Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse With a Special Focus on Female Offenders

Date

2015

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

The Future of Children

Abstract

This research is secondary data analysis of confidential data obtained from the first witness Child Resource Center in Duluth. Data was collected during the initial interviews that were conducted for the year 1992 and consists of 104 cases. By using the variables of gender and age of the child victim and the gender and adult/child status of the alleged perpetrator this paper examines: Are there similarities locally in the gender and age of child sexual abuse victims and their perpetrators when compared with state and national data? The compiled data also addresses the first witness Child Resource Center's specific interests in the reporting and interviewing agencies, immediacy of interviews, disposition and referral of cases, offender's relationship to child and any seasonal trends in reporting or interviewing. There is a special focus on female perpetrators of child sexual abuse. The recognition and treatment of female perpetrators by professionals is at an early stage of exploration and understanding and data is limited. The significance of the existence of this population to social work is important in treating victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse, both adults and children. The research indicates that local statistics are within 10% of the national and state estimates regarding the gender of the victims. No conclusions could be drawn regarding similarities in the age of the victims due to lack of uniformity in the data collection process. Ninety-six percent of the alleged perpetrators were known to the victims as compared to the 70% figure reported in the literature. The local victims were younger than the national and state estimates. Nine (8. 9%) of the 104 perpetrators were female. (Author Abstract)

Description

Keywords

child abuse, child sexual abuse, offenders

Citation

Erickson, C. I., & Olson, S. K. (2015). Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse With a Special Focus on Female Offenders. Duluth, MN: University of Minnesota-Duluth. 50 pp

DOI