Perpetrators in Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is committed by strangers more than one-quarter of the time. The typical victims are girls age 15 or younger, who have been abused by a relative or acquaintances. Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy reviewed the records of 196 people, who had been convicted of child sexual abuse in Västra Götaland County in Western Sweden. The study also found that only 8% of the perpetrators had been referred to a major forensic investigation.

Anita Carlstedt and her team studied the relationship between the perpetrators and victims in each case. In order to generate socio demographic, offender characteristic and mental disease data, the researchers also reviewed the records of 185 people who had been examined by a forensic psychiatrist after being convicted of child sexual abuse during the same period.

The studies found that the perpetrators in 27 percent of the cases were as strangers to the children. The majority of these cases did not involve physical contact.  Among the most common offenses were indecent exposure, masturbation and sexual harassment.

Other results show that:

• Eighty-five percent of the victims were girls, 12 percent boys and 3 percent girls and boys at the same time
• Most of the offenses were violent, penetration being the most frequent act
• The sentences were generally mild
• Perpetrators born abroad received stiffer sentences for the same offenses
• Between 10 and 14 percent of perpetrators went on to become recidivists

In cases where the perpetrators were not relatives or acquaintances of the children, risks were somewhat higher.

Learning more about sex offenders is vitally important, if we are to treat them in a constructive manner and improve the results of forensic psychiatrists.

The reason for the study is that previous research on child sexual abuse has suffered from major defects, primarily because so many cases go unreported and it is often difficult to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.