Child Sexual Molestation - Research Issues Research Issues

Few criminal offenses are more despised than the sexual abuse of children, and few are so little understood in terms of incidence (the number of offenses committed), prevalence (the proportion of the population who commit offenses), and reoffense risk. Despite longstanding public concern over the medical, emotional, and monetary costs associated with child sexual victimization, rigorous programs to enhance the accuracy of predictive decisions involving sexual offenders are of fairly recent origin. Because of inadequate methodologies, studies on the psychology, behavior, treatment, and recidivismrates of child molesters have often yielded inconsistent findings. The uncertainty of information about sexual offenders raises questions about the effectiveness of special commitment statutes and ad hoc discretionary and dispositional decisions directed toward this group.Before it can combat child molestation effectively, the criminal justice community must first understand it. Empirical knowledge of the factors that lead individuals to sexually abuse children can support and inform the sentencing, probationary, clinical, and supervisory decisions that must be made with regard to child molesters. This report is divided into four main sections. Section 1 discusses the frequency of child sexual molestation and factors leading to sexual deviancy in individual offenders. Section 2 includes classification models for typing and diagnosing child molesters and describes treatment approaches and strategies for community-based maintenance and control. Section 3 talks about reoffense risk as it relates to criminal justice decisions and discusses predictors of sexual recidivism. To illustrate the variability of recidivism among child molesters, section 4 presents the findings of a 25-year followup study of 115 released offenders. Finally, some of the shortcomings of current approaches to reduce child molester reoffense risk are touched on in the report’s conclusion, and an argument is made for postrelease treatment and aftercare programs.