Abstract
Background: Some studies have found higher rates of childhood sexual abuse in sex offenders while others have failed to find such relationships.
Method: This study reviews the sexual and physical abuse histories of 156 male sex offenders with intellectual disability (ID), 126 non-sexual male offenders with ID and 27 female offenders with ID.
Results: Sexual offenders reported a higher rate of sexual abuse in childhood than non-sexual male offenders (32.6% vs. 17.8%), while the opposite was true for non-accidental injury (16.0% vs. 32.5%). Female offenders reported the highest rates of sexual abuse in childhood (59.3%).
Conclusions: Some specificity of childhood abuse was evident in the male cohorts suggesting limited evidence of a developmental pathway to offending, while the women were a group highly vulnerable to all forms of abuse.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 326–331 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Intellectual Disability Research |
Volume | 56 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Child sex abuse
- Female offenders
- Intellectual disability
- Male offenders
- Physical abuse