Female Sex Offenders
Up to 63% of female victims and as many as 27% of male victims report having been sexually victimized by a female (Schwartz & Cellini, 1995).
The National Criminal Victimization Survey – which captures information from victims who might not have reported the incident to the authorities – indicates that females represent up to 6% of rapes or sexual assaults by an individual acting alone, it also implicates female offenders in up to 40% of sex crimes involving multiple offenders (BJS, 2006).
In order to escape accountability for his/her crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his or her power to promote forgetting. Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator's first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of their victim. If he/she cannot silence him/her absolutely, he/she tries to make sure no one listens. -- Judith Lewis Herman
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Understanding Female Sex Offenders (03/2007)
Adolescents Offenders: Characteristics and Typologies (03/2007)
Factors Affecting the (Under) Recognition of Female-Perpetrated Sex Offenses (03/2007)
Experiences and Attitudes of Registered Female Sex Offenders (12/2004)
Newspaper Articles
Also see:
Cases in the Jewish Community:
Related Information:
Understanding Female Sex
Offenders
Female Sex Offenders
Center for Sex Offender Management: A Project of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice - March, 2007
In contrast to the burgeoning body of literature describing male sex offenders, the research on female sex offenders is considerably under-developed. Much of what exists is purely descriptive in nature and tends to be based on small samples of women and adolescent girls in clinical settings, making it impossible to draw reliable inferences about any defining characteristics, risk factors, or offense dynamics of female sex offenders as a whole. In addition, as is the case with male sex offenders, the research on female sex offenders thus far suggests that they are a heterogeneous population (see, e.g., Becker et al., 2001; Grayston & De Luca, 1999; Hunter, Becker, & Lexier, 2006; Johansson-Love & Fremouw, 2006).
Adults: Characteristics and Typologies
Keeping in mind the limitations of the current state of the research as well as the diversity of the population, some preliminary findings about adult women who commit sex offenses suggest that they may have the following characteristics:
Histories of childhood maltreatment, including sexual victimization;
Mental health symptoms, personality disorders, and substance abuse problems;
Difficulties in intimate relationships, or an absence of intimate relationships;
A propensity to primarily victimize children and adolescents (rarely adults);
A tendency to commit offenses against persons who are related or otherwise well known to them; and
·An increased likelihood of perpetrating sex offenses in concert with a male intimate partner.
Certainly, not all of these characteristics apply to all sexually abusive women, and there are additional features and offense patterns that have been identified in some studies but not in others.
As a means of further categorizing groups of female sex offenders based on potential commonalities, a few professionals have attempted to identify typologies of sexually abusive women (Mathews, Matthews, & Speltz, 1989; Nathan & Ward, 2002; Vandiver & Kercher, 2004). In the seminal work of Mathews and her colleagues – which remains the most influential and commonly cited framework for female sex offender typologies – three primary subtypes emerged (Mathews et al., 1989):
Male-coerced: These women tended to be passive and dependent individuals with histories of sexual abuse and relationship difficulties. Fearing abandonment, they were pressured by male partners to commit sex offenses, often against their own children.
Predisposed: Histories of incestuous sexual victimization, psychological difficulties, and deviant sexual fantasies were common among these women, who generally acted alone in their offending. They tended to victimize their own children or other young children within their families.
Teacher/lover: At the time of their offending, women in this subtype were often struggling with peer relationships, seemed to regress and perceive themselves as having romantic or sexually mentoring "relationships" with under-aged adolescent victims of their sexual preference, and, therefore, did not consider their acts to be criminal in nature.
As the authors acknowledged, these original typologies were not statistically generated and were based largely on the clinical observations of a sample of only 16 women, thus limiting the ability to generalize the findings to the larger population of female sex offenders. However, subsequent investigations have continued to support their applicability (Matthews, 1998; Nathan & Ward, 2002; Vandiver & Kercher, 2004).
Most recently, Vandiver and Kercher (2004) added considerably to the research by employing a statistical approach to identify subtypes, using the largest sample of female sex offenders to date. From the over 450 female sex offenders in the study, six statistically-derived clusters were revealed, some of which were consistent with the Mathews et al. (1989) typologies.
