"The serial killer
has the same personality characteristics as the sex offender against
children"
-Dr. Mace Knapp, Nevada State
Prison Psychologist
Abel & Harlow Child Molestation Prevention Study (2001)
Findings and conclusions of a study of 4,007 adults, ages 18 to 95, who admitted that they had sexually molested one or several children.
Office of Juveniile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
These two lengthy studies provide a wealth of information: Child Molesters, A Behavioral Analysis (2001); and Child Molesters Who Abduct Children, Summary of the Case in Point Series (1995).
Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement, 7/00, NCJ 182990, USDOJ: Complete report
Child Molester Statistics from Child Protections LifeTips. Taken from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Female Sex Offenders - Texas Department of Health Services
Juvenile Sex Offenders - various sources
Many child molesters know their victims. Some stalk their victims, observing their habits as they walk to and from school. They often try to buy houses near schools or parks.
Pedophiles have a strong, almost irresistible, desire to have sex with children. The average pedophile molests 260 victims during their lifetime. Over 90% of convicted pedophiles are arrested again for the same offense after their release from prison.
The best protection is to help your children learn to resist unwanted advances and to learn about threats in your neighborhood.
- http://www.sex-offenders.us/child.molester.list.htm
"There are 400,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and an estimated 80 to 100,000 of them are missing. They're supposed to be registered, but we don't know where they are and we don't know where they're living.
- Ernie Allen, President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Childrento co-anchor Hannah Storm on The Early Show
The most serious and chronic offenders
often show signs of antisocial behavior as early as the preschool
years.
- American Psychiatric Association, 1994; was in Juvenile
Justice Bulletin: Nov 1998 OJJDP: U.S. Department of Justice
Dr. Gene Abel estimates that between 1% and 5% of our population molest
children.
- CNN Specials Transcript #454-Thieves
of Childhood.
Nearly all the offenders in sexual
assaults reported to law enforcement were male (96%).
- Sexual Assault of Young Children as
Reported to Law Enforcement, 7/00, NCJ 182990, U.S. Department of Justice
Overall, 23% of sexual assault
offenders were under the 18 and 77% were adults.
- Sexual Assault of Young Children as
Reported to Law Enforcement, 7/00, NCJ 182990, U.S. Department of Justice
40% of the offenders of victims
under age 6 were themselves juveniles. A similar proportion (39%) of
offenders of victims ages 6 through 11 were also juveniles. For older
juvenile victims, the proportion of juvenile offenders dropped to 27%.
- Sexual Assault of Young Children as
Reported to Law Enforcement, 7/00, NCJ 182990, U.S. Department of Justice
Adults were the offender in 60%
of the sexual assaults of youth under age 12. Rarely were the offenders
of young victims strangers. Strangers were the offender in just 3% of
sexual assaults against victims under age 6 and 5% of the sexual assault
of victimizations of youth ages 6 through 11.
-Sexual Assault of Young Children as
Reported to Law Enforcement, 7/00, NCJ 182990, U.S. Department of Justice
1 in 5 violent offenders serving time in a state prison reported having
victimized a child.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
2/3 of all prisoners convicted of rape or sexual assault had committed
their crime against a child.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
Acquaintance perpetrators are the most common abusers, constituting approximately
70-90% of all reported perpetrators.
- Finkelhor, D. 1994
89% of child sexual assault cases involve persons known to the child,
such as a caretaker or family acquaintance.
- Diana Russell Survey, 1978
29% of child sexual abuse offenders are relatives, 60% are acquaintances,
and only 11% are strangers.
- Diana Russell, The Secret Trauma,
NY:Basic Books, 1986
For the vast majority of child victimizers in State prison, the victim
was someone they knew before the crime. 1/3 had committed their crime against
their own child, about 1/2 had a relationship with the victim as a friend, acquaintance,
or relative other than offspring, about 1 in 7 reported the victim to have been
a stranger to them.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
3/4 of the violent victimizations of children took place in either the
victim's home or the offenders home.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
Males are reported to be the abusers in 80-95% of cases
-Thoringer, D., et al., 1988
About 60% of the male survivors
sampled report at least one of their perpetrators to be female.
- Mendel, 1993
All but 3% of offenders who committed
violent crimes against children were male.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
The typical offender is male,
begins molesting by age 15, engages in a variety of deviant behavior,
and molests an average of 117 youngsters, most of whom do not report
the offense.
- Dr. Gene Abel in a National Institute
of Mental Health Study
Offenders who had victimized a child were on average 5 years older than
the violent offenders who had committed their crimes against adults. Nearly 25%
of child victimizers were age 40 or older, but about 10% of the inmates with
adult victims fell in that range.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991
71% of male offenders are under the age of 35.
- Dr. Ann Burges, Dr. Nicholas Groth, et
al. in a study of imprisoned offenders
3/4 of sexual predators are younger than 35. About 80% are of normal intelligence
or above.
- Profiles from the FBI Academy
and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Though officially, not considered abuse, the highest incidence of incest
occurs among siblings.
- Waterman & Lusk, 1986
Many clinical settings currently are witnessing a dramatic increase in
the number of adolescent offenders who have committed sexually aggressive acts
against other children.
- Conte, Jon R., 1986
While nearly 70% of those serving time for violent crimes against children
were white, whites accounted for 40% of those imprisoned for violent crimes against
adults.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991
Inmates who victimized children
were less likely than other inmates to have a prior criminal record-nearly
1/3 of child victimizers had never been arrested prior to the current
offense, compared to less than 20% of those who victimized adults.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991
Violent child victimizers
were substantially more likely than those with adult victims to have
been physically or sexually abused when they were children.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
50% of reported child molestations involve the use of physical force and
child molesters produce as much visible physical injury as rapists-39% of victims.
- Dr. Gene Abel in a National Institute
of Mental Health Study
About 14% of child victimizers carried a weapon during the violent crime,
compared to nearly 1/2 of those who victimized adults.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
About 10% of violent offenders
with child victims received life or death sentences and the average
prison term was 11 years, somewhat shorter average sentences than received
by those with adult victims.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
More than 1/2 of all convicted sex offenders are sent back to prison within
a year. Within 2 years, 77.9% are back.
- California Department of Corrections
Recidivism rates range from 18-45%.
The more violent the crime the more likelihood of repeating.
- Studies by the state of Washington
3 in 10 child victimizers reported
that they had committed their crimes against multiple victims: they were
more likely than those who victimized adults to have had multiple victims.
- BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates,
1991
Like rape, child molestation is one of the most underreported crimes:
only 1-10% are ever disclosed.
- FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
The behavior is highly repetitive, to the point of compulsion, rather
than resulting from a lack of judgment.
- Dr. Ann Burges, Dr. Nicholas Groth,
et al. in a study of imprisoned offenders
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