TY - JOUR
T1 - Developmental and sexual offense onset characteristics of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous male youth who sexually offend
AU - Adams, Dimity
AU - McKillop, Nadine
AU - Smallbone, Stephen
AU - McGrath, Andrew
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - The present study sought to address gaps in knowledge concerning Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth who commit sexual offenses. Developmental histories and onset sexual offense characteristics of Indigenous (n = 81) and non-Indigenous (n = 130) adjudicated male youth were compared. Results indicate that, in addition to problems affecting both groups, Indigenous youth in this sample were disproportionately exposed to systemic vulnerabilities (e.g., familial antisocial attitudes and incarceration, engagement with antisocial peers, poor school engagement and voluntary school dropout, low socioeconomic status) associated with onset of sexual offending. Differences in the circumstances and context surrounding the onset sexual offense (e.g., use of drugs/alcohol, relationship to person harmed, co-offending, age of person harmed, location, threats/force) were also found. When these analyses were stratified by age of person harmed, these differences were retained only for offenses against children below 16 years. Together, these findings highlight the need for more contextualized primary-, secondary-, and tertiary-level prevention efforts to reduce youth sexual offending in Australia and elsewhere.
AB - The present study sought to address gaps in knowledge concerning Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth who commit sexual offenses. Developmental histories and onset sexual offense characteristics of Indigenous (n = 81) and non-Indigenous (n = 130) adjudicated male youth were compared. Results indicate that, in addition to problems affecting both groups, Indigenous youth in this sample were disproportionately exposed to systemic vulnerabilities (e.g., familial antisocial attitudes and incarceration, engagement with antisocial peers, poor school engagement and voluntary school dropout, low socioeconomic status) associated with onset of sexual offending. Differences in the circumstances and context surrounding the onset sexual offense (e.g., use of drugs/alcohol, relationship to person harmed, co-offending, age of person harmed, location, threats/force) were also found. When these analyses were stratified by age of person harmed, these differences were retained only for offenses against children below 16 years. Together, these findings highlight the need for more contextualized primary-, secondary-, and tertiary-level prevention efforts to reduce youth sexual offending in Australia and elsewhere.
KW - Indigenous youth
KW - youth sex offending
KW - secual offense onset
KW - systemic factors
KW - crime prevention
U2 - 10.1177/1079063219871575
DO - 10.1177/1079063219871575
M3 - Article
C2 - 31474188
SN - 1079-0632
VL - 32
SP - 958
EP - 985
JO - Sexual Abuse
JF - Sexual Abuse
IS - 8
ER -