Female Adolescents Who Are Abused Who Later in Life Become Sex Offenders - Research Paper Example

Female Adolescents Who Are Abused Who Later In Life Become Sex Offenders INTRODUCTION The newspapers usually tell about men and boys who become sex offenders but they do not tell much about girls and women. There are women who become sex offenders and it is often because they have been abused as children although this is not always the case. This paper will present information on female adolescents who are sex offenders and it will report on those who have been abused as children. The paper will also give information about juvenile sex offenders including what sexual abuse is how it is perpetrated and how it can be prevented. Definition of Sexual Abuse According to the United States Department of Justice, Center for Sex Offender Management (2009) sexual abuse is: Sexual abuse is: • unwanted sexual contact between two or more adults or two or more minors; • any sexual contact between an adult and a minor; • any unwanted sexual contact initiated by a youth toward an adult; or • sexual contact between two minors with a significant age difference between them. Sex crimes can involve physical contact (e.g., unwanted sexual touching) or no physical contact (e.g., Internet crimes). (p. 1). In the United States sex crimes are "fairly common" and "it is estimated that one in every five girls and one in every seven boys" is sexually abused before they become adults (United States Department of Justice, p. 1). According to these statistics about 10% of juvenile sex offenders are girls. Juvenile sex offenders are different in many ways than adults and it is important to note that most of them will not offend again once they are caught. About 20% of juveniles under 18 are arrested for sexual crimes which includes 2,200 who were arrested for "forcible rape" and 9,200 for "other types of sexual offenses". There are no "typical" sex offenders and they can be any race, male or female, wealthy or poor and come from all different types of families (United States Department of Justice, p. 5-6). Female Juvenile Sexual Offenders According to the United States Department of Justice (2007) females only make up one percent of all sexual offenders but juvenile females make up "3% of forcible rape cases, 5% of violent sex offenses, and 19% of non-violent sex offenses" (p. 1-2). The challenge for law enforcement agencies is that women and girls may be under represented as sex offenders because society does not see girls as having the ability to do this crime. There are several reasons that girls may be under reported that include: social and cultural stereotypes, professional bias, problems with research methods, and the fact that many victims do not disclose when they have been sexually assaulted (p. 3). Social and Cultural Stereotypes Because women are seen as nurturing and caring they are seen by society as incapable of doing a crime that is violent. Society sees men as being the perpetrators of any sex so it is difficult for them to see women as being able to do this crime. In most cases society believes that women do not have the "equipment" to be able to take advantage of someone in this manner. Society also believes that sexual abuse is only between people of the opposite sex. The challenge for people reporting this crime is that they are not believed in the criminal justice system. Therefore, women and girls are not as aggressively pursued as perpetrators the way men are because of the various stereotypes (United States Department of Justice, 2007, p. 3). The National Center On Sexual Behavior in Youth (2004) suggests the following reasons as to why women and girls are under reported: 1. Individuals including parents, law enforcement and child protective services staff may not recognize it because they think females are too physically or emotionally unable to commit sexual offenses. 2. Society may more readily tolerate female adolescent sexual behavior if it is non-contact like exhibitionism, peeping, or making indecent phone calls. 3. Child protection and other agencies may perceive that adolescent females are less likely to commit sexual offenses than males because they are more mature and able to separate their emotional needs from sexual behaviors where males cannot. (National Center On Sexual Behavior in Youth, p. 1) Characteristics of Female Sex Offenders Although the United States Department of Justice (2009) said that there are no real characteristics of female sex offenders The National Center On Sexual Behavior in Youth (2004) has identified the following characteristics: 1. Age is usually 14 years old 2. They do not fit the criteria for pedophilia and they do not have exclusive sexual attraction to young children. 3. The acts they commit are usually non-aggressive like fondling that happens during babysitting or other care giving situation. 