Co-Offending Women Versus Solo Female Offenders
Particularly unique to female-perpetrated sex offenses is the increased potential for a male co-offender. Until recently, little was known about the differences between male-accompanied female sex offenders and women who acted alone. In a comparative study of over 200 female sex offenders, several differences were identified (Vandiver, 2006). Specifically, co-offending women were more likely than female solo offenders to:
· Have multiple young victims;
· Victimize females – or both females and males – as opposed to males only;
· Target family members including their own children, versus solo offenders, who often target acquaintances; and
· Have been charged with non-sex crimes at the same time the sex offense charge occurred.
Unfortunately, because the data were limited to basic demographic and criminal record information, no specific features could be identified with respect to the motivating, psychosocial, or other characteristics of these women. Nevertheless, these findings converge around the notion that women who commit sex offenses are a heterogeneous population, and support the belief that there may be distinct subgroups of female sex offenders
Adolescents Offenders: Characteristics and
Typologies
Female Sex Offenders
Center for Sex Offender Management: A Project of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice - March, 2007
Perhaps even more so than with adult female sex offenders, the research on adolescent girls who commit sex offenses is very limited. Thus far, researchers have revealed the following common characteristics (see Bumby & Bumby, 2004; Frey, 2006; Hunter et al., 2006; and Robinson, 2006 for reviews):
High prevalence of sexual victimization;
Instability and dysfunction within the family and home;
Co-occurring psychiatric disorders, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder;
Victimizing young children within the family or with whom they are familiar;
Targeting victims of either gender; and
Acting alone, often offending within the context of care-giving activities.
Based on the current available literature, it appears that many of the characteristics of adolescent female sex offenders parallel those of their adult counterparts, although further research that explicitly examines their unique developmental circumstances is needed.
In terms of typology research, only one published study has offered a differentiation between subgroups of adolescent girls who have committed sex offenses (Mathews, Hunter, & Vuz, 1997). The following three preliminary subtypes were identified from the sample of 67 adolescent females:
· Those who engaged in a limited number of incidents against a non-related child within the context of babysitting. They were relatively inexperienced, naïve, and somewhat fearful with respect to sexual matters, and their offending behaviors appeared to be motivated primarily by experimentation or curiosity. Histories of maltreatment, family dysfunction, and psychological difficulties were fairly limited within this subtype.
· Girls who appeared to be sexually reactive, generally abusing younger children in a manner that mirrored their own victimization. Although some in this subtype evidenced emotional, psychological, and other difficulties, these issues generally were not severe, and many of these youth possessed adequate social skills and other personality strengths.
· Adolescent females who engaged in more extensive and repetitive sex offending behaviors and who manifested much greater levels of emotional and psychosexual disturbance. Many had experienced considerable developmental trauma, including sexual victimization often beginning at an early age, which likely contributed to their significant difficulties with adjustment and stability.
Female Versus Male Sex Offenders: Similar or
Different?
Female Sex Offenders
Center for Sex Offender Management: A Project of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice - March, 2007
Given the nature and dynamics of sex crimes, it should come as no surprise that individuals who commit sex offenses – regardless of gender – have several features in common. Indeed, many sexually abusive women and men show evidence of poor coping skills, relationship difficulties, cognitive distortions, and victim empathy deficits (see, e.g., Allen, 1991; Denov & Cortoni, 2006; Grayston & De Luca, 1999; Mathews et al., 1989; Nathan & Ward, 2001, 2002). In addition, with adolescents, co-occurring behavioral health needs, delinquency, low self-esteem, substance use, and family difficulties are common among samples of both girls and boys who have committed sex offenses (see, e.g., Bumby & Bumby, 1997; Mathews et al., 1997; Kubik, Hecker, & Righthand, 2002). At the same time, several differences between female and male sex offenders have been noted, including the following (see, e.g., Becker et al., 2001; Davin, Hislop, & Dunbar,1999; Grayston & De Luca, 1999; Nathan & Ward, 2001; Vandiver, 2006):
· Sexual victimization histories are exceedingly more common among adult and adolescent female sex offenders than with male sex offenders, and their maltreatment experiences are often more longstanding, extensive, and severe;
· Adult women are more likely than men to commit sex offenses with a co- offending male, either in concert with the male or as a result of coercion by the male;
· Offending by adult and adolescent females is more likely to occur within the context of caregiving situations;
· Acts of rape are less common among female sex offenders, but when they occur, the victims tend to be the same gender, unlike the victims of male-perpetrated rapes;
· The victims of adolescent female perpetrators more often than adolescent male offenders tend to be young children; and
· When child victims are involved, adolescent female offenders are more likely than adolescent males to target both genders, whereas adolescent males more commonly target children of the opposite sex.
