Adolescent Perpetrators Research Articles

Adolescent Violence Perpetration: Associations With Multiple Types of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Adverse childhood experiences are associated with significant functional impairment and life lost in adolescence and adulthood. This study identified relationships between multiple types of adverse events and distinct categories of adolescent violence perpetration. Data are from 136 549 students in the 6th, 9th, and 12th grades who responded to the 2007 Minnesota Student Survey, an anonymous, self-report survey examining youth health behaviors and perceptions, characteristics of primary socializing domains, and youth engagement. Linear and logistic regression models were used to determine if 6 types of adverse experiences including physical abuse, sexual abuse by family and/or other persons, witnessing abuse, and household dysfunction caused by family alcohol and/or drug use were significantly associated with risk of adolescent violence perpetration after adjustment for demographic covariates. An adverse-events score was entered into regression models to test for a dose-response relationship between the event score and violence outcomes. All analyses were stratified according to gender. More than 1 in 4 youth (28.9%) reported at least 1 adverse childhood experience. The most commonly reported adverse experience was alcohol abuse by a household family member that caused problems. Each type of adverse childhood experience was significantly associated with adolescent interpersonal violence perpetration (delinquency, bullying, physical fighting, dating violence, weapon-carrying on school property) and self-directed violence (self-mutilatory behavior, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt). For each additional type of adverse event reported by youth, the risk of violence perpetration increased 35% to 144%. Multiple types of adverse childhood experiences should be considered as risk factors for a spectrum of violence-related outcomes during adolescence. Providers and advocates should be aware of the interrelatedness and cumulative impact of adverse-event types. Study findings support broadening the current discourse on types of adverse events when considering pathways from child maltreatment to adolescent perpetration of delinquent and violent outcomes.

Contexts of condom use and non-condom use among young adolescent male perpetrators of dating violence

The purpose of this study was to examine qualitatively the context of and reasons for condom use and non-use among adolescent male perpetrators of dating violence. Semi-structured anonymous interviews were conducted with 19 adolescent males recruited from intervention programs for adolescent perpetrators of dating violence. Interviews included questions about dating violence perpetration, sexual relationships and risk behaviors. Interviews were analyzed using a content analysis approach and coded to examine boys’ condom use and non-use behaviors and contexts. Participants (n=19) were aged 17–21 years and were predominantly white (n=9; 47%) or black (n=4; 21%). Half (n=10; 53%) indicated four or more sex partners in the past three months; half (n=10; 53%) reported no or inconsistent condom use in the past three months. Qualitative findings from this study revealed condom use in high-risk casual sex encounters, including ‘trains’ (1–2 girls having sex with several boys sequentially). Non-use of condoms was more common in steady, often abusive, relationships, although boys reported sexual infidelity in these relationships. These results indicate that non-use of condoms is occurring among adolescent male perpetrators of dating violence, particularly in the context of their steady relationships and despite reports of very high risk sexual activity including sexual infidelity, involvement in ‘trains’ and multiple sex partners. Sexual health interventions integrated with dating violence and sexual assault prevention efforts and tailored to adolescents are needed.

Juvenile sex offenders: toward the development of a typology.

Adolescent males who sexually offended against prepubescent children were contrasted with those who targeted pubescent and postpubescent females. As hypothesized, path analyses revealed that the former group had greater deficits in psychosocial functioning, used less aggression in their sexual offending, and were more likely to offend against relatives. Theorized relationships between developmental risk factors, personality mediators, and sexual and nonsexual offense characteristics were assessed in both groups of juvenile sex offenders. Deficits in psychosocial functioning were found to mediate the influence of childhood exposure to violence against females on adolescent perpetration of sexual and nonsexual offenses. Additional univariate analyses were conducted to further explore some associations among early risk factors, personality mediators, and outcomes. Childhood physical abuse by a father or stepfather and exposure to violence against females were found to be associated with higher levels of comorbid anxiety and depression. Noncoercive childhood sexual victimization by a male nonrelative was found to be associated with sexual offending against a male child. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

