The Alcohols/Drug Scale Identifies Use in Youth

Studies have shown a clear correlation between childhood sexual assault (CSA) and negative sexual experiences later in life. Of relevance to the criminal justice system, these later forms of sexual victimization include sexual assault and sex work. The relationship between CSA and adverse sexual development is a correlation between two things, not a direct pathway from cause to effect. While survivors of sexual assault are at a higher risk of experiencing these later forms of victimization, this correlation represents a highly complex process involving a wide range of mediating factors and the intersections between them. Any experience of sexual assault is highly traumatic. Survivors of CSA, however, represent a unique population, because their trauma occurs near the start of the human developmental process and therefore alters all development thereafter.

The questionnaire was also given at the beginning of the study and at the end of the study. Collecting both of these at the beginning and the end of the study helped us see changes in the participant's health and well-being. This helped us determine if the study had been helpful to the population with whom we worked. The questionnaire covered current drug use, all suicidal ideations, suicide attempts, and current feelings on several subjects, such as the participants relationship with his or her family. Some sample questions from the questionnaire include: “On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest score possible and 5 being the

About 43.9% of sex offenders identified both male and female perpetrators as opposed to 9.6% of nonsexual offenders. These individuals were exposed to more severe forms of victimization with a longer duration. Sex offenders endured an average of 5.6 years of abuse while nonsexual offenders experienced 3.9 years. Through the use of logistic regression analyses, Burton, Miller, and Shill (2002) concluded that method of operation and gender of abuser accurately predicts whether an individual will sexually offend. The analysis correctly predicted and placed 78.3% of the sex-offending males into their correct groups.

There have been numerous studies throughout the decades regarding childhood victimization and how it relates to adult criminality. This report will summarize a few of these studies and compare their results in order to attempt to find a correlation between childhood abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse and adult criminals.

Sexual assault is a major global issue; sexual deviance such as sexual assault definitely needs a lot of social attention from many different societies across the globe (Nelson, 2007, p. 7). It is a very serious problem that needs to be continuously addressed, through research, government programs, and new fundamental treatment possibilities. As a matter of fact, it is continuing to spread rapidly with a percentage of 25% of women and 15% of men in the United States have been affected by sexual assault (Nelson, 2007, p. 7). Due to rapid growth, public awareness should be made about the different types of sex offenders. The public should be aware of their distinct characteristics and possible treatment options. Public awareness is extremely important; it allows us to know the many different kinds of people that are in this world. Different kinds of people, including sex offenders, it’s important to know what measures one would have to take and the different possible options when faced with such issues (Nelson, 2007, p. 7).

with Research conducted on the characteristics of female sexual abusers uses three specific case examples of young girls, ages: ten, twelve, and sixteen. In two of three case examples, the girls had reported being sexually abused at a young age. The third girl, age sixteen, did not explicitly state she had been sexually abused, but has close ties with her father who is a known sex-offender,; therefore it is believed that she has been sexually abused during childhood. A review of adolescent offenders of sexual abuse, under the age of 21, shows: “Chi-square analyses showed significant associations between those who targeted children and being sexually abused or having a family member subject to sexual abuse” The study also reports that those that have experienced sexual assault at a young age, and have been reported to sexually assault other children typically have poor relationships with peers and family members in addition to experiencing two or more instances of

Most research indicates that about ninety percent of juvenile sex offenders are male. However, there is also research indicating there may be a considerable underrepresentation of the female juvenile offender in data. According to Schwartz, Cavanaugh, Pimental, and Prentky, although the vast majority of sexually aggressive youth are male, the proportion that is female appears to be much greater than is commonly observed among adult sex offenders, which may indicate that abuse by adolescent females is reported at a significantly lower rate than abuse by male adolescents (2006). One explanation for this is that the general public tends to struggle with the idea that a young woman could be capable of such perverse behavior. It should also be considered that male victims may have more difficulty reporting a sexual crime against them when the perpetrator is someone that society has taught them is the inferior gender (Hendriks, Bijleveld 2006). As a whole, female abusers have been researched very little, and juvenile female abusers have been virtually ignored in the field of criminological study.

Since the world has penetrated into the epoch of twenty first century, it has experienced gargantuan changes in almost every sphere of life whether it is social, economic, political, technological, environmental or cultural aspects and has also manipulated the human existence to a great deal. Besides, these advancements have made the entire populace of the world enter into the age of industrial revolution that is satiated with technological and scientific advancements and innovations. However, social issues at the same time have been witnessed to grow at an accelerated pace in this epoch of evolution and colossal progression (Selfe & Burke, 2001).

