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WHO ARE SEX OFFENDERS?
Another important aspect of sex offender supervision is understanding the population of criminal offenders with whom we are working. Although it is important to understand that sex offenders as a group may be different than other criminal offenders under community supervision, it is also critical to recognize that all sex offenders are not alike.
What Is a Sex Offense?
Note: If your audience is all from the same state or a limited number of states, it might be useful to locate the statutory definitions of sexual assault. The state or local sexual assault coalition or victim service agency has this information.
Overview of Sex Offenders
Most people are quick to identify child sexual abuse as a sex offense, and child molesters are often the first to come to mind when we think of sex offenders, but the definition is really much broader. A sex offense is any sexual behavior with a child, a nonconsenting adult, or anyone who is unable to give consent due to physical condition (e.g. intoxication) or mental capacity (e.g. developmental disability). It includes crimes of penetration with a body part or other object, crimes of contact (like fondling), and crimes of noncontact (like exhibitionism). It can also include crimes related to the production and consumption of certain types of pornography, especially child pornography.
One of the first questions that we often ask when attempting to develop the capacity to identify particular kinds of criminal offenders is: "What is their profile?" In other words, are specific characteristics (e.g., physical, mental, psychological, personality, emotional, etc.) common to all or most of a subpopulation of criminal offenders? Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a profile of a sex offender. Sex offenders vary significantly in age and represent all races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes. A treatment provider or supervision agent who works with sex offenders would probably tell you that the men in this room look like an average group of sex offenders. Although some sex offenders may display behavior and characteristics that are similar to those exhibited by other types of criminal offenders (e.g., a lack of education; unstable employment and residence; drug and alcohol abuses that interfere with daily life; frequent altercations with families, friends, and strangers; and an overall resistance to authority figures), most of them do not have extensive criminal histories or "traditional" criminal lifestyles.
The vast majority of sex offenders are not mentally ill and do not commit their sex crimes because of such an affliction. Perhaps as few as 4 percent of sex offenders have a severe mental illness. A subset of sex offenders display signs of less serious mental problems such as anxiety disorder and narcissism. Sex offenders engage in their abusive and criminal behavior for diverse and complex reasons, and they often create complex facades to conceal their crimes.
WHAT DO SEX OFFENDERS DO?
Offense Cycle
Sex offenses do not just happen. Extremely few offenders commit their crimes without any forethought or planning. For most offenders, the offense is planned hours, days, weeks, or even months before the actual sex crime is physically perpetrated. The vast majority of sex offenders (with the exception of those who are seriously mentally ill), know that their abusive behavior is against the law and conflicts with the behavioral norms and ethics they have been exposed to and taught. Although most sex offenders do not believe sexually abusive behavior is acceptable, they manage during their offense cycle to rationalize their behavior. When they perpetrate their sexual abuse, these offenders are likely to have convinced themselves that they are not really committing a sex offense and that their behavior is "okay" or "acceptable."
Several attempts have been made to create typologies of offenders—categories that provide some framework to classify offenders by their behaviors, their victims, their reasons for offending, and their risk of re-offense. Such typologies have been developed in order to assist us in identifying appropriate treatment, supervision, and criminal justice responses to sex offenses. In other words, to help us to determine what interventions work most effectively for whom. Unfortunately, most typologies either are extremely complex or have little empirical basis (that is, there is no research to confirm that the way in which they separate different types of sex offenders is accurate). There are some distinctions, however, that may be helpful.
Before we go any further into a discussion of typology, however, there's an important caution we need to make. Recent research has demonstrated a predominance of "crossover" behavior among sex offenders; that is, regardless of whatever primary sexual interest or preference or M.O. (modus operandi) an offender has, most offenders also engage in other types of offenses or against other categories of victims. Any insight we gain from using typologies has to be balanced against this information about crossover.
TYPOLOGY OF SEX OFFENDERS
Typology of Sex Offenders
The first typology for adult male sex offenders was developed by Dr. Nicholas Groth in 1979; the second, known as the FBI Typology (and developed by Kenneth Lanning), is based upon Dr. Groth's' work; and the third (the Knight-Prentky Typology) takes Dr. Groth's work and validates the different types statistically. Let's talk about the Groth Typology. It breaks down adult male sex offenders into two categories—the Child Molester and the Rape Offender.
Note: Definitions for the sex offender-specific terms referred to here, such as "grooming," can be found in CSOM's Glossary of Terms Used in the Management and Treatment of Sexual Offenders, included in its entirety among the participant materials in the long version of this curriculum.Child Molester
Child molesters often utilize persuasion and/or manipulation to perpetrate the sexual abuse. They typically begin their involvement with children by using grooming behavior. Grooming behavior is intended to make the victim or potential victim or victim's guardians feel comfortable with the molester and even interested in interacting with him.