Sex Offending: Definitions and Prevalence (Crim 3370, Sept 10, 2024) PDF

Sex Offending: Definitions and Prevalence Douglas College Crim 3370: Sex Crimes and Sex Offenders Sept 10, 2024 Chapter 1 Instructor: Jeff Mathesius  Forensic Psychology vs. Criminology Forensic Psychology vs....

Sex Offending: Definitions and Prevalence Douglas College Crim 3370: Sex Crimes and Sex Offenders Sept 10, 2024 Chapter 1 Instructor: Jeff Mathesius  Forensic Psychology vs. Criminology Forensic Psychology vs. Criminology A key theme within this course will be the comparison of two disciplines: forensic psychology and criminology While other disciplines (e.g., sociology) have contributed to certain areas of sex offending (e.g., revision of criminal laws targeting rapists), they have been less active in the investigation of topics related to this course (e.g., causes of sex offending). Why does this matter? Forensic psychologists and criminologists approach the study of sex offenders in two different, sometimes competing, perspectives. Both, however, are relevant to understanding sex offenders Forensic Psychology vs. Criminology Forensic Psychology Historically, focused on the sex offender Emphasis on sexual deviance, mental illness, risk prediction, and treatment Tend to see the sex offender as a mentally disturbed sexual deviant who, as a result, is a sexual specialist. Forensic Psychology vs. Criminology Criminology Historically, focused on the sex crime Emphasis on where / when a sex crime is perpetrated within one’s criminal career; focus on general criminological risk factors to explain sex offending They view the sex offender as a generalist, who does not require unique risk factors / theoretical explanations to understand Forensic Psychology vs. Criminology Unsurprisingly, these two disciplines have generated what appears to be two polar opposite descriptions of the sex offender Now the key challenge for clinicians / academics is to integrate these perspectives Sexual Offending: What is it? Sexual offending: What is it? Definition Challenges (1) Heavily influenced by social norms (2) Sex offending encompasses a broad set of behaviours Sexual offending: What is it? Definition Challenges (1) Heavily influenced by social norms of the society What constitutes a sexual offense can change Within a society across time (e.g., homosexuality, masturbation) Across societies at the same time (e.g., homosexuality is legal in Canada, but illegal in Nigeria) Sexual offending: What is it? Definition Challenges (2) Sex offending encompasses a broad set of behaviours These behaviors differ in a number of important ways: They may or may not be primarily sexually motivated They may or may not involve sexual contact Definition Challenges and its Implications Definition Challenges and its Implications The complexity associated with defining sex offending opens the possibility of different disciplines studying different things This is particularly true for disciplines with competing / very different perspectives Definition Challenges and its Implications Competing perspectives Very different groups (e.g., psychologists / psychiatrists, sociologists, criminologists) are interested in studying sex offenders / sex crimes Each group tends to emphasize definitions / behaviors of sex offending that fit their interests: (a) Psychologists / Psychiatrists emphasize mental health related outcomes, particularly paraphilias / sexual deviance (e.g., pedophilia) (b) Sociologists / Feminists emphasize legal definitions of ‘sexual harassment / sexual assault’ (c) Criminologists emphasize range of legally defined sexual behaviors (d) Criminal Law may or may not align with the definitions Definition Challenges and its Implications Competing Perspectives Why does this matter? At times, it is difficult to know whether findings generalize across disciplines E.g., Are the risk factors associated with pedophilia the same as those associated with child molestation? E.g., Is the feminists’ description of sexual assault / date rape, relevant to a stranger rapist or child molester? Ok, great… so what the f*#k is the definition? Defining Sex Offending from a Legal Perspective Legal perspective on sex offending Two elements: (1) Any sexual act committed with intent against a non-consenting victim; or (2) Any sexual act committed with For intent and social science is aonviolation perspective of offending’ conceptualizing ‘sex the see either Lussier & Mathesius (2018) or Lussier, McCuish & Cale (2021) on social norms Blackboard at the time Defining Sex Offending from a Legal Perspective Legal perspective on sex offending (1) Any sexual act committed with intent against a non-consenting victim Consent is lacking when: The victim clearly said or implied they did not consent The act was the result of force, threat, or duress Victim is incapable of giving consent (i.e., too young; mentally disabled; mentally ill; mentally These represent most sex crimes, they are the most serious, and the incapacitated; physically ones primarily helpless; targeted by researchersunder government care) Defining Sex Offending from a Legal Perspective Legal perspective on sex offending (2) Any sexual act committed with intent and is a violation of the social norms at the time Applies to a small set of sex offences Consent is not the relevant issue E.g., incest, adultery, prostitution Sexual Offending: Prevalence Sex Offending: Prevalence How do we estimate it? Typically estimated with 1 of 3 types of data (1) Official Data [i.e., data from CJS] (2) Self-report Data [i.e., offender reports their involvement] (3) Victimization Data [i.e., victim reports experience being victimized] Sex Offending: Prevalence Official Data Data generated by and obtained from the Criminal Justice System E.g., Uniform Crime Reports [UCR], Arrest, Charge, Convictions, Sentence Sex Offending: Prevalence Uniform Crime Report Sexual Assault - Definition Any form of sexual activity forced on another person (i.e., sexual activity without consent) or non-consensual bodily contact for a sexual purpose (e.g., kissing, touching, oral sex, vaginal or anal intercourse). Sex Offending: Prevalence Uniform Crime Report Sexual Assault - Levels Level 1: Sexual Assault involving no / minor physical injuries to the victim. Level 2: Sexual assault in which the perpetrator uses or threatens to use a weapon, threatens the victim’s friends or family members, causes bodily harm to the victim, or commits the assault with another person (multiple assailants). Level 3: A sexual assault that wounds, maims, or disfigures the victim or endangers the victim’s life. Sex Offending: Prevalence Sex Offending: Prevalence Prevalence of various sexual offences in Canada based on the 2021 Uniform Crime Report Sexual Offence Number Rate (per 100,000) Sexual Assault [Total] 34,242 90 Sexual Assault – Level 1 33,521 88 Sexual Assault – Level 2 598 2 Sexual Assault – Level 3 123 0a Non-consensual distribution of intimate 2,444 6 images Child Pornography 11,790 31 Prostitution 45 0a a the actual rate was less than one and only slightly above 0. So, it is effectively 0. Sexual Assault: SA Level 1 represents 97.8% of all reported sexual assaults in Canada SA Level 2 represents 1.7% of all reported sexual assaults in Canada SA Level 3 represents 0.4% of all reported sexual assaults in Canada Sex Offending: Prevalence Comparing the rate of sexual offending (per 100,000) between Indigenous Communities and Non-Indigenous Communities, utilizing 2018 UCR data Indigenous Non- Group Comparison Communitie Indigenous s Communities Sexual Assault (Level 1) 449 71 6.3X higher among Indigenous Sexual Assault (Level 2) 9 1 9X higher among Indigenous Sexual Key Assault (Level 3) Findings: 5 0 N/A Sexual violations The rate against of all forms 153 / child molestation of sexual assault 22 7.0X higher is significantly moreamong common children among Indigenous communities compared to Non-Indigenous communities Indigenous For both communities, Sexual Assault Level 1 is the most common offence type Source: Allen (2020) Sex Offending: Prevalence Official Data Limitations (1) Hard to compare rates between countries due to differing legal definitions of sex crimes (2) Only measures prevalence of those who were actually identified by the CJS Sex Offending: Prevalence The Dark Figure of Sex Offending Crime that is not detected in our measurements of crime Applies to all measurements of crime (official report, self-report, victimization report) However, it tends to be the largest when using official report Sex Offending: Prevalence Adult male federally sentenced sex offenders from the Province of Quebec Avg yrs Events-to- % of Avg # of Child victim Intrafamilia avoided victim ratio offenders Victims only l victim detection only 1.3 (1.8) 1 41.7% 1.4 (1.1) 12.6% 3.2% 4.5 (6.4) 2-10 22.0% 2.2 (2.2) 48.8% 12.3% 7.1 (7.7) 11-50 10.3% 2.2 (1.4) 60.5% 31.6% 7.4 (9.7) 51-100 6.0% 2.3 (1.6) 50.0% 40.9% 12.0 (9.0) 101-300 8.7% 1.8 (1.0) 78.1% 31.3% 14.9 (9.3) 301-600 7.6% 2.3 (1.6) 67.9% 35.7% 20.0 (9.9) 601+ 3.8% 1.4 (0.9) 100.0% 28.6% Key Findings (1) Adult federally sentenced sex offenders avoided detection for an average of 7.5yrs [range: 0.1yrs – 41.2yrs] (2) Those who avoided detection the longest were rare and typically targeted children whom they had extensive contact with (e.g., familial) (3) Those caught the quickest targeted adult strangers Sex Offending: Prevalence Adult male federally sentenced sex offenders from the Province of Quebec Avg yrs Events-to- % of Avg # of Child victim Intrafamilia avoided victim ratio offenders Victims only l victim detection only 1.3 (1.8) 1 41.7% 1.4 (1.1) 12.6% 3.2% 4.5 (6.4) 2-10 22.0% 2.2 (2.2) 48.8% 12.3% 7.1 (7.7) 11-50 10.3% 2.2 (1.4) 60.5% 31.6% 7.4 (9.7) 51-100 6.0% 2.3 (1.6) 50.0% 40.9% 12.0 (9.0) 101-300 8.7% 1.8 (1.0) 78.1% 31.3% 14.9 (9.3) 301-600 7.6% 2.3 (1.6) 67.9% 35.7% 20.0 (9.9) 601+ 3.8% 1.4 (0.9) 100.0% 28.6% Key Findings (1) Adult federally sentenced sex offenders avoided detection for an average of 7.5yrs [range: For students interested in this data, I have uploaded a study (Lussier, Bouchard & 0.1yrs – 41.2yrs] Beauregard, 2011) to Blackboard. (2) Those who avoided detection the longest were rare and typically targeted children whom they had extensive contact with (e.g., familial) (3) Those caught the quickest targeted adult strangers Sex Offending: Prevalence Crime Funnel Def: For any type of crime, only a portion of cases present at one stage of the criminal justice system will make it to the subsequent stage For example, the total number of cases resulting in, say, a conviction, is a small fraction of the total number of cases reported to police Sex Offending: Prevalence SEXUAL ASSAULT CRIME FUNNEL IN CANADA 6% of sexual assaults are reported to police Of those, 43% result in charges laid Of those, 49% proceed to court Of those, 55% lead to conviction Of those, 56% are sentenced to custody Sex Offending: Prevalence Crime Funnel Implications: (1) Measurements further into the CJS will provide less accurate estimates of prevalence rates (2) In its current form, the criminal justice system will have a completely negligible impact on preventing sexual assault Sex Offending: Prevalence Victimization Reports General Social Survey Sexual Assault - Definition: Forced sexual activity (actual or attempted); unwanted sexual touching (grabbing, kissing, fondling); or sexual relations without being able to give consent Sex Offending: Prevalence Victimization Reports General Social Survey (2019) 30 / 1,000 individuals over the age of 15 have experienced sexual assault at some point in their life Gender differences Women: 50 / 1,000 Men: 9 / 1,000 Sex Offending: Prevalence Victimization Reports General Social Survey (2019) Only 6% of sexual assaults were reported to Sex Offending: Prevalence Koss et al (2022) Objective Examine prevalence of rape victimization and perpetration among post- secondary students **This is a victimization report / self-report study** Method: Sample 1: In 1985, 32 post-secondary institutions across the US were selected. Survey administered to a randomly selection of undergraduate classes for all institutions 6,159 students participated Sample 2: In 2015, 13 post-secondary institutions across the US were selected Survey administered to a random selection of undergraduate classes for all institutions 2,471 students participated Sex Offending: Prevalence Koss et al (2022). Key Findings Prevalence of Rape Victimization Among Females 1985 Survey 2015 Survey Completed rape (excluding attempts) 15.8% 23.9% Rape victimization when given alcohol / 4.4% 12.1% incapacitated Rape victimization involving force (actual/threat) 3.5% 5.8% AND alcohol Note: Findings fromby Rape victimization Koss et (actual/threat) force al (2022) 8.0% 6.0% Key Findings (1) Among post-secondary students, female rape victimization has INCREASED over the last 30years (2) Increases in rape victimization is due largely to increases in rape within the context of intoxication Sex Offending: Prevalence Koss et al (2022). Key Findings Prevalence of Rape Perpetration by Males 1985 Survey 2015 Survey Completed rape (excluding attempts) 4.5% 10.1% Rape perpetration when given alcohol / 3.1% 5.8% incapacitated Rape perpetration involving force (actual/threat) 0.9% 3.2% AND alcohol Note: Findings frombyKoss Rape perpetration et(actual/threat) force al (2022) 0.6% 1.1% Key Findings (1) Among post-secondary students, male rape perpetration has INCREASED over the last 30years (2) Increases in rape perpetration is due largely to increases in rape within the context of intoxication