Perpetrator Prevention:

Abstract

This paper documents perpetrator prevention as an essential component in the prevention of sexual assault and abuse. Traditional approaches to the prevention of sexual abuse have focused primarily on changing the behavior of potential victims. Preventive interventions that have the potential for changing the behavior of potential perpetrators are explored. Although there is little empirical work to review in the prevention of perpetrator development in boys and men, some of the correlates of sexually abusing behavior are identified and related research highlighted. Three of the risk factors linked with sexually abusive behavior are explored: gender inequity, the negative effects on children and young men of media exposure to violence-particularly sexual violence against women, and the increased risk of sexually abusive behavior by males with a history of childhood sexual abuse. Preventive interventions to reduce these risks are considered. The incorporation of perpetrator prevention into an ecological app...