Do Sexual Abuse Offenders Target the Same Type of Victim?

"Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a pervasive public health and social problem that affects approximately one in four girls and one in twenty boys. Preventing CSA requires identifying, detecting, and prosecuting those who perpetrate these crimes. Yet sexual abuse remains one of the most underreported crimes, and it is estimated that fewer than one in ten individuals who perpetrate sexual violence are ever caught."

"There is a common belief that people who perpetrate sexual abuse have a specific "type" of victim. For example, it is often assumed that someone who abuses children only targets children, that perpetrators abuse either boys or girls (but not both), or that abuse occurs only within or only outside the family, suggesting that perpetrators have stable victim preferences based on age, gender, or relationship to the victim."

"Because CSA is so underreported, it is difficult to determine how many individuals who perpetrate child sexual abuse have more than one victim. Much of what we know about sexual offending comes from individuals who have been convicted. This creates an important limitation, as official records likely underestimate both the number of victims and the type of victims harmed by a single perpetrator."

Child sexual abuse affects about one in four girls and one in twenty boys and remains highly underreported. Fewer than one in ten perpetrators of sexual violence are ever caught. Low reporting rates, perpetrator characteristics, crime characteristics, and legal system failures contribute to low detection. Reliance on convicted offenders biases knowledge and underestimates the number and diversity of victims per perpetrator. Common assumptions that perpetrators target a single victim type—by age, gender, or relationship—are inaccurate. Many perpetrators have victims across multiple age groups, genders, and relationship categories, indicating widespread crossover offending that official data underestimates.

Read at Psychology Today