Publication year: 2011
Source: Aggression and Violent Behavior, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 24 March 2011
Shelly A., McGrath , Ashlyn Abbott, Nilsen , Kent R., Kerley
Child sexual abuse has been suggested as a precursor to criminal and deviant behaviors in adolescence and adulthood. This review will examine and consolidate findings from the empirical research concerning childhood sexual abuse and the propensity of victims to become juvenile and adult offenders. First, we develop a demographic profile of sexual abuse victims most likely to commit juvenile and adult offenses. Second, we explore the literature to determine whether, in general, sexually abused children have an increased likelihood of criminality as juveniles and as adults. Third, we explore whether the types of crimes and delinquent acts committed by sexual…
Research Highlights: ►Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been suggested as a precursor to criminal and deviant behaviors in adolescence and adulthood. Indeed, there has been an increase in interest among sociologists, psychologists, criminologists, and family researchers regarding the criminal outcomes of CSA. However, little attempt has been made to synthesize the empirical findings from this research over the past two decades. Here we addressed this issue by reviewing 20 empirical studies on who is most likely to become a victim of child sexual abuse, whether victimization increases victims’ propensity to commit crimes as juveniles and as adults, and what types of crimes CSA victims are most likely to commit. ►Overall, despite important findings derived from the studies reviewed on the relationship between child sexual abuse and criminal behaviors in adolescence and adulthood, there are several important limitations. Issues such as: 1) definitions of child sexual abuse and delinquency/crime, 2) definitions of children, 3) use of cross-sectional versus longitudinal research designs, 4) inadequate sample size, 5) lack of appropriate comparison groups, 6) a focus on special populations, and 7) temporal order make is difficult to compare results of different studies, to replicate previous studies, and to generalize the findings beyond the study population (Briere, 1992). Our hope is that investigators will continue to study child sexual abuse and criminal offending with these methodological and statistical issues in mind.