Female-perpetrated sexual abuse: a review of victim and professional perspectives

Professional attitudes towards female-perpetrated sexual abuse (FPSA) reportedly reflect he gender-role expectations found in broader society, which cast males almost exclusively as sexual aggressors or willing sexual recipients, females as sexually non-coercive or victims and male-perpetrated sexual abuse as particularly significant or injurious. Such views, however, appear to stand in contrast to the perspectives of individuals who have experienced FPSA. This paper details a systematic review of peer-reviewed quantitative and qualitative literature examining these different (professional and victim) perspectives. Although the methodological shortcomings of primary papers limit the conclusions that can be drawn, the findings suggest that victim and professional perspectives of FPSA remain discrepant; professionals generally considered FPSA as less serious, less harmful and less deserving of investigation than male-perpetrated abuse; while victims of FPSA felt their experiences influenced significantly their psychological wellbeing and abilities to form and maintain interpersonal relationships. These findings are discussed in relation to professional practice and suggestions for future research

Women convicted for violent offenses: Adverse childhood experiences, low level of education and poor mental health

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In past years, the female offender population has grown, leading to an increased interest in the characteristics of female offenders. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of female violent offending in a Swiss offender population and to compare possible socio-demographic and offense-related gender differences.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Descriptive and bivariate logistic regression analyses were performed for a representative sample of N = 203 violent offenders convicted in Zurich, Switzerland.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>7.9% (N = 16) of the sample were female. Significant gender differences were found: Female offenders were more likely to be married, less educated, to have suffered from adverse childhood experiences and to be in poor mental health. Female violent offending was less heterogeneous than male violent offending, in fact there were only three types of violent offenses females were convicted for in our sample: One third were convicted of murder, one third for arson and only one woman was convicted of a sex offense.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of our study point toward a gender-specific theory of female offending, as well as toward the importance of developing models for explaining female criminal behavior, which need to be implemented in treatment plans and intervention strategies regarding female offenders.</p

Dropout from sex-offender treatment and dimensions of risk of sexual recidivism

The extent to which general criminality and sexual deviance are associated with dropout or expulsion from a sex-offender treatment program was examined. Participants were 52 offenders who dropped out of, or were expelled from, their last sex-offender program and a comparison group of 48 program completers. As expected, the general criminality items of the Static-99 were significantly associated with dropout/expulsion but the sexual deviance items were not. Thus, risk for sexual recidivism and risk for dropout/expulsion from sex-offender programs do not appear to be synonymous. Basing estimates of risk for dropout/expulsion on general criminality rather than sexual deviance may be a more effective and efficient strategy for managing sex offenders