Treatment of Sex Offenders

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P. Lussier
especially those handling more serious cases and juvenile sexual recidivists (i.e.,
detention, inpatient treatment programs). It is hypothesized that their onset of sexual
offending occurs in childhood, as manifested by the onset of atypical sexual
behaviors during childhood, which may precede or co-occur with their sexual
offending (Lussier, 2015 ). This is not suggesting that all children showing atypical
sexual behaviors go on to become juvenile sexual offenders, but rather that the atypical
sexual behaviors of this group in particular persist beyond childhood due to the
presence of other risk factors working in combination with an early onset of atypical
sexual behaviors. In other words, this group is at risk of sexual offending during
adolescence, especially if the exposure to risk factors of sexual offending persists
and continues to overcome the protective factors. The growth of their sexual offending
will be gradual and constant without any intervention.
This group is more likely to persist in their sexual offending beyond the period
of adolescence. It is argued that these juveniles will eventually desist from sexual
offending, but the desistance process is significantly longer due to the long-lasting
effect of the multiple risk factors to which they have been exposed to early (Lussier,
2015 ). They are more likely to be characterized with developmental risk factors
related to sexual offending (e.g., childhood sexual victimization, exposure to sexually
deviant models). There is little empirical studies examining the factors associated
specifically with the persistence or desistance from sexual offending for this
particular group. It has been hypothesized that persistence of their sexual offending
is reflective of the presence and the role of more stable risk factors and individual
differences conducive to the commission of sexual offenses. Lussier et al. ( 2012 )
hypothesized that the high-rate/slow-desister group is also the one most likely to
show evidence of diversification of sexual offending, which is most likely to occur
during adolescence and young adulthood, as well as progressive evidence of
specialization in sexual offenses over time until termination of sexual offending.
Adult-Onset Sexual Offending
The term adult-onset sexual offending has been rarely used in the scientific literature
given the long held view that sexual deviance starts during childhood or adolescence
(for example, see Abel, Osborn, & Twigg, 1993 ). Longitudinal research,
however, does not support the view that all or that most adults involved in sexual
offenses were juvenile-onset offenders (for a review, Lussier & Cale, 2013 ). The
lack of longitudinal research on offending trajectories limits conclusions that can be
drawn about the adult-onset sexual offending group. Therefore, it remains unclear
whether there is one or multiple adult-onset sexual offending trajectories but emerging
evidence seems to point to the latter scenario. Prospective longitudinal research
with community-based sample has shown that adult-onset sexual offending is sometime
part of an escalation process of crime and delinquency. More precisely, youth
involved in chronic offending, with no evidence of involvement in sexual offending
during adolescence, who failed to desist from crime around the adolescence–adulthood
transition escalate their offending behavior to sexual crime in early adulthood
(e.g., Lussier & Blokland, 2014 ; Zimring et al., 2007 ). The combined observations