Almost universally, including every Australian state and self-governing territory, sexual
relations between a parent and child constitute child sexual abuse (United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989), although definitions of the crime and penalties
vary by jurisdiction. Despite cultural taboos against incest and pervasive social opprobrium,
complicity and silence about this offence impedes research advances (Sacco 2009).
Studies in correctional settings typically include all subtypes of sex offenders and focus on
high-risk extrafamilial offenders, leading to inconsistent findings about the treatment, risk
management and prevention of intrafamilial offending (Butler, Goodman-Delahunty & Lulham
2012). Disclosure by popular celebrities of their personal experiences of incest has raised
awareness of the widespread nature of this furtive offence (Phillips 2009; Winfrey 2011) but
the topic remains understudied, misunderstood and inadequately addressed.