Juvenile sexual offenders

Sexual abuse, as well as physical abuse, can lead to many negative outcomes for adolescents and adults. One possible and serious outcome of sexual abuse is later sexual offending. However, the nature of the relationship between abuse and later offending is unclear. This study aims to better understand the possible relationship between sexual abuse, physical abuse, and later sexual offending. A significant relationship was found between sexual abuse and sexual offense severity. Significant differences were also found between sexually abused and non-sexually abused JSOs regarding specific sexual offending behaviors (abusing a victim seven years or younger, abusing a male, abusing multiple victims) and a significant relationship was found between sexual abuse and sexual offending. Physical abuse was not related to sexual offense severity in this study, which may be due to limitations in the scale of sexual offense severity used. Further research in this area is necessary to enhance interventions and other treatments for sexually abused youth and juvenile sexual offenders in order to prevent future sexual offending behaviors.