NCJ Number
238974
Date Published
May 2011
Length
65 pages
Annotation
This Australian study examined the association between being sexually abused in childhood and offending and re-victimization later in life.
Abstract
The study found that victims of child sexual abuse (CSA) were 1.43 times more likely than peers from the general population to have contact with the police for any matter, with a higher proportion of police contacts following a report of being a crime victim. Males sexually abused in childhood were 2.2 times more likely than female CSA victims to have contact with the police for committing an offense or reporting being a crime victim. Although 77 percent of the CSA victims did not have a criminal record, those that did had a higher number of charges, convictions, and custodial sentences; and they offended to an older age compared to the general population. Both male and female victims were significantly more likely than their non-abused counterparts in the general population to be charged with all types of offenses, with the strongest association being for sexual and violent offenses. The majority (95 percent) of male CSA victims had not been charged with a sexual offense; however, male CSA victims were 8.2 times more likely than males in the general population to be charged with any sexual offense. The research monitored 2,759 CSA cases and 2,677 comparisons from the general population in Victoria (Australia) regarding offending and victimization outcomes during a 45-year follow-up. The large cohort of CSA victims yielded enough power to detect differences in low base-rate offenses of sex crimes and homicide; however, the study was not able to control for confounding factors, such as the experience of multiple types of abuse during childhood. In addition, the reliance upon official police records is likely to under-represent the number of offenses and victimizations. 6 tables and 69 references