4. The average age of the victim if five years old. 5. Male and female children seem to be equally at risk as victims. (p. 2) RESEARCH ON FEMALE SEX OFFENDERS Because of the way that society looks at sex offenders research has not been developed fully about female sex offenders. Most of the literature reports that this situation does exist but it is only for descriptive purposes. All are in clinical settings where only a small sample of women or adolescent girls are viewed. According to The United States Department of Justice (2007) this "[makes] it impossible to draw reliable inferences about any defining characteristics, risk factors, or offense dynamics of female sex offenders as a whole" (p. 4). Roe-Sepowitz and Krysik (2008) studied 118 female sex offenders to examine how "childhood maltreatment" affected whether these girls became offenders. The result of the study found that those female offenders how had a history of child maltreatment were more prone to have a current mental health diagnosis and they more experiencing higher levels of "anger-irritability and depression-anxiety than those without a history of child maltreatment (Abstract, p. 405). Further results of the study showed that 27% of the children came from homes that were disorganized, chaotic and they have poor supervision from their parents; they also had serious problems in school and their mental health was compromised. Some of the girls had little or no contact with their parents (26.3%). Fifty one percent of the girls had no supervision from parents and 22% had no supervision or control from parents at all (Roe-Sepowitz and Krysik, p. 408). The researchers studied girls 7-17 and they did not do this study within a clinical setting which makes it a unique study compared to many of the others. It also showed that these children were from homes that were at least disorganized. Whether sexual abuse was within the home it was not mentioned. Bunting (2007) studied female sexual offenders and how they are perceived within the criminal justice system. In order to study this Bunting did an intense literature review, reviewed documents and did a survey. She found that there were several differences in the way that female offenders were perceived. In some cases the acts done by females were disguised as part of the care that was given to the child (p. 252). She found that society at large does not think that this is a problem for females because of the focus on male offenders. Because of this many males who have been raped or otherwise sexually abused do not come forward because they do not think that people will believe them. Many studies that Bunting used for her study showed that men and women were equally as intrusive and violent as men in many situations. For many females their daughters and sons were victims which gave an easy way to find a victim as well as to use more than one sexual offender (p. 253). Although Buntings study was regarding females in the U.K. it is clearly similar to the United States in the way that girls and women are perceived as perpetrators. This study was provocative in that it candidly discussed areas that were specifically dealing with women that pointed out the many corollaries between male and female juvenile offenders. Hunter, Figueredo, Becker, and Malamuth (2007) studied empathy in sexual offenders because it is assumed that females and males who do this crime have no empathy. They wanted to understand whether this was true and it if was how it would work. Their studies is somewhat tied to the Bunting study because it was important for them to look at the incidences of whether a lack of empathy came from a lack of parental involvement in the home. The suggestion from other studies was that if a child was maltreated young, they would not have developed empathy so it would mean that they would be able to choose victims and not have empathy regarding them; however, they found that there was little evidence that there was a link between these two situations (p. 45). The findings showed that emotional empathy had "mediating and moderating influences" on the way that juvenile sex offenders may engage in non-sexual delinquency. According to the researchers this meant that they the study of emotional empathy could identify those personalities that were more likely to be sexual offenders because of the aggression that they showed towards their victims (p. 54). This study gave a understanding that some of the juvenile offenders may escalate in the amount of aggression that they showed which might mean that they had less empathy than others. Another area that was interesting in looking at female sex offenders was a study by Hendriks and Bijleveld (2004) who looked at the difference between juveniles who were child abusers versus those who were peer abusers. What they found was that some children had psychosocial problems and were unable to connect with other children in a positive way. Those who were less aggressive were more apt to offend with relatives and that they had mental health difficulty that were a part of both depression and anxiety. This again supports the study done by the United States Department of Justice (2007) that also suggested that many of these children have some mental health issues. It is clear to this researcher that juvenile offenders in general have different problems that adults and if they are not treated when they are young, they may escalate until they are involved with the criminal justice system. Since the criminal justice system does not take seriously the fact that females do indeed commit the crime, they are not caught and many victims go without assistance; this creates a cycle that is difficult for anyone to deal with easily. TREATMENT FOR ADOLESCENT FEMALE SEX OFFENDERS Because female sex offenders have been looked at as something that does not exist it is difficult for women and girls to get treatment for this problem. Generally as stated before the majority of crimes that females commit are considered "softer" crimes than those done by