These similarities and differences have implications for the ways in which these women and girls are managed in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.
Factors Affecting the (Under) Recognition of Female-Perpetrated Sex
Offenses
Female Sex Offenders
Center for Sex Offender Management: A Project of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice - March, 2007
Collectively, the available information suggests that adult women and adolescent girls represent the minority of sex offenders. However, a lingering question remains as to whether these data truly reflect a relative under-occurrence or if female sex offending is simply under-recognized, with external factors contributing to what seems to be an under-representation of females as sex offenders. It appears that both may be true.
In other words, much like crime in general, for which males comprise the vast majority of all arrests (FBI, 2006), there is no reason to believe that females would necessarily be responsible for a significantly greater proportion of sex crimes. On the other hand, there is evidence that sexual victimization perpetrated by females is likely to be under-identified – even more so than male- perpetrated sex offenses – for several reasons, including societal and cultural stereotypes, professional biases, problemswith research methodologies, and unique dynamics that impact victims' disclosures of these offenses.
Sociocultural Influences
At the macro level, sex offending long has been viewed within society as a male-only crime. This is, in part, because of pervasive gender role stereotypes about women as nurturing, caretaking individuals who are, by their very nature, unlikely to engage in aggressive or harmful behaviors toward others (see, e.g., Allen, 1991; Anderson & Struckman-Johnson, 1998; Denov, 2004; Hislop, 2001). Also potentially operating are sexist beliefs that depict males as controlling all sexual encounters and females as passive and submissive recipients (Allen, 1991; Becker, Hall, & Stinson, 2001; Denov, 2004; Schwartz & Cellini, 1995). Misperceptions also exist about the "ability" of women to sexually victimize males, with some believing that males are incapable of being physically aroused if they are unwilling participants (Anderson & Struckman-Johnson, 1998; Hislop, 2001). This reflects not only a limited understanding of physiological responses, but also suggests a narrow view of female-perpetrated sexual victimization as solely involving members of the opposite sex. Finally, undoubtedly contributing to societal under-awareness of female-perpetrated sex offenses is the sheer volume and imbalance of cases involving males as offenders that are brought to the attention of the authorities.
Professional Biases
Beliefs and perceptions at the macro level can, in turn, influence the perspectives and responses at a more micro level. Indeed, there is evidence that broader cultural biases play a role in the willingness of various criminal justice and treatment professionals to acknowledge female sex offending (see, e.g., Becker et al., 2001; Denov, 2004). For example, researchers found that training for law enforcement officers tends to be geared exclusively around men as sex offenders and women as victims. In combination with the sex role stereotypes that exist within society, this impacts the responses of law enforcement to female-perpetrated sex crimes (Denov, 2004). Specifically, the research revealed that police officers reacted with disbelief to allegations involving women, minimized the seriousness of the reports, viewed the female suspects as less dangerous and harmful, and were prone toward labeling the cases as "unfounded" (Denov, 2004).
Similar patterns have been identified within the medical and mental health fields, in which the interacting effects of training, diagnostic criteria, and cultural stereotypes are believed to impact professionals' considerations about sex offenses committed by females (Becker et al., 2001; Denov, 2004; Denov & Cortoni, 2006; Hunter & Mathews, 1997). When presented to psychiatrists and other clinicians, these kinds of cases have been met with skepticism and marginalization, and the women who committed the acts have been perceived as less culpable and less harmful (Denov, 2004; Hislop, 2001).
As a result, cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by adult women and adolescent girls may be less likely to be reported, and even if they are reported, they may not be aggressively pursued within child welfare, criminal justice, or juvenile justice systems (Becker et al., 2001; Bumby & Bumby, 2004; Denov, 2004; Hislop, 2001).
