly young (age up to 36 years old), friends or relatives of the victim, using more persuasion and psychological coercion and legally charged in a lesser extent compared with male abusers. However the psychological consequences for the victim can be more severe. Conclusion: A unanimous view of what is female sexual abuse is difficult to reach. Often it is under reported, unrecognized or considered ethically more acceptable than male abuse. It is also connected with an increased self-report of history of sexual abuse of the perpetrators. A typology of female sexual abusers should be developed. Treatments focusing on different psychological interventions along with prevention and public awareness can be a powerful tool in reduction of sexual abuse perpetrated by females.
Journal of Sexual Aggression, 2008
Examining the relationship between sexual offenders 1 Examining the relationship between sexual offenders and their victims: interpersonal differences between stranger and non-stranger sexual offences Abstract The present study examined the behavioural differences in sexual assault offences in relation to the offender-victim relationship (stranger vs non-stranger). These differences were specifically examined in the context of four interpersonal themes of interaction; dominance, submission, hostility and co-operation . The details of 100 sexual offence cases (50 stranger and 50 non-stranger) were content analysed, generating 58 dichotomous variables, covering offender and victim behaviour during the offence. Chi-square tests comparing the two samples found that offenders who were strangers to their victims were more likely than non-stranger offenders to display behaviours that indicate a hostile, violent, offence style. In contrast, those offenders who knew their victims were more likely than strangers to display a less violent and more personal, compliance gaining offence style. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for offender rehabilitation and victim support.
Female sex offenders: Specialists, generalists and once-only offenders
Journal of Sexual Aggression, 2011
Little is known about the criminal careers of female sex offenders. A meta-analysis by Cortoni, Hanson and Coache revealed that about 1.5% of female sex offenders re-offend sexually. Even less is known about the extent to which female sex offenders’ criminal careers contain sex offences as well as other offences, i.e. the extent of specialisation in sex offending. This study examines the criminal careers of all female sex offenders prosecuted by the criminal justice authorities in the Netherlands in the period 1994–2005. A latent class analysis shows that three subgroups of women can be distinguished: once-only offenders (who commit just one sex offence and no other offence), generalists (who combine sex offending with relatively many serious other, often violent, offences) and specialists (who commit relatively many sex offences next to some minor offences). Women in these three criminal career types differ in characteristics such as victimisation history, alcohol abuse and the sex of the victims.
A Descriptive Model of the Offense Process for Female Sexual Offenders
Sexual Abuse, 2008
Although considerable efforts have been made to develop and validate etiological models of male sexual offending, no theory is available to guide research or practice with female sexual offenders (FSOs). In this study, the authors developed a descriptive, offense process model of female sexual offending. Systematic qualitative analyses (i.e., grounded theory) of 22 FSOs' offense interviews were used to develop a temporal model documenting the contributory roles of cognitive, behavioral, affective, and contextual factors in female sexual abuse. The model highlights notable similarities and divergences between male and female sexual offenders' vulnerability factors and offense styles. In particular, the model incorporates male co-offender and group co-offender influences and describes how these interact with vulnerability factors to generate female sexual offending. The gender-specific research and clinical implications of the model are discussed.
2014
The empirical literature on sexual homicide has posited the sexual murderer as a unique type of offender who is qualitatively different from other types of offenders. However, recent research has suggested that sexual homicide is a dynamic crime and that sexual assaults can escalate to homicide when specific situational factors are present. This study simultaneously explored the utility of the sexual murderer as a unique type of offender hypothesis and sexual homicide as a differential outcome of sexual assaults hypothesis. This study is based on a sample of 342 males who were convicted of committing a violent sexual offense, which resulted in either physical injury or death of the victim. A series of latent class analyses were performed using crime scene indicators in an attempt to identify discrete groups of sexual offenders. In addition, the effects of modus operandi, situational factors, and offender characteristics on each group were investigated. Results suggest that both hypotheses are supported. A group of offenders was identified who almost exclusively killed their victims and demonstrated a lethal intent by the choice of their offending behavior. Moreover, three other groups of sex offenders were identified with a diverse lethality level, suggesting that these cases could end up as homicide when certain situational factors were present.