Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse With a Special Focus on Female Offenders
Date
2015
Authors
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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
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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