Contact Offenses Research Articles

The role of cognitive distortions in paedophilic offending: Internet and contact offenders compared

Cognitive distortions are held to contribute to sexual offending against children in a number of theoretical explanations of such crimes. However, not only is there little or no direct evidence in support of the centrality of cognitive distortions in offending but recent research has questioned whether the concept has explanatory power. Cognitive distortions are variously seen as necessary for the offender to offend against children, as post-offending justifications for the offence, or as reflecting distorted patterns in the offender's upbringing. This paper explores the role of cognitive distortions in sex offending by comparing the distortions of contact sex offenders against children with Internet child pornography offenders without contact offences against children. A new cognitive distortions questionnaire was developed which was suitable for administration to Internet offenders who had no contact offences against children as well as being suitable for contact offenders. It was found that some cognitive distortions are frequently agreed with by sex offenders against children whereas others were seldom or never agreed with. Little support was found for earlier typological approaches to the cognitive schema of sex offenders against children. Contrary to the expectation that contact offenders would have more cognitive distortions, it was found that Internet offenders had more cognitive distortions that children are sexual beings. Furthermore, there were no differences in cognitive distortions justifying the offence. However, offenders with a previous history of offending were more likely to admit to cognitive distortions which justify their offending. It is accepted that cognitive distortions are readily recognized in interviews with sex offenders against children. Nevertheless, it is argued that there is a need for new research to stimulate a new understanding of the nature and role of cognitive distortions in sex offending.

A psychometric comparison of internet and non-internet sex offenders from a community treatment sample

This paper compares psychometric test assessments of 39 men convicted of internet sex offences with 39 convicted of contact offences against a specific victim. Higher rates of socially desirable responding were identified in the internet group, as well as higher rates of emotional loneliness and under assertiveness, although the latter two findings were not statistically significant. This group also achieved lower scores measuring external locus of control, which might reflect their generally higher levels of education and employment (identified from research carried out in tandem with this work). The internet group achieved lower scores on sexualized attitudes towards children, emotional congruence with children and empathy distortions with regard to victims of child abuse. Hence, although they exhibited the kinds of general personality problems exhibited by other sex offenders, they did not support attitudes that explicitly endorse or condone the sexual abuse of children. This paper presents some hypotheses about these results and identifies further research necessary to develop understanding about this new kind of sexually abusive behaviour.

Deviant Sexual Behavior in Children and Young Adolescents: Frequency and Patterns

A descriptive statistical study was performed to assess the characteristics of youth who began committing sexual offenses in childhood. The youth in this study ranged in age from 12 to 15. They had been committed to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice for sexual offenses and met the criteria for residential sexual offender treatment. Three instruments were used in this study. A questionnaire was independently administered to each youth by an examiner and corroborated, when possible, by information in the youth's file. The questionnaire was supplemented by the Hare Psychopathy Scale—Revised and by information from the Risk Assessment Interviewing Protocol for Adolescent Sex Offenders. The results suggested that deviant sexual behavior may begin in early childhood, with some offenders developing patterns of offending prior to the onset of adolescence. These youth committed a median of 69.5 sexual offenses each, with each offender having a median of 16.5 victims. They used either force, threats, or violence in the large majority of their contact offenses. They predominantly came from multiproblematic families, were abused in early childhood, and were exposed to pornographic materials at a young age. The results suggest that children have the capacity to commit serious sexual offenses similar to those of older juvenile and adult offenders. The clinical implications of this study are discussed.