Week 18: Sexual Offending

• Sexual Offences Act 2003


  Legislation that defines sexual offences in the UK
• Rape


  Penetration without consent of the vagina/mouth/anus by the penis
• Illegal sexual activity with children under 13

  • Penetration
  • Sexual contact
  • Inciting to engage in sexual activity
• Other offences against children

  • Sexual contact with 16/17 year old where there is an abuse of trust
  • Familial child sexual offences
  • Grooming
  • Offences against persons with a mental disorder impeding choice
  • Indecent images of children
• Implications for research regarding consent age

  Studies may treat as criminal, individuals who would be acting lawfully in other jurisdictions
• Lifetime prevalence of sexual partner violence reported by women, aged 15 to 49 years

  Ranged from 5%-59%
• Parents are often extremely concerned about the risk of sexual assault / abduction by a stranger
• Some people may believe that LGBTQ+ people pose a greater threat to children
• Stated orientation of perpetrators

  • 76% female only
  • 8% male only
  • 13% both
• Victims of perpetrators


  • 72% female
  • 28% male
• Paedophilia


  A sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age
• Hebophelia


  Sexual interest in individuals around puberty
• Teleiophilia


  Sexual interest in adults
• 1 in 8 people apprehended for indecent images of children will have an officially recorded contact offence
• 50% of people apprehended for indecent images of children self-report a contact offence
• Women's perpetration of sexual offences

  • 2.2% of sexual offences reported to police, but 11.6% of offences in victim surveys
  • Many co-offend with a male co-perpetrator
  • Victims overwhelmingly male
  • Considerably lower rates of pedophilia
• Types of sexual aggression towards adults

  • Marital rape
  • Acquaintance rape
  • Date rape
  • Multiple perpetrator rape
  • Fraternities and campus-based sexual assault
  • Gangs
  • Rape in war
  • Prison rape
• Factors implicated in sexual aggression towards adults

  • Hostile masculinity
  • Sociosexual orientation
  • Endorsement of rape myths
  • Alcohol use
  • Antisociality
  • Sadism
• The Integrated Theory of Sexual Offending is not the only theory, but it does a good job of integrating a lot of research
• Integrated Theory of Sexual Offending

  1. Neuropsychological functioning

  2. Brain Development

  3. Ecological Niche

  4. Biological functioning

  5. Clinical symptoms / state factors

  6. Sexual Offending

  7. Maintenance / escalation

  8. Social Learning
• Brain Development


  Latest research points to pre-natal influences on sexual offending, especially as a possible cause for the risk factor of paedophilia
• There is evidence for genetic influence on child molestation and rape, but it is not a smoking gun
• Neuropsychological functioning


  Desire, Belief, Action
• Over an average follow up time of 76.2 months, sexual recidivism was 9.5% for treated and 14.1% for untreated individuals, representing an absolute decrease in recidivism of 4.6% and a relative decrease of 32.6%
• Individuals apprehended for a sexual offence are more likely to be convicted for a non-sexual crime
• Desistance


  The slowing down or complete cessation of offending behaviour
• Theories of desistance


  • Natural desistance (crime is a young man's game)
  • Cognitive transformation (recreating identities through change)
  • Informal social control (stability, marriage, employment)
• age of consent in the UK

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