Pathways to Sexual Aggression by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Crimes & Criminals, Criminology
ISBN: 9781134482887
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2014-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

In this study, we sought to develop a more comprehensive model of intrafamilial sexual aggression against children, by identifying offending pathways. For this purpose, we analyzed not only the offender's personality disorders, but also his adult lifestyle (general and sexual), precrime life context, and crime event characteristics. Three pathways were identified: sexual deviance, opportunity, and problems. To our knowledge, our study is the first to identify offending pathways specific to intrafamilial sexual aggression against children. More importantly, this study challenges the assumption that sexual aggressors against children are only situational or regressed offenders—i.e., offenders who correspond to those following our problems pathway. Indeed, some intrafamilial sexual offenders against children in our study followed two other pathways, namely sexual deviance and opportunity.

In this investigation, an attempt was also made to match the offending pathways to intrafamilial sexual aggression against children with pathways identified in previous studies by Ward and his colleagues. This exercise proved to be quite challenging, because the focus here was on intrafamilial offenders only. Indeed, Ward et al. did not specify whether their sample contained any intrafamilial offenders at all; at best, their samples consisted of both extrafamilial and intrafamilial offenders. Obviously, this may have had an impact on the nature of the offending pathways they identified. In addition, our sample was considerably larger, allowing for the possibility of finding more offending pathways. Finally, unlike our model, Ward et al.'s (1995) original model allows for crossovers between pathways at different stages of the offending process. This further reduces the comparability of our model with Ward's.

The identification of offending pathway profiles in this study has clearly benefited from the inclusion of characteristics most often examined in criminological research. Introducing characteristics related to adult general and sexual lifestyles and precrime life context, as well as detailed crime event characteristics, has materially furthered our understanding of intrafamilial sexual aggression against children. Future studies of offending pathways should consider incorporating various facets of the life of offenders into their analyses. Crime is more than an act committed by a motivated offender—it is part of a larger context in which everyday life plays an important role in structuring offending pathways.

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