Module 1: Sex Offenses, Offenders and Victims

MODULE 1: SEX OFFENSES, OFFENDERS AND VICTIMS Female Sex Offender Typologies

The remaining slides in this presentation focus on a new topic, Female Sex Offenders-- An Introduction and Typology. Most of the research has focused on males who victimize women and children, when the fact is females do, in fact, rape and molest children, as well. However, female sex offenses are more likely to go unreported or undiscovered. This is often the result of the fact that female sex offenders often disguise their offending behavior and daily routines, such as bathing and dressing. Also, female sex offending is considered less serious compared to male sex offending.

For female sex offenders, juries are not likely to convict women for minor sex crimes. Typically, juries end up diverting these folks from the criminal justice system. However, female sex offenders tend to select victims with whom they have easy access to, such as children or those who they are caregivers for. Some female sex offenders act alone, but also, some female sex offenders prefer to have male accomplices who co-offend with them.

An example of the prevalence of female sex offending, according to uniform crime reports, is estimated that 1% of rapes were perpetrated by females. Females also represented 8% of sexually- based arrest other than forcible rape and prostitution. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, which represents only reported victimization, prevalence estimates indicate up to 12% of victimization was perpetrated by females. Other research has shown that up to 60% of victims have reported being sexually abused by women.

One such study, provided by Timnick in 1985, provided a random nationwide telephone survey of 2,267 adults. Their results indicated that 22% of these adults reported childhood sexual abuse. 2/3 of these victims were female. 7% reported females as the perpetrators of their sex crimes. And the most common age of the abused was 10, and the abuser's age was 30. Lastly, only 3% of these victims reported this behavior to the police.

Two additional studies are provided by Finkelhor et al. in 1988 and Johnson and Shrier in 1987. Finkelhor conducted a nationwide assessment of 271 child abuse cases. They found that 40% of these cases were occurred in daycare, were perpetrated by women. Johnson and Shrier examined 11 of 25 male teenage sexual assault victims between the ages of five and seventeen. They found that these victims reported females as the abusers between the ages of 16 and 36, 44% of the time.

There are a number of conclusions that can be made on the overall comparisons, across studies that have looked at female sex offenders. These offenders are a broad age range. Some have been reported as young as 13. Some have been reported as being as old as 65. The younger female sex offenders are less likely to be processed through the criminal justice system.

By and large, these women were single. And only one study that found 38% were married, and that was the highest rate of marriage. The average age was between 16 and 26, of the offenders. Most women were white. Oftentimes, between 66% and 95% of the female sex offenders were reported being white.

Range between 32% and 52% often had mental illness, particularly severe Depression and Borderline Personality Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder is defined as a mental illness primarily characterized by emotional disregulation, extreme black and white thinking, or splitting and chaotic relationships. The general profile of the disorder also typically includes a pervasive instability of mood, interpersonal relationships, self image, identity, and behavior, as well as a disturbance in the individual sense of self. Finally, psychosis was rare among female sex offenders.

Other comparisons between studies-- these studies have found a range between 20% and 50% of these female sex offenders had alcohol and drug abuse problems. Also, the estimates are between 50% to up to 80% of the female sex offenders had been sexually abused. Mothers were also overrepresented as perpetrators.

Furthermore, female sex offenders are likely to be related to their victim. Women sex offenders very rarely assault strangers. Additional comparisons across studies include 33% to 70% of female sex offenders reported they had a co-offender or an accomplice. Usually, it was unable to specifically determine their role in the event, though.

Also, research has shown that between 20% and 50% of cases that were referred to law enforcement or Child Protective services result in a prosecution. So, very few of the cases perpetrated by females, that are reported, are, in fact, prosecuted. Overall, when the women sex offenders are prosecuted, they typically receive lenient sentences, on average of less than five years.

Final comparisons across studies indicate that babysitters are rather prevalent among female sex offenders. Most of the victims are young, average age from three to ten years old. Furthermore, with regard to the gender of the victim, males usually make up between 50% and 60% of the victims of female sex offenders.