The Relationship Between Threats and Violence in Juvenile Stalking

The relationship between threatening behavior and victim-directed violence was examined in a convenience sample of 26 stalking cases involving a child or adolescent perpetrator. Overall, the base rate for violence in the sample was 38% and the base rate of threatening behavior was 65%. When threatening behavior directed toward the victim was used as a predictor of subsequent violence, the sensitivity was 0.80, specificity was 0.44, positive predictive power was 0.47, and negative predictive power was 0.78. The overall classification rate of violence was only 58% when threats were used as a predictor. There was a non-significant, negative relationship between threats and violence. Results are compared with findings that have emerged in stalking research on adult populations and various suggestions are offered for further study of the potential for violence in cases involving children and adolescents.

Eight-Year Comparative Analyses of Adolescent Rapists, Adolescent Child Molesters, Other Adolescent Delinquents, and the General Population

This study involved an 8-year comparative analysis of sexual assault among adolescent perpetrators of sexual assault against children, adolescent perpetrators of rape against same age or older peers, other adolescent delinquents, and the general population. Results of this study found that adolescent sex offenders were significantly more likely to sexually reoffend in the 8-year period after their release from a juvenile correctional facility than were a control group of other non–sex offending adolescent delinquents from the same institution. Juvenile non-sex offenders, child sexual offenders, and adolescent rapists were all found to be significantly more likely to be involved in sexual assaults than was the general male population in the United States.

A Ten-Year Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Perpetrators of Sexual Assault Against Children

The purpose of this study was to follow the transition of adolescent perpetrators of sexual assault against children upon their return to the community to help determine the minimal base level of risk they present for sexual and other re-offending. The results of this study found that the majority of adolescent perpetrators of sexual assault against children re-offended, but were not involved in another sexual assault. Twelve percent of the sample re-offended sexually, 66% were convicted of non-sexual offenses, and 22% were not convicted of any offenses during the follow-up period. This study also found that the risk of sexual re-offense continued throughout the ten-year follow-up, and that the majority of first sexual offenses post-release occurred between years zero and five. Additional research recommendations are made.

An australian adolescent sex offender treatment program: Program and client description

The following paper outlines the key components of the Adolescent Sex Offender Treatment Program (ASOTP), an Australian program that provides assessment and therapeutic services to children and adolescents with sexually abusive behaviours. The ASOTP is auspiced by the Children's Protection Society (CPS), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. If is committed to an integrated program model, which focuses on the parallel process of work with child and adolescent victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse. Specific attention is paid to describing the main modules of the formal group therapy program, which most clients enter following risk assessment. Criteria for assessing positive outcomes are also outlined. The characteristics of children and young people who have attended the ASOTP are described, including prior history of victimisation and self-reported problem behaviours as assessed by the Achenbach Youth Self-Report Form. A summary of sexually abusive behaviour and victim characteristics is also provided. Findings are discussed in light of relevant practice and systems issues.

A Ten-Year Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Rapists upon Return to the Community

This is a 10-year longitudinal analysis examining the recidivism of adolescent perpetrators of rape upon return to the community. All subjects were adolescent rapists who had completed a sex offender treatment program. The 10-year follow-up found that the majority were involved in other crimes but did not perpetrate another sexual assault. The pattern of sexual assault was similar in the years 6 to 10 as compared with the years 1 to 5. This suggests that adolescent rapists continue to commit offenses at a similar level of risk after conviction for an initial sexual assault for 6 to 10 years after release. There appears to be no decrease in the risk of sexual recidivism even up to 10 years after release. Although it may be premature to suggest that these findings are comparable to trends found in the adult populations, there is no evidence to suggest they are inconsistent.

The assessment of adolescent perpetrators of childhood sexual abuse

Prior to any intervention with juvenile sex offenders it is vital that a comprehensi ve assessment ofthe youth and his family be completed. To aid the clinician in conducting such an assessment the literature on the characteristics of male juvenile sex offenders, female offenders, and parents of young offenders is briefly reviewed. Guidelines for conducting a comprehensive clinical assessment of a sexually assaultive youth and his parents covering a number of key areas are outlined. These include obtaining reports from outside sources, taking a developmental. sexual, family, medical, and psychiatric history, and assessing the family’s current attitude towards the sexual offence. In particular, specific questions and areas of inquiry for completing a comprehensive sexual development/sexual offending history are suggested. This article concludes by highlighting the need for future studies to compare sexually abusive youth to other types of juvenile offenders and their non-offending peers, and the need for the development offorensicaJly sound assessment instruments for use with this population.

