The Lifetime Convictions of Child Sexual Abusers
| Date | 01 March 1997 |
| Published date | 01 March 1997 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059704400103 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The Lifetime
Convictions of Child
Sexual Abusers:
Practice and Policy
Dilemmas
Malcolm Cox, Principal Research Officer with Dorset Probation
Service, and Colin Pritchard, Professor of Social Work Studies at the
University of Southampton, report and discuss their study of
convicted male child sexual abusers in Dorset, drawing particular
attention to the problems posed by those with convictions for offences
other than against children.
Child sexual abusers (CSAs), the and so can be considered casualties of
vast
majority of whom are men,
society’s failure to protect them in their
arouse extreme reactions. Within the
childhood.
criminal justice system an obvious concern
Despite a range of theories as to why
is whether sentence should punish the
child molesters behave in this way,
immediate offence or should aim to protect
professionals agree about the need to break
potential victims. Probation officers, who
into the pattern of recidivism, which has
have more multiple disturbed people and
long been known to extend for years,
probably more convicted CSAs within their
sometimes with serious consequences. The
caseloads than any other agency save
exploitative, abusive and emotional
forensic psychiatry, face particular ethical
relationship often contributes to victims’
dilemmas. As with all types of human
subsequent adult mental disorder, suicidal
service intervention, probation work is
behaviour and abuse of their children, and
more effective when the client is engaged
some
abusers
deliberately target
in a positive rapport, demanding mutual
emotionally disadvantaged youngsters,
tr~st’, and workers pursue an ethical
who are more likely to be susceptible to
imperative to seek the rehabilitation and
the skilled blandishments of the
reintegration of the offender back into
experienced CSA.
society, if at all possible. An additional
It is generally assumed that CSAs are
factor arises from the knowledge that many
a fairly well defined deviant groups, with
CSAs are the product of a cycle of abuse
the debate centring around seeking a
19
’typology’, with efforts to separate out the
noteworthy that all but six of the 168 men,
intra- and extra- familial sex offenders,
none of whom had a previous conviction,
though non-family abusers have been found
were referred by the statutory agencies.
to be more often involved in other types of
This strongly suggests that the vast
crime2. However in the ’public mind’ the
majority of clients attending such
CSA is associated with violence against
programmes have an element of
children, and it is the sexually assaulted
compulsion in their referral. However,
child who epitomises the nightmares of
referral of itself did not guarantee
parents and society.
acceptance on the programme, as some
This study confronts this anxiety as it
were considered unsuitable for treatment
explores the life-time criminal convictions
either because of perceived risk or lack of
of child molesters, paying particular
commitment to the programme regime.
attention to violence offences, as a
This gives further weight to the view that
contribution to the debate about assessment
information about child sex abusers is
and management of risk.
essentially based upon those who have
come into tho purview of the services,
~
~
-
hence such samples are ’special’ and are
Methodology
probably not representative of the ’un-
detected’ group, who are probably more
socially competent than those who enter
into the
Space precludes a detailed discussion of
statutory agency networks3.
our methodology, though the authors will
Though it might be suggested that
be happy to answer any queries from
Dorset, one of the smaller shire counties,
readership. In brief
is
a CSA, for our
untypical of the national scene, we draw
comfort from earlier research
purposes, was tightly defined as having a
analysing
conviction for
Probation caseloads which showed that
any of the following: gross
indecency, indecent assault, buggery,
Dorset clients
had
rape
very
similar
or attempted rape, incest, unlawful sexual
psychosocial profiles to clients around the
intercourse or indecent exposure,...
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