Female Sexual Offenders in Child Sexual Abuse Cases: National Trends Associated with Child Protective Services System Entry, Exit, Utilization, and Socioeconomics

Abstract

Up to 20% of child sexual abuse cases in the United States involve a female perpetrator in a primary role. However, less than 1% of incarcerated sex offenders in the United States are female. Female offenders appear to be systematically moving on different consequential trajectories than men when it comes to sexual offenses. This project assesses gendered disparities in the ways substantiated child sexual offenders experience the U.S. public child welfare system through an investigation of virtually every substantiated child sexual abuse case in the nation as documented by state level child protective services for 1 year (N = 66,765). Findings detail how during the time substantiated female sexual offenders are involved with child welfare agencies, they receive higher levels of mental health, substance abuse, family centered, and economic based services than comparable male sex offenders. Additional findings and implications are also discussed; including observed differential pathways for child welfare system entry and exit.