Citation

van Wijk A, Vermeiren R, Loeber R, 't Hart-Kerkhoffs LA, Doreleijers TAH, Bullens R. Trauma Violence Abuse 2006; 7(4): 227-243.

Affiliation

Police Academy of The Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1524838006292519

PMID

17065545

Abstract

An unresolved but clinically important issue in the literature on juvenile delinquency is to what extent juvenile sex offenders resemble non-sex offenders with respect to individual, familial, and environmental characteristics. The current article reviewed published studies (1995-2005) comparing sex offenders with non-sex offenders. The 17 articles meeting the inclusion criteria suggest that differences exist between sex offenders and non-sex offenders on personality characteristics, behavioral problems, history of sexual abuse, nonsexual offending, and peer functioning. Inconsistent results were found for demographic factors, family functioning and background, antisocial attitudes, and intellectual and neurological functioning. Although it is likely that sex offenders can be differentiated from nonsex offenders on a number of characteristics, caution is warranted because of methodological differences between studies and small samples size. Also, studies show that sex offenders are a heterogeneous group. Further research should take into account this heterogeneity by including sex offenders from clearly circumscribed groups and investigating characteristics specifically related to sexual behavior.

Language: en