Citation

Stephens S, Klein LK, Seto MC. Sex. Abuse 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1079063219889056

PMID

31820672

Abstract

This study examined whether men who committed undetected sexual offenses would show more evidence of sexual interest in children than their detected counterparts. It also considered whether denial or minimization of offending history explained observed differences between undetected and detected men. In an archival database of 2,236 men, 96 were undetected and the remainder were detected men who varied in the extent to which they admitted their offending: complete deniers, partial deniers, those who admitted their offense history, and those who disclosed additional unknown offenses. There were differences in self-reported sexual interest in children, but relatively few differences when sexual interest in children was assessed by phallometry or sexual victim history. There were no differences between undetected and detected men who admitted to additional victims. The results suggest that denial is likely more important in understanding group differences on sexual interest in children than detection status.

Language: en

Keywords

SSPI-2; dark figure of sexual crime; denial; pedophilia; phallometry; sexual interest; undetected offending; victim selection