men. Since society and law enforcement ignore these crimes to an extent it is difficult for social service to know what types of treatments are needed. According to Gannon (2006), women may need different treatment interventions than men instead of giving them the same treatment as men. She discusses a treatment plan by Charlene Steen, author of Choices: A Relapse Prevention Workbook for Female Offenders, that is specifically geared towards female offenders. It is supposed to be used in conjunction with individual and group therapy. Unfortunately Gannon does not explain what this treatment may be and how it is used. The Center for Sex Offender Management (2007) states that because there is a lack of data substantiating female sex offenders and needs assessment tools are not available it is difficult to know what the treatment should be for women and adolescent girls (p. 7). They also state that when there is a lack of data in treatment the interventions tend to follow "the majority" which means that women and girls are treated in the way that men sex offenders are treated. They do see a need for treatement that is specific to women and girls: …management strategies specific to this population. Indeed, the unique risk and protective factors, distinctive developmental pathways to crime and delinquency, and fundamental differences between genders necessitates that the criminal and juvenile justice systems take into account the needs of women and girls overall (Center for Sex Offender Management 2007, p. 7). Unfortunately this has created a problem for females and girls because they are treated by people who have "rudimentary knowledge" of what they need. The National Center On Sexual Behavior in Youth (2004) found that there is no scientific evidence to show which females may or may not conduct sexual abuse after they have been incarcerated. They do give suggestions for what to do: 1. Women and girls should be asked about trauma and child abuse since this is a large part of what happens for this population. 2. There should be treatment specifically geared towards women. 3. Each adolescent female should have treatment and placement decisions created on a case-by-case basis depending on their individual needs. 4. Although they have engaged in illegal sexual acts they may also need to be treated for depression and anxiety disorders. (p. 2). McRoy (1997) investigated treatment that was given to female adolescent sex offenders to create a typology of these adolescent girls. They found that the most common type of treatment was for mental health issues and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was used (par. 7). It is clear that female adolescent sex offenders have in common that many of them were abused as children. Although this was not the single reason they became abusers it is clear that their homes were not protecting them nor that they were organized. More research will need to be done in this area in order to create a better understanding of this issue. References Bunting, Lisa. (2007). Dealing with a problem that doesnt exist? Professional responses to female perpetrated child sexual abuse. Child Abuse Review 16 (4), p252-267. Retrieved March 24, 2009 from EbscoHost Academic Search Premier Database (AN: 26210639). Center for Sex Offender Management. (2007). A Project of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Female sex offenders. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from http://www.csom.org/pubs/female_sex_offenders_brief.pdf. Gannon, E. J. (2006). Equal Opportunity: Treatment for Female Sex Offenders. PsycCRITIQUES, 2006, Vol 51 (38)/. No Pagination Specified. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EbscoHost PsyCRITIQUES Database (AN: 2006-10754-001) Hendriks, J. and Bijleveld, C. C.(2004). Juvenile sexual delinquents: contrasting child abusers with peer abusers. Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health 14(4), p238-250. Retrieved March 22, 2009 from EbscoHost Academic Search Premier Database (AN: 16427700). Hunter, J., Figueredo, A., Becker, J. and Malamuth, N. (2007). Non-Sexual Delinquency in Juvenile Sexual Offenders: The Mediating and Moderating Influences of Emotional Empathy. Journal of Family Violence 22(1), p43-54. Retrieved March 24, 2009 from EbscoHost Academic Premier Database (AN: 23784912). National Center On Sexual Behavior in Youth (2004). NCSBY fact sheet what research shows about female adolescent sex offenders. #5. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from http://www.ncsby.org/pages/publications/Female%20ASO.pdf. Roe-Sepowitz, D. and Krysik, J. (2008). Examining the sexual offenses of female juveniles: The relevance of childhood maltreatment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78(4), pp. 405-412. Retrieved March 24, 2009 from EbscoHost PsycARTICLES Database (AN: 2008-19071-004). McRoy, R. (1997). Mental health treatment of female children and adolescent sex offenders. School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved March 25, 2009 from http://www.utexas.edu/ssw/cswr/projects/0027.html. U.S. Department of Justice. (2007). Female sex offenders. Center for Sex Offender Management. Retrieved March 22, 2009 from http://www.csom.org/ pubs/female_sex_offenders_brief.pdf. U.S. Department of Justice. (2009). Fact sheet: What you need to know about sex offenders. Center for Sex Offender Management. Retrieved March 22, 2009 from http://www.csom.org/pubs/needtoknow_fs.pdf. Read More