The neuropsychology of child sexual offending: A systematic review

Abstract

Relatively little research has examined the neuropsychological functioning of child sexual offenders. While research has demonstrated that child sexual offenders present with neuropsychological deficits, there is a lack of empirically supported insight into the nature of these deficits. Consequently, important questions concerning the neuropsychological functioning of child sexual offenders remain unanswered. Firstly, it is not known conclusively which neuropsychological functions are impaired in child sexual offenders. Secondly, the existence of unique neuropsychological profiles in subgroups of child sexual offenders has not been established. Thirdly, it is unclear whether the identified neuropsychological deficits are specific to child sexual offenders, rather than shared by other offender groups. To address these issues, we conducted a systematic review in which studies examining the neuropsychological functioning of child sexual offenders were targeted. The results showed that paedophilic and nonpaedophilic child sexual offenders present with specific sets of ‘core’ neuropsychological deficits, of which some are shared among subgroups of child sexual offenders and with nonsexual offenders. Based on these findings, we propose a preliminary model for the neuropsychological characteristics of paedophilic and nonpaedophilic child sexual offenders.