"The lack of public and professional cognizance of female sexual offending and its detrimental effects serves to deprive both the victims and the females who perpetrate against them of needed familial and professional support and intervention." (Hunter & Mathews, 1997, p. 465)
Experiences and Attitudes of Registered Female
Sex Offenders
By Richard Tewksbury, Ph.D.
Department of Justice Administration, University of Louisville
Federal Probation: A journal of correctional philosophy and practice - December, 2004, Volume 68 Number 3
http://www.uscourts.gov/fedprob/December_2004/offenders.html
RECENTLY CHANGES and innovations in public policies and sentencing structures have extended criminal sanctions beyond the immediate needs of offenders, victims, and society in general. One clear example of reaching beyond immediate needs and extending the form, length and consequences of sentencing is the use of community notification and registration of sex offenders. The present research identifies how such practices have created unintended and potentially serious collateral consequences for convicted sex offenders, with a special focus on female sex offenders.
Research on sex offenders has historically focused, almost exclusively, on male offenders. Studies of female sex offenders are relatively rare, at least in part because most known sex offenders are male. Females comprise only 1.2 percent of arrests for rape and 8.0 percent of arrests for all other sex offenses (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002). Women who are sex offenders are most often convicted of offenses against children (Faller, 1987; Lewis and Stanley, 2000; Rosencrans, 1997; Vandiver and Walker, 2002) or low level felonies (other than rape); because of the latter, female sex offenders are often considered "less serious" sex offenders (Hetherton, 1999).
In the criminological literature, attention to female sex offenders is rare, with the first articles appearing in the 1980s. Although recognized, female sex offending is not only often considered less serious than that of males (Hetherton, 1999), but is also acknowledged as possibly less likely to be detected or reported (Berliner and Barbieri, 1984; Johnson and Shrier, 1987).
Recently, much attention has been focused on community notification and registration of (male and female) sex offenders. To date, there are few studies of sex offender registries. The existing assessments are of four varieties: overviews and "profiles" of the population of registered sex offenders, evaluations of recidivism rates for registered sex offenders, examinations of the accuracy of information in the registries, and assessments of the experience of registration from the point of view of offenders. However, only one study to date has focused on female registered sex offenders.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (Adams, 2002) reports that a total of 386,000 convicted sex offenders were registered in 49 states1 and the District of Columbia in 2001. The use of sex offender registries has grown rapidly; the 2001 total represents a 46.2 percent increase over the registered offender population in 1998. However, statistics on the sex of registered sex offenders is not available. Individual studies have reported that females comprise 0.8 percent of registered sex offenders in Hawaii (Szymkowiak and Fraser, 2002), 3 percent of sex offenders in Iowa, 2.4 percent of registered sex offenders in Arkansas, and in the present research, 2.7 percent and 2 percent of registered sex offenders in Kentucky and Indiana respectively.
The most comprehensive assessment of registered sex offenders to date is the overview of 1,458 offenders on the Hawaii registry (Szymkowiak and Fraser, 2002). The demographic assessment shows that the "average" registered sex offender in Hawaii is between the ages of 40 and 49, lives in the greater Honolulu metropolitan area, has a criminal record of between one and five (typically non-violent) felonies (and a similar number of misdemeanor convictions), and has only one sex offense conviction. In Iowa, the "typical" registered sex offender was a white male with a median age of 31.1 at time of conviction; a majority (57.9 percent) have a previous criminal (but not necessarily sexual) conviction (Adkins, Huff, and Stageberg, 2000).
The only assessment to date of female registered sex offenders (Vandiver and Walker, 2002) focused on identifying a typology of offending patterns, including victim and offender characteristics. This review of official records revealed that these offenders were almost all white, with a mean age of 31 at the time of their first sex offense. Females comprised a slight majority (55 percent) of the victims of these female sex offenders. All had juvenile victims and less serious (if any) criminal records than their male counterparts. Vandiver and Walker (2002) were not able to gather complete data on how many of their sample of female sex offenders were related to their victims; from the data available, though, 94 percent of the victims were related to the offender.