A National Survey of NAPN Treaters of Adolescent Sex Offenders

ABSTRACT A survey regarding the treatment of juvenile sex offenders was sent to a sample of NAPN (National Adolescent Perpetrator Network) members. Survey results indicated the educational and experiential backgrounds of juvenile sex offender treatment providers, assessment tools used, treatment theories and interventions, client presenting issues, and methods of evaluating success of treatment programs.

An Analysis of Adolescent Perpetrators of Homicide and Attempted Homicide Upon Return to the Community

This study assesses the recidivism for adolescent perpetrators of homicide and attempted homicide who were released from a juvenile correctional facility in the late 1970s and 1980s. This follow-up is a minimum of 5 years post release to more than 15 years after release. The results indicate that the youth studied did not perpetrate additional homicides after release. The majority were reinvolved in crime, however, and most who reoffended did so against persons. A significant number did not become reinvolved in crime, and almost half were not reincarcerated. The youth who perpetrated homicides and attempted homicides did not differ significantly from other juvenile delinquents in their likelihood to reoffend upon release as evidenced by a comparison of the two groups.

Perpetrators of sexual crime: What every social work student should know

This article argues that teaching concerning the perpetrators of sexual crimes against children should form an essential part of every diploma in social work course. Input which focuses only on the victims of such crime condones an essentially reactive response to one of the major concerns of our society. Social workers need to understand the modus operandi of perpetrators if they are able to recognise potentially abusive situations and work in a preventative way. Additionally, the methods of intervention currently being employed by the various treatment programmes can inform other areas of theory and practice, and consequently form links with a number of the broader aims and objectives of social work training. Thus in this article preventative work, adolescent perpetrators, the relationship between theory and practice, the transferability of knowledge and skills, and anti-oppressive practice are all considered.

A Structured Group Approach with Adolescent Perpetrators

This paper gives a descriptive account of a structured groupwork approach for adolescent perpetrators based upon a five-step model developed by Smets and Cebula (1987). Experience with the model over a 2-year period is described and additions to the programme are outlined. Preliminary outcome findings are described. The paper also raises a number of issues which are important to the groupwork process. These concern relevant selection and the actual process itself. The paper suggests that groupwork treatment with adolescent perpetrators of child sexual abuse is a potentially effective means of intervention alongside individual, therapeutic work.

A Structured Group Approach with Adolescent Perpetrators

A Structured Group Approach with Adolescent Perpetrators

A Comparison of Treatment Outcomes between Adolescent Rapists and Child Sexual Offenders

This study assesses the differences between recidivism for adolescent perpetrators of sexual assault against children as compared to adolescent perpetrators of rape. The study finds, with a 2-year minimum follow-up, no evidence of significant differences between the success with either group of offenders. This holds true both for general recidivism and for recidivism of sexual assaultas well as for type and length of sentence for those that reoffended.

Trends in a National Sample of Sexually Abusive Youths

To describe sociodemographic factors pertinent to sexually abusive youths, to define common characteristics of the offending behaviors and victims, and to identify issues relevant to treatment recommendations. The Uniform Data Collection system (UDCS), developed by the National Adolescent Perpetrator Network, provided data from 90 contributors in 30 states on more than 1,600 juveniles referred to them for specialized evaluation and/or treatment following a sexual offense. The UDCS comprises four separate structured questionnaires that collect both factual information and clinical impressions. Physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and loss of a parental figure were common in these youths' histories. Twenty-two percent of the youths, who had been victims of sexual abuse, reported that the perpetrator of their own sexual abuse was female. The youths committed a wide range of sexual offenses, with twice as many of the referring offenses involving female victims than male victims. The discovery of sexually abusive youths across both urban and rural areas supports the need for comprehensive service delivery and a continuum of treatment services to be available in all communities.