A study by Vandiver and Walker in 2002 analyzed and reviewed the cases of 40 registered female sex offenders in the state of Arkansas. They found that most of the female sex offenders were white. The average age was 31 years old.

Typically, the sex offense was these sex offenders' first and only sex offense. Their victims were all minors. Roughly 1/2 of the victims were also relatives of the female sex offenders. And essentially, they reported that these female sex offenders typically committed the sex crimes based on opportunity and used easily accessible victims.

Displayed is a chart summarizing the typologies of female sex offenders that have been described in past research. For example, in 1982, Sarrel and Masters reported the following typology-- forced assault, babysitter abuse, incestuous abuse, and dominant woman abuse. Wolfe, in 1985, described female sex offenders as psychopathic, neurotic, overcontrolled, or normal criminals.

Mathews et al., in 1989, provided the following typology-- teacher/lovers, predisposed molesters, male-coerced molesters, experimenters/exploiters, and the psychologically disturbed female sex offenders. Mayer, in 1992, categorized female sex offenders as female rapists, female sexual harassers, mother molesters, triads, and homosexual female sex offenders. Finally, another example is provided by Syed and Williams in 1996. They reported female sex offenders as being angry, impulsive, male-accompanied, familial, and nonfamilial.

Overall, these typologies can be categorized into several types of characteristics. Essentially, dominant woman abuse, female rapist, and angry-impulsive are adult women abusing adult males. Psychopathic, neurotic, psychologically disturbed are considered aggressive, impulsive, poorly socialized, depressed, and women that experience guilt.

Overcontrolled female sex offenders do not recognize a problem with their behavior. The normal criminals are hostile and tense, without psychopathic traits. The experimenters/exploiters have younger offenders who are exploiting someone they've been babysitting. The babysitter abuse type is often searching for a younger boy who is assaulted by a nonrelated female.

Teacher/lovers are obviously cases where teachers involved sexually abusing their students. Homosexual molesters are females abusing another female. Predisposed molester and mother molesters are those female sex offenders that have a history of abuse-- particularly mothers abusing their children. Incestuous abuse is where a mother abuses their child, or older siblings abusing younger siblings.

Male-coerced molesters and triads are passive offenders, acting with their romantic partner in abusing their own children. Male-accompanied, familial, and nonfamilial are active offenders acting with a male partner in abusing their victims.

According to your required article reading, Vandiver and Kercher provided a study where they examined offender and victim characteristics of registered female sex offenders in the state of Texas. Specifically, their sample analyzed all registered adult female sex offenders in the state of Texas, or 471 of these cases.

They found that the average age of the female sex offenders was 32 years of age. They were predominantly white. Most of their cases involved indecency with a child or child sexual abuse. The victims were either male or female with an average victim age of 12. The victim was also often either an acquaintance or a relative.

Regarding the typologies observed, Vandiver and Kercher reported there was the highest prevalence of the heterosexual nurture typology. The average age of these female sex offenders was 30 years of age. They typically victimized 12-year-old males. And they could also be considered a, quote, teacher/lover typology. The second typology was the homosexual criminal, where these female sex offenders were typically in their 30s, and used force, and coerced their victims into prostitution.

The third typology discovered was homosexual aggressive types. These female sex offenders selected victims on average of 31 years of age. Most of these cases involved sexual assault. And most of these cases likely involved criminal domestic violence situations. Ultimately, these results led Vandiver and Kercher to conclude the following things.

Specifically, prior research identified several motivations for female sexual offending, such as the reenactment of sexual abuse, emotional women acting out their feelings, narcissistic woman abusing their own daughters-- perhaps as a result of an extension of the battered woman syndrome. Or these female sex offenders may, in fact, have been socialized to follow their male accomplices. In the end, Vandiver and Kercher's analysis led them to conclude that it is important to consider the following three motivations-- one, desire for intimacy, two, a desire for economic gain, or three, the motivations could also result from domestic violence.