Understanding Female Sex Offenders: Characteristics, Typologies, and Treatment, Study notes of Community Corrections

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Female Sex Offenders:

WHO ARE THEY AND HOW DO WE

TREAT THEM?

Stephanie Pitkin, Quality Assurance Specialist Dana Hufford, Community Corrections Specialist, Sex Offender Treatment Cathi Harris, Director

Overview

 What do we know about female sex offenders

 Typologies and classification

 Similarities and differences

 Recidivism

 Gender matters

 What to treat/How to treat

 Take home messages

What do we know about female

offender characteristics:

 More than 60% come from single parent or dysfunctional families

 Majority had a history of physical abuse 50-90%, neglect, sexual abuse 60-100%, and substance abuse by a parent(s)

 Reported feelings of worthlessness as a human being

 Alcohol and substance abuse began in early adolescence

 IQ between 95 and 100

Early Development

What do we know about female

offender characteristics:

 Of those married - 85% reported marrying as a teenager to escape their family home

 Described as socially isolated and few friends

 Reported as suffering from depression and suicidal ideation, post traumatic stress disorders, anxiety disorders, cognitive and personality disorders

 40% reported as unemployed or having an unstable work history

 80% experienced physical abuse later in life by a male partner or have been threatened with physical abuse

Adult Experiences

Prevalence

 Assumption – female sexual offending is MORE underreported  Cortoni et.al. meta-analysis

 Female offender comprise about 5% of the sexual offender population

Typologies

 Purpose is to classify individual into theoretically useful categories that will assist to understand their behavior, in order to inform treatment and interventions  Offender characteristics Age, history of abuse, substance abuse, presence of co-offender

Historical Typologies

 Criminally-limited hebephiles; Heterosexual nurturers; Teacher/lover

 Criminally-prone hebephiles

 Young adult child molesters; Young adult child exploiters

 Older non habituated offenders

 High-risk chronic offender

Historical Typologies continued….

 Homosexual child molester

 Aggressive homosexual offenders

 Male–coerced or directed avoidant

Women who abuse adolescent boys

 Exclusively abuse male adolescents

 Distortion: Victim is a willing participant in a consensual relationship

 Access to victim usually comes from position of power achieved through her role in the victim’s life and age difference

 Initial sexual offense is often not premeditated, later offending is more calculated.

 This offender is the least likely of the four types to have been previously a victim of sexual abuse

Women who abuse young children

 Previously referred to as ‘Predisposed” offenders (Mathews et al,

 Offender acts alone, victimizing their own children or those known to them

 Usually experienced severe childhood trauma or long histories of sexual abuse

 Adult intimate relationships are frequently unhealthy or abusive

 Low self-esteem, extreme anger

More about women who

have co-offenders

 Greater number of arrests for non-sexual crimes that those who offend independently, suggesting that women who co-offend are more prone toward general criminality  There are two school of thought as to why this occurs  This group engage in a versatile range of criminal acts  These women are dependent personalities that will engage in a range of criminal acts through coercion

Women who abuse adults

 Smallest identified group of female offenders

 Oldest offender age

 88% have exclusively female victims

 Less likely to come to the attention of authorities as abuse may occur in context of relationship

Differences between male and

female offender

Male

 Victim is more likely to be stepchild or distant relative

 Larger range of victim age

 More oral genital contact and anal rape of the victim

 Use gifts and bribes

Female  Less discriminating of victim gender  More likely to offend biological children or children whom they provide care  Victim age is typically under 15 years old  Foreign objects used in offense

More differences…

Male

 Motivation for use of coercion

Female  Exploit victims by permitting others to abuse  More likely to co-offend, which accounts for the majority of female sex offenses  Motivation for use of coercion