Parenting: a genetic-epidemiologic perspective.

To understand the relation between parenting and later psychopathology, it is important to clarify the role of genetic and environmental factors in both the elicitation and the provision of parenting behavior. A 16-item version of the Parental Bonding Instrument was administered to 1) 606 fathers and 848 mothers of an epidemiologic sample of adult female-female twin pairs, who reported on their parenting of their twins; 2) the twins (both members of 546 monozygotic and 390 dizygotic pairs), who reported on the parenting they had received from their father and mother; 3) co-twins from these pairs, who reported on the parenting provided by their father and mother to their twin sister; and 4) members of the adult twin pairs (145 monozygotic and 117 dizygotic) who both had children, who reported on the parenting they provided to their offspring. The data were subjected to model fitting decomposing three sources of variance: additive genetic factors; family, or common, environment; and an individual's unique environment. Responses to the Parental Bonding Instrument produced three factors: parental warmth, protectiveness, and authoritarianism. According to parents, these factors were largely a common environmental experience for their children. Responses from twins, however, indicated that genetic factors played a substantial role in the elicitation of warmth from parents and a more modest role in influencing parental protectiveness and authoritarianism. While reports of twins and co-twins on protectiveness and authoritarianism yielded similar results, analysis of responses from co-twins indicated a degree of importance of genetic factors in eliciting parental warmth which was midway between that from parents' reports and twins' reports. Answers from twins as parents indicated that provision of warmth was substantially heritable, while resemblance between twins in providing protectiveness and authoritarianism was due to family environment. The provision of parenting is influenced by attitudes derived from the parent's family of origin as well as by genetically influenced parental temperamental characteristics. The elicitation of parenting is influenced by temperamental traits of the offspring that are, in turn, under partial genetic control. Genetic factors in both parent and child are more important for warmth than for protectiveness or authoritarianism.

Services for juvenile sex offenders: Issues in establishing programs

Abstract Sexual offending by adolescent perpetrators is an area of concern that has received increased clinical attention in recent years. There has been a significant increase in the number of treatment programs for juvenile sex offenders in North America, and similar developments are occurring in the United Kingdom. In the South Pacific, the problem of adolescent offenders is also becoming a challenge for New Zealand and Australian service providers. While innovative, community-based treatment programs and therapeutic services exist in New Zealand, they tend to be relatively recently developed and sporadically located. Further, at the time of writing, no specialist residential services have been established for juvenile sexual offenders, despite an increasing need in this regard. In Australia, the services have largely been residential, provided by the Juvenile Justice system, and non-residential community-based programs have been slow to develop. This article will consider the issues involved in establ...

Adolescent perpetrators of sexual abuse -long term outcome of treatment

Abstract Introduction In the Northern Ireland Child Sexual Abuse Study (Kennedy et al 1990) 36% of all cases of abuse involved juvenile perpetrators. In the last few years attempts to treat these young perpetrators have been made in the form of individual and group treatment programmes alongside family work. Similar programmes have been in place in other parts of the world, especially the United States, for many years. There is some evidence from follow up studies conducted in the USA (Kahn and Chambers 1991, Schram et al 1991) that sexual re-offending after adolescent programmes involving individual group and family work had low rates of sexual recidivism (12%). Rates for non-sexual offending were higher (48%). These studies have not indicated any recidivism rates for untreated perpetrators, but one study of the long term outcome of a behavioural treatment programme for adult perpetrators (Marshall and Barbaree 1988) showed recidivism rates for treated heterosexual paedophiles at 18% versus 43% untreated...

The evolution of a group therapy programme for adolescent perpetrators of sexual abusive behaviour

Group programmes for adolescent perpetrators of sexually abusive behaviour can take many forms. This paper describes how a group programme has evolved as a result of the experience obtained from running four groups for adolescent perpetrators. While all groups have had a common core, each has been different and the programme has evolved from group to group. Each group programme has been adapted to the needs of group members and it is argued that flexibility is essential in designing group programmes. The core phases of the group programme are described and an initial evaluation is provided.