Juvenile Sexual Offending as a Developmental Problem

Introduction: Juvenile Offending as a Developmental Issue

Adult sexual offending has long been considered a serious problem, but until the 1980s the problem of juvenile sexual offending had not been adequately addressed. This neglect rested on the assumption that "boys will be boys" and that adolescent sexual offending was more of an experimental stage for boys not requiring professional intervention (Lane, Davis, & Isaac, 1987). The issue attracted more serious attention in the 1980s and 1990s, however, as available literature and FBI crime reports indicated a set of problems that could no longer be downplayed. By the late 1980s, incidents of adolescent sexual offending were rising by 10% each year, while in the state of Utah the number of juveniles committing sexual offenses had increased by 55% in the five years preceding 1989. The number of forcible rapes by juveniles in 1990 was 30% higher than it was in 1989. Moreover, many adult sex offenders reported that their offending careers had begun during adolescence or early childhood (Openshaw et al., 1993).

Research suggests, however, that juvenile sexual offending differs from adult sexual offending in that juvenile offending is more closely tied to developmental issues rather than to sexual deviance. Such issues include the formation of personality, psychological aspects of development, adolescent responses to the social environment and its changes, and the many social forces that shape the emotional and cognitive relationships and behavior of young people.

Defining Sexual Offending and Its Forms

Sexual offending is defined as "any sexual interaction(s) of any age that is perpetrated (a) against the victim's will, (b) without consent, or (c) in an aggressive, exploitative, manipulative, or threatening manner" (Ryan, Leversee, & Lane, 2010, p. 3). It involves a wide range of behaviors, including paraphilias (more than one type of sexual deviancy). Molestation includes rubbing, touching, sucking, involuntary exposure to sexual materials, and, in extreme cases, penetrating behaviors. Rape refers to a sexual act perpetrated using force and/or violence; in some jurisdictions legal definitions also include penetration by penis or various objects. Other forms of sexual offending include exposing one's genitalia (exhibitionism), peeping or voyeurism (observing others without their consent), frottage (rubbing against others), fetishism (for example, urinating or masturbating on another person's garments), and various forms of obscene communication such as denigrating telephone calls, name-calling, and verbal sexual harassment (Ryan, Leversee, & Lane, 2010, p. 3).

Developmental and Social Factors in Adolescent Offending

Dealing with juvenile sexual offenders is much like dealing with a troubled child who is experiencing various social problems because of his or her developmental stage. Factors affecting these juveniles include familial and peer relationships, the exploration of new attitudes and interests, and reactions to social messages. According to Rich (2009), adolescent sexual offenders, unlike adult sex offenders, do not have fixed emotional, attitudinal, behavioral, and sexual interests and preferences. Their perceptions of their surroundings are fluid and flexible; thus they may be easily influenced by their social environment, and adolescents "are far more amenable to treatment, which, therefore, has the clear capacity to eliminate the problem of sexually abusive behavior by the time the child, or adolescent reaches young adulthood" (p. 432). Adolescents are also more open and willing to participate in educational processes and exhibit far less sexual deviancy than adults, since they are mostly motivated by the desire to experiment — abusive though those experimentations may be.

A study by Miner and Munns (2005), which examined attitudinal differences among adolescent sexual offenders, juvenile delinquents, and non-delinquent youth, suggests that lack of social control, normlessness, and a sense of isolation were important factors influencing the attitudes of juvenile sexual offenders. These factors distinguished sexual offenders from other juvenile delinquents and from non-delinquent youth. While differences on social variables such as family normlessness and social isolation were scant between juvenile delinquents and non-delinquent youth, juvenile sexual offenders exhibited higher levels of normlessness and social isolation — among peers, in school, and in the family — than either comparison group. Miner and Munns (2005) write that "sex offending behavior in adolescents can be considered a normlessness driven behavior, a socially inappropriate means of achieving a conventional goal, in this case relationships and intimate contact" (p. 499).

The study found no indication that adolescent sex offenders were more prone to sexual deviancy than juvenile delinquents or non-delinquent youth; they were primarily motivated by problems adolescents encounter during the developmental process. Sexual offenders faced more of such problems in their lives than did non-sexual juvenile delinquents and non-delinquent youth.

Conclusion

Juvenile sex offending, while sharing some commonalities with adult sex offending, is a different problem requiring a specific approach for treatment. Unlike adult sex offenders, adolescents are not chronic sexual deviants, do not have fixed ideas and interests, and are more likely to be influenced and shaped by changing environmental circumstances. The main factors that influence their behavioral patterns are the problems inherent in the developmental stage of youth. These problems include changing social messages, abusive parenting, marital discord in the family, and feelings of normlessness and isolation from peers, family, and school.