The challenge project: An evaluation of perpetrators of child sexual abuse

Abstract

Abstract The collection of descriptive data on sex offenders is by no means a new phenomena, although little research has collated comprehensive data on a British community sample. Over an 18 month period, 44 referrals of convicted perpetrators of child sexual abuse were received and data from interview, documentation and psychometric measures collected. Socio-demographic and background data were largely compatible with those of previous research, including a significant history of childhood difficulties, and sexual dysfunction in adulthood. The low IQ, social class and social skills found may be a result of bias in those cases coming to the attention of the legal system. It was demonstrated that there were clear subgroups of subjects with definite victim preferences: those abusing boys were significantly more likely to have been a victim of childhood sexual abuse, reported a greater degree of psychosexual disturbance, and were charged more often for offences of buggery. Tentative clusterings of data are ...