Violent male sex offenders reported high rates of inmate-on-inmate victimization (Beck & Johnson, 2012). The longer the time served, the more likely that the rate of sexual victimization increased. The highest rates of misconduct were reported by state prisoners who served in 5 or more facilities. Almost 44 percent of male and 74 percent of female victims reported that victimization occurred in the first prison facility

There are several risk factors that have been identified and associated with higher incidences of female offending. In 2004 greater attention was put in to place focusing on female offending. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention gathered professionals to explore and further examine the: causes, connections, and outcomes in juvenile female criminal actions to better comprehend and solve this faction of offenders. As we know boys and girls are exposed to several different risk factors. Risk factors of boys and girls relate in some ways and there are a number of dissimilarities as well. Professionals gathered evidence that show female offenders have suffered trauma, trauma pointing to sexual abuse and rape. Which leads

The authors discusses the results of the first known study to employ three control groups when researching female sex offenders. The study reviewed 31 female sex offenders (FSO), 31 male sex offenders (MSO), 31 female violent offenders (FO), and 31 male violent offenders (MO) using a 2 (female or male ) by 2 (sex or violent offender) design. Although the number of female sex offenders are increasing in infamy not much research is done. Overall, there are significant differences between female sex offenders and other criminal offenders, the majority of female sex offender victims are adolescents, between the ages 11-17 years, bulk of female sex offenders are acquainted with their victims by means of biological relation, and more female sex offenders

In the discussion of this study, it was noted that the offender group was more frequently abused in multiple ways (physical and emotional, the non-offender group was disregarded in analysis of single abuse since they obviously had a 100% victimization rate) than the non-offender group, possibly because they were more socially disadvantaged and therefore more likely to be reported and convicted than those more privileged (Briggs & Hawkins, 1996). It was concluded by Briggs and Hawkins (1996) that since an initial requirement of the non-offender group was that they be a victim of CSA, it would not be reasonable to point to victimization as a probable reason for becoming an offender based on this data, though they do assume that a 93% victimization rate (the percentage of offenders that were victims of CSA) is higher than the general population. The authors note their contribution to the field of research on this topic as a realization that boys who discount their own victimization are more likely to become a child molester than those who realize what has happened to them is not normal (Briggs & Hawkins, 1996).

Research has shown that being molested at a young age effects the children in their adolescent years. The numbers of sexually abused children are increasing every day. After conducting research of molestation in children aged 5 to 15, the outcome of children is conflicted by poor self-esteem, becoming depressed and their behavior patterns are affected. After 1 year of research their actions changed and lead them to becoming shy or violent. If the child was abused they would try to act tough and become violent, if they were just touched they would become shy and it would be hard to open to everybody. Depending on who molested the child it would change the way they would communicate with everybody around them. After studying the children from a broad age range of 5 to 15, and from different places around the world, most of the time the molesters were known to their victims. With 31% of females and 28% of being males, being molested within their homes. The girls reported a higher nu

Given that this study is looking at multiple variables, it can be helpful to quantify other important characteristics that the participants have. For example, out of the 530 individuals for this study, 84.2 % did not have an offense that was sexual in nature during their juvenile years (n = 446). However, 13.7% had a history of anywhere from 1-6 sexual offenses while they were a juvenile (n = 72). This information was not gathered on 12 individuals (See appendix 2a). Another important variable of this study was identifying how many individuals were victims themselves of sexual assault at any point in their lives. This information was not gathered on 217 individuals. However, of the remaining 313 who were assessed, only 15.7% (n = 83) reported a history of being sexually assaulted at some point in their life (See appendix 2b). To break this down even further, the participants were asked about being sexually abused but only if it happened during their childhood. Out of the 412 participants that were asked about this specific criteria, 8.9% (n = 47) affirmed that they had been a victim of sexual abuse in their childhood, while 61.5% (n = 326) denied this. There were 39 individuals who were assessed but were labeled as experiencing partial abuse. The definition of partial abuse was not clearly stated or explained. These 39 individuals were still included in the study despite only partial evidence (See appendix 2c).

Research conducted in the United States of America clearly identifies an interaction between victim age and abuse characteristics (USDHHS, 2003). There exists a negative correlation between the onset and prevalence of physical neglect and victim age, for instance, indicative of a young child's dependency upon the caregiver for supervision and nurture (Mash & Wolfe, 2005). The incidence of physical and emotional abuse is also most prominent during developmental periods of independence, specifically the early, pre-school and adolescent transitional stages of development (ibid). Sexual abuse has prevailed most consistently, however, from an onset of age 3 throughout childhood, highlighting the vulnerability of children across the age-spectrum (ibid). Nevertheless, victim gender is emphasised as an influential variable within the incidence and nature of sexual abuse; for females have accounted for up to 80% of reported victims and are more likely to be abused by male family members in contrast to male victims, where the perpetrator of abuse is more likely to be a non-family male offender (USDHHS, 2003; Berliner & Elliott, 2002).