Adolescent Sexual Offenders: Demographics, Criminal and Sexual Histories, and Recommendations for Reducing Future Offenses

Sexual aggression is a serious and widespread problem in our society. Over the past 15 years considerable effort has been directed toward educating society about the problem and addressing the needs of victims of sexual crimes. Research efforts have focused on both adult and child victims and to a lesser extent on adult sexual offenders. Only recently have any research efforts focused on adolescent offenders. The present study describes the characteristics of 67 male adolescents referred to an outpatient clinic because of deviant sexual behavior. The results of this study indicate that the onset of sexually deviant interests is often in early adolescence and that an effective early treatment could reduce the widespread incidence of sexual crimes and prevent future victimization in our society.