The Iowa study also assessed recidivism of registered sex offenders over a 4.3 year period and showed "mixed effects on recidivism rates" when comparing sex offenders that were and were not (due to a different time period in question) required to register (Adkins, et al., 2000: 19). Registered sex offenders had a sex offense recidivism rate of 3.0 percent; the comparison group had a recidivism rate of 3.5 percent; total recidivism (for all offenses) was 24.5 percent for the registered offenders and 33.3 percent for the comparison group.
All of the examples of research focused on identifying the characteristics and recidivism of offenders listed on sex offender registries is superficial and macro in nature.
As a third focus, Tewksbury (2002) examined a sample of 537 sex offender listings on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry in 2001, examining whether offenders' listed information was complete and accurate. Results showed that while most offenders' information was provided, the registry showed a significant degree of missing data. One in twelve (8.2 percent) registrants had "unknown" addresses listed. The problem of accuracy was most acute for sex offenders listed as residing in an urban county: 10.5 percent had "unknown" addresses, 10.5 percent listed addresses that turned out to be commercial locations and 5.4 percent had addresses that did not exist.
Finally, a fourth focus of research on sex offender registries has examined the experiences of registered sex offenders, examining the collateral consequences of registration. Focusing on registered sex offenders in Kentucky, Tewksbury (in press) found that serious social consequences were reported by more than one in four registrants. Specifically, at least one-quarter of registrants reported having received harassing/threatening mail and telephone calls, losing a job, being denied a promotion at work, losing (or being unable to obtain) a place to live, being treated rudely in public, being harassed/threatened in person, and losing at least one friend. These experiences were more common for registrants from non-metropolitan communities, and (surprisingly) less common for offenders with child victims. Tewksbury (in press) further suggested that child-victimizing sex offenders were able to more closely control information about their status as a sex offender, and consequently limit the collateral consequences experienced. One shortcoming of this research, however, is that females comprised only 7.5 percent of the sample, rendering an assessment of female registered sex offenders impossible.
This shortcoming provides the impetus for the current research. With an exclusive focus on female registered sex offenders, the present study examines if and to what degree female registered sex offenders perceive they are known in their community as sex offenders; what consequences are experienced as a result of being listed on the publicly accessible sex offender registry; and registrants' attitudes regarding the registration process.
Method
Data for this study were collected through a mailed, anonymous questionnaire sent to all female offenders listed on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry (http://kspsor.state.ky.us) and Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry (http://www.indianasheriffs.org/default.asp). Once identified, sample members' addresses were recorded from their individual registry pages. All sample members were mailed a cover letter, informed consent explanation, survey, and postage-paid return envelope. The Human Studies Protection Program office at the author's university reviewed all materials. Data collection was conducted in May, 2004.
Sample
A review of all entries on the Indiana and Kentucky registries reveals a total of 227 females. The Kentucky registry had 97 females listed among the total of 3,586 individuals. Females accounted for 130 of 6,407 registrations on the Indiana registry. This means that 2.7 percent of the registrants in Kentucky and 2.0 percent in Indiana are female.
A total of 40 completed and usable surveys were obtained,2 for a response rate of 20.5 percent. While this is not a very high response rate,3 this needs to be understood as a difficult to access population. Previous research looking at registrants has relied on small samples (2.4 percent, Vandiver and Walker, 2002; 14.3 percent, Tewksbury, in press) or has used only officially recorded data, avoiding collection of data directly from registrants (Adkins, et al., 2000; Szymkowiak and Fraser, 2002; Tewksbury, 2002). And, as Vandiver and Walker (2002:286) state, "the number of subjects in female sex offender research has consistently remained low,... The number of subjects in female sex offender literature has been as low as 2 (Peluso and Putnam, 1996) and as high as 93 (Rosencrans, 1997)." Additionally, studies of sex offenders in general have almost always collected data either from offenders who are incarcerated or in treatment, or researchers have collected data from professionals working with sex offenders (treatment providers, probation officers, etc.). Only two studies have gathered data directly from sex offenders in the community (Sack and Mason, 1980; Tewksbury, in press), and both have samples of 112.
Table 1 presents the demographic and registration information for the respondents.
Instrument
The data collection instrument was designed specifically for this study. The instