Typology of Sex Offenders

Offenders are more likely to be relatives or acquaintances of their victim than strangers.

There are three categorizations of sex offenders against minors in the field of criminal psychology. The first two are major while the third is minor.

Regressed offenders

Regressed offenders are primarily attracted to their own age group but are passively aroused by minors.

• The sexual attraction to minors is not manifested until adulthood.
• Their sexual conduct until adulthood is aligned with that of their own age group.
• Their interest in minors is either not realized until well into adulthood or it was recognized early on and simply suppressed due to social taboo.

Other scenarios may include:

• Not associating their attractions as pedosexual in nature due to cultural differences.
• Age of consent laws were raised in their jurisdiction but mainstream views toward sex with that age group remained the same, were acted upon, then they were charged with a crime.
• The person’s passive interest in children is manifested temporarily upon the consumption of alcohol and acted upon while inhibitions were low.

Fixated offenders

Fixated offenders are most often adult pedophiles who are maladaptive to accepted social norms. They develop compatibility and self-esteem issues, stunting their social growth.“This offender identifies with children, in other words considers him or herself to be like a child and thus seeks sexual relationships with what the offender perceives to be other children”.Such offenders often resort to collecting personal articles related to minors (clothing, children’s books) as an outlet for their repressed desires. The sexual acts are typically preconceived and are not alcohol or drug related.

“Children who molest”

Some therapists noticed that many adult sex offenders already showed what they considered deviant sexual behavior during childhood. So they promoted early treatment of deviant minors as a preventive measure. However there is still little known about normal as opposed to deviant child sexuality. It is also unknown whether so called deviant minors have a higher risk of becoming an adult sex offenders than anybody else.

The label “juvenile sex offender” is controversial because it is not only used to describe acts of violence, but also consensual acts that violate statutory rape laws; critics of this trend view many such children as simply engaging in sexual experimentation. 

Ref – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse#Typology

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