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Abstract
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This study compares the psychiatric, neurological, and psychoeducational status of sexually assaultive male juveniles and other violent juveniles. The authors found that juvenile sexual assaulters suffered from neuropsychiatric problems similar to those of other violent juveniles, had committed violent acts other than sexual assault, and had had seriously aberrant behavior since early childhood. The findings contradict prevailing assumptions that sexual assaults by juveniles are rare occurrences and that juvenile sex offenders have low rates of recidivism. Theoretical and treatment implications are discussed.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The goal of this research by Lewis et al. was to identify the unique characteristics of violent juvenile sexual assaulters compared to other violent youth.
METHODOLOGY:
This was a quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study of all boys committed to a detention center for violent offenders over an 18 month period. Seventeen had been found guilty of sexual assault and 61 were guilty of other serious, violent crimes. The average age of both groups was 15 years. Both primary data, interviews by a child psychiatrist, a neurologist, and a learning disabilities specialist, and secondary data, existing clinical and judicial records were used. In addition to the interviews, psychological examinations were conducted using the WISC, Bender Gestalt, and Rorschach tests. Educational testing was measured by the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests and KeyMath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test. The subjects were considered to have been physically abused if they had been deliberately cut, burned, or thrown down or across a room, or if they were punched, beaten with a stick, board, pipe, or belt buckle or beaten with a belt or switch other than on their buttocks.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Of the total sample from the detention center, 21.8% had committed violent sexual offenses prior to age 16. The violent sexual assaulters had begun violent, anti-social acts early in their childhood (average age 6 years) and had continued the behavior towards family, friends, and teachers throughout childhood. These behaviors closely resembled those of the violent non-sexual assaulters. No statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups were found with regard to neurological, psychological, and educational factors. This included depressive symptoms (75% of sexual offenders and 63% of non-sexual offenders), auditory hallucinations (47% and 41%, respectively), olfactory and/or gustatory hallucinations (19% and 14%), paranoid symptoms (73% and 83%), illogical thought processes (70% and 58%), and grossly abnormal EEGs or grand mal seizures (24% and 31%). Although the sexually assaultive subjects scored slightly lower on educational performance (5.6 years below grade level, compared to non-sexual offenders' lag of 4.0 years), it was not significant (p<.07). Three-quarters of both groups had witnessed extreme acts of violence and 75% of both sexually assaultive adolescents and non-sexually assaultive juveniles had been physically abused (46% of the sexual assaulters were abused by their mothers, compared to 58% by their fathers).
The authors stated that these findings contradict assumptions in the literature (Atcheson, 1954; Doshay, 1943; Markey, 1950): male juvenile sexual delinquency is "not" self-curing. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Juvenile Violence
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Male
KW - Juvenile Inmate
KW - Inmate Studies
KW - Offender Characteristics
KW - Sexual Assault Offender
KW - Comparative Analysis
KW - Male Offender
KW - Male Inmate
KW - Male Violence
KW - Sexual vs. Nonsexual Offender
KW - Psychoeducational Factors
KW - Psychosexual Behavior
KW - Psychosexual Factors
KW - Psychosocial Development
KW - Psychosocial Factors
KW - Psychosocial Characteristics
Language: en |