Juvenile sex offenders

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511543913.010

9 - Juvenile sex offenders

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 August 2009

Corinne Belsky ,

Wade C. Myers and

Daniel Bober

Edited by

Carol L. Kessler and

Louis James Kraus

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Corinne Belsky: Affiliation:
98-A Cope Creek Rd Sylva, NC 28779 USA
Wade C. Myers: Affiliation:
Professor and Chief, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Director, Forensic Psychiatry Program Department of Psychiatry, Silver CDC University of South Florida 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 102 Tampa, FL 33612 USA
Daniel Bober: Affiliation:
Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship University of Massachusetts Medical School 55 Lake Avenue North, WSH 8B Worcester, MA 01655 USA
Carol L. Kessler: Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
Louis James Kraus: Affiliation:
Rush University, Chicago

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Summary

Definition

A juvenile sex offender can be defined as a youth who commits a sexual act upon a victim without consent, against the person's will, or in an exploitative, threatening, or aggressive manner. Due to variations in county, state, and federal statutes, what legally constitutes a sex offense or offender in one jurisdiction may not hold for another. Likewise, the sexual actions of minors in different countries will be acceptable or not depending on prevailing laws, culture, and local customs. Thus, it is important to consider the historical and cultural setting in which sexual offenses occur. For example, in some cultures masturbation is considered deviant.

Historical comment

Given the magnitude of juvenile sexual offenses and the toll they take on society, it is surprising they were not consistently taken seriously until at least the 1970s. Prior to that time the offenses were often regarded as exploratory, temporary behaviors that would resolve with age (Ryan & Lane, 1997). Other changes took place in the 1970s: civil and criminal statutes addressing sexual offenses were broadened, the accumulation of research on adult sex offenders began to accelerate, and adolescent sex offender programs were developed (Ryan & Lane, 1991). However, by the early 1980s there were still few studies of adequate sample size addressing the success rates for managing youths' sexually deviant behavior (Mayer, 1988).

Keywords

categorization schemes juvenile sex offenders physiological assessments recidivism risk factors

Type: Chapter
Information: The Mental Health Needs of Young Offenders
Forging Paths toward Reintegration and Rehabilitation
, pp. 198 - 228

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511543913.010 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2007

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