Why Offenders Abuse Children - Assignment Example

Why Offenders abuse childrenChild sexual abuse is a complex issue especially when attempting to determine why adults engage in sexual activities with young children. Although there does not exist a clear or a distinct answer to this question, such acts may be committed under two major grounds that include psychological forces and social structure. With regard to psychological forces, the attacker may be motivated by emotional congruence, blockage or sexual arousal. Emotional congruence incorporates satisfying an emotional need by relating sexually to the child.

Sexual arousal takes place when the subject child becomes the source of sexual satisfaction. Additionally, blockage may take place when other alternative sources of sexual gratification are unavailable or even less satisfying. The compelling factor in female victims has been one of the most complicated questions to answer since most researchers have discounted seductiveness as a compelling factor for female child abuse. Social structures may include type as well as the amount of supervision a child receives, unusual sleeping arrangements, and lack of a parental figure to protect the children.

If the children are left alone, they become more vulnerable since children lack sexual knowledge most of the time. Existence of trust between the victim and the offender could also reduce the victim’s ability to resist sexual advances. 1. Incest vs. stranger abuseIncest abuse should be punished more severely than stranger abuse. This is in part because of the effects of incest on the victim and the biological facts behind incest. Since the offender is usually close to the victim, the victim might experience frequent and greater trauma since the reminder is always close.

Incest also leads to lack of trust on family members causing a rift in the family. Incestuous abuse usually last for a long period causing more stress and damage than a stranger case would have done. In most cases, the perpetrators use threats to prevent the victims from disclosing the abuse. This usually adds to the trauma since the victim keeps the traumatic experiences to themselves, which according to therapists does not help a traumatic situation but makes it worse.