Citation

Goodson WH. JAMA Pediatr. 2014; 168(6): 580-581.

Affiliation

California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.5405

PMID

24886796

Abstract

To the Editor It seems unlikely that the 9% of adolescents reported by Ybarra and Mitchell to have coerced sex, or to have attempted or completed rape, made a conscious decision to commit a felony. It is more likely that they made excuses for their behavior because they had not fully understood the lesson that any penetration of the body of a girl (or boy) without free consent is rape—consent being valid only if she or he is capable of giving consent. Somehow, they convinced themselves that the rules did not apply to them.

Comments on: Prevalence rates of male and female sexual violence perpetrators in a national sample of adolescents. Ybarra ML, Mitchell KJ. JAMA Pediatr. 2013; 167(12): 1125-1134.

Language: en