PART TWO

1. Characteristics and Modus Operandi of Child Molesters PART TWO

2. EXTRAFAMILIAL CHILD MOLESTERS Target children who are not family members

3. Extrafamilial Child Molesters Who Target Girls • They are believed to abuse an average of 20 different girls.

4. Extrafamilial Child Molesters Who Target Boys • Often “obsessed” with their victims • Quite likely to be “pedophiles” • Known for having the largest number of victims. They average 150 victims! • Likely to have a collection of “child erotica” and/or child pornography, which they use as stimuli for masturbation.

5. Extrafamilial Child Molesters Who Target Boys • “Human evidence machines” (Ken Lanning, FBI) • They frequently take photos and videotapes of their victims and sometimes of the abuse itself • A timely (unexpected) search of the offender’s residence is especially critical with this type child molester! • [Especially when interviewing victims of this type of molester, ask whether the offender has a camera]

6. It is not unusual for Child Molesters to Molest When Other Adults are Around • For many child molesters, their behavior is quite compulsive—like an addiction—and they take considerable risks in order to molest • Many child molesters are emboldened by the fact that they usually get away with molesting—even in high risk situations

7. CASE EXAMPLE A school athletic director with “no boundaries”

8. PSYCHOPATHIC CHILD MOLESTERS

9. PSYCHOPATHS • Psychopaths • start their criminal careers at a younger age than other criminals (usually before age 12) • commit more violent crimes at every age • their violent crimes do not decrease with age • lack remorse and are unaffected by punishment

10. PSYCHOPATHIC CHILD MOLESTERS • They are often superficially charming and tend to be excellent manipulators • They delight in ‘duping’ others - even if they get nothing else out of it (“duping delight”) • They lack empathy for others, but are attuned to other’s reactions and perceptions • They feel ‘entitled’ to have whatever they ‘want’ Interviewer: Why did you molest that child? Psychopath: Why not? I wanted to.

11. Tests for Psychopathy • The ‘gold standard’ for measuring psychopathy is the PCL-R (Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised) • The “Psychopathic Deviate” scale of the MMPI-2 (scale 4) is not a good measure of psychopathy. This scale was derived from a sample of primarily female ‘minor league delinquents’ (e.g., who had engaged in stealing, lying, sexual promiscuity, alcohol abuse)

12. No treatment program has ever been successful with Psychopathic Sex Offenders

13. FEMALE CHILD MOLESTERS • Teacher/lover group: primarily molest teenagers; typically not sadistic but do tend to blame their victims • Coerced group: coerced by male partner to have sex with a child; some enjoy molesting children and eventually do so apart from any coercion • Incest offenders: largest group; molest their own children often when they are very young (under 6) and tend to be fused/enmeshed with their children; many of these mothers have sadistic tendencies

14. Female Child Molester Debra LaFave • Middle School Teacher • Had intercourse with a 14 year-old male student on multiple occasions: • In her classroom • In a car driven by the boy’s male cousin • In her own car • In an apartment where the boy was visiting a relative • Arrested in 2004, after the police arranged a pretext call by the victim

15. Debra LaFave Alleges she was a “Deeply Troubled” Young Lady • Phobias, panic attacks & obsessive behavior as a child—which her mother later wrote about in detail • “Raped” at age 13, which caused Debra to believe that “to make a boy or a man happy, I had to do my part, which was pleasing him in that way” • By age 15, drinking heavily; had an ‘eating disorder’ • Tried to commit suicide twice- “took pills”; “slit wrist” • While in college, depressed; prescribed Zoloft • In 2001, her sister was killed by a drunk driver (one year before she started teaching)

16. Assuming that the following claims are true, what does this have to do with Debra molesting her student? • As a teenager, she drank heavily, had an eating disorder, and tried to commit suicide (but in college, she stopped drinking, got into a steady relationship, and maintained a high B average)? • While in college, she took anti-depressant medication? • Debra’s sister was killed by a drunk driver two years before she molested her student?

17. SADISTIC CHILD MOLESTERS

18. SADISTIC SEX OFFENDERS Actions and Motivation • They torture and sometimes kill their victims • Although it would seem that ‘anger’ would motivate this crime, this is not the case. Rather, the sadistic behavior is engaged in because it is sexually arousing • Whereas Psychopaths just ignore the pain of their victims, sadistic offenders feed on it

19. SADISTIC SEX OFFENDERSFirst Impressions • Tend to be excellent planners • When courting adults, they frequently present initially as exactly the opposite of what they are, i.e., they are very romantic and shower their prospective partner with attention, gifts, and affection

20. SADISTIC CHILD MOLESTERSAttitude Toward Their Victims • Non-sadistic offenders project their own sexual desire onto their victims • Sadistic child molesters project their own sense of evilness onto their victims

21. SADISTIC SEX OFFENDERSRitualistic Sexual Torture • Their sadistic actions are generally planned out in detail and executed in a precise sequence every time

22. Sadistic Sex Offendersand Memorabilia • As many as 65% keep ‘trophies’ (e.g., a lock of hair from the victim, or the victim’s driver’s license • 45% video- or audio-record their offenses • An unexpected search of their residence can be very telling (as with extrafamilial child molesters who target boys)

23. Fortunately, only about 2 - 5% of all sex offenders are Sadists

24. Interestingly, treatment makes Sadistic Sex Offenders worse

25. CASE EXAMPLE OF A SADISTIC OFFENDER

26. Can Adult Sex Offenders Be “Cured”? • ATSA has noted that, although many if not most sex abusers are treatable, there is no known ‘cure.’ • Management of sexually abusive behavior is a life-long task

27. Recidivism (Re-Offense) Rates Vary Greatly Depending on Length of Follow-Up • Hanson Meta-analysis (61 studies; n = 28,972) • 4 to 5 year follow-up: New sex offense 13% • 15 to 30 year follow up: New sex offense 42% Boy victims, never married 77%

28. Recidivism among ‘treated’ offenders • Conservative estimates from across studies show that no fewer than 40% of treated child molesters re-offend • Re-offense rates are much higher for offenders who were: never married and had boy victims

29. The Jury is Still Out on the Long-term Efficacy of Newer Treatments • Since current treatments (e.g., CBT) are relatively new, no one knows yet the long-term impact of these treatments

30. JUVENILE SEX OFFENDERS

31. A substantial portion of child molestations are perpetrated by Juveniles • It is estimated that 30%-50% of child molestations are perpetrated by juveniles (Rogers, et al). • More than 50% of male child victims and 15%-38% of female victims report being molested by a juvenile. (90% by male perpetrators).

32. Most adult child molesters began molesting as juveniles • Approximately 60% - 80% of adult child molesters began molesting when they were juveniles BUT. . . • There is little empirical evidence to support the common assumption that the majority of juvenile sexual offenders are destined to become adult sexual offenders. (ATSA, 1997)

33. Juvenile Sex Offenders Often Differ Motivationally from Adult Sex Offenders ATSA (1997) has endorsed the position that: • There is little evidence that juveniles sex offenders engage in acts of sexual perpetration for the same reasons as their adult counterparts. • Poor social competency skills and deficits in self-esteem can best explain sexual deviance in a significant proportion of juveniles, rather than the paraphilic interestsand psychopathiccharacteristicsthat are more common in adult offenders.

34. Juvenile Sex Offenders represent a Heterogeneous Group • Traumatized youth reacting to their own victimization • Otherwise ‘normal’ early-adolescent boys who are curious about sex and act experimentally but irresponsibly; teens responding to peer pressure; teens acting under the influence of drugs/alcohol • Immature, impulsive youth acting without thinking • Socially isolated/socially incompetent teens who turn to younger children instead of their age-mates for sexual exploration • Persistently delinquent teens who commit both sexual and nonsexual crimes/rule violations; • Generally aggressive and violent (psychopathic) teens; teens with incipient sexual deviancy problems

35. Preliminary research suggests that female adolescent sex offenders may have sustained more extensive and severe maltreatment than their male counterparts

36. Self-reported histories of child maltreatment among adolescent sex offenders (Matthews, et al, 1997) • Sample: 67 female and 70 male juvenile offenders in inpatient or residential treatment. • 78% of females reported they had been sexually abused and 60% reported they had been physically abused. • 34% of males reported they had been sexually abused and 45% reported they had been physically abused.

37. Case Example Female juvenile sex offender

38. Treatment and risks for Juvenile Sex Offenders

39. “ One size does not fit all” • Given the great variability among juvenile offenders with respect to personality variables, motivation for offending, offense pattern, sexual arousal patterns, etc., treatment should ideally be tailored to be most effective for the particular juvenile offender.

40. Teenage Sex Offenders as a Group Pose a Low Risk for Future Offending • Future sex offense rates for teenage sex offenders is 5% to 15% (Chaffin, 2008) • Even though most adult sex offenders began offending as juveniles, the vast majority of teenage sex offenders do NOT become adult sex offenders (just as the vast majority of teens who smoke pot do not become adult heroin addicts)

41. Incarcerated sex offending teenage delinquents and nonsexual teenage delinquents were found to have similar rates of future sex offenses • Caldwell (2007) followed two groups of juvenile delinquents for 5 years after they were released from juvenile detention facilities: teen sex offenders and non-sex offending teens • There was no statistical difference in the rate of future sex offenses: 7% for teens who had committed a prior sex offense and 6% for non-sex-offending delinquents

42. Which group commits more future sex offenses? Teenage sex offenders or non-sex-offending teenage delinquents? • Caldwell (2007) found that 85% of all future sex crimes committed by juvenile delinquents were committed by former non-sex-offending delinquents. • The most violent subsequent offenses were not committed by former teenage sex offenders. All 3sexual homicides and all 54 homicides were committed by former non-sexual-offending teens

43. Pre-adolescents with Sexual Behavior Problems (SBPs) are even LESS LIKELY than Teenage Sex Offenders to commit future sex offenses or to become Adult Sex Offenders

44. Randomized Trial of Treatment for Children With Sexual Behavior Problems: Ten-Year Follow-Up • Carpentier, Silovsky & Chaffin (2006). Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 74, No. 3, 482-488 • Group #1: Kids ages 5-12 years with SBPs (n = 123) • Twelve 60-minute child & parent group sessions: separate groups for parents and kids • Treatments: TF-CBT or Unstructured/Play therapy • Group #2: ‘Clinical’ group of 5-12 y/o kids with disruptive behaviors (mostly ADHD) but no SBPs • 10-year follow-up data were collected on juvenile and adult arrests and child welfare perpetration reports

45. Results of 10-year follow-up of Treated Preadolescents with SBPs(Carpentier, Silovsky & Chaffin, 2006) • The TF-CBT SBP group had significantly fewer sex offenses (only 2%) than the play therapy group (10%) • The TF-CBT group did not differ significantly from the clinical/ADHD group (2-3%) • These findings do not support assumptions about ‘persistent’ or ‘difficult to modify’ risk and raise questions about policies and practices founded on this assumption

46. Labeling young children as rapists, pedophiles, “perps,” etc. is unwarranted and potentially damaging • Research has not established that juveniles who have SBPs or commit a sex offense are likely to become pedophiles or adult sex offenders—quite the contrary • Such labeling has the potential to stigmatize children and punish them unfairly, e.g., sex offender registration, residence requirements barred from public schools/employment • Labeling also has the potential of isolating children from their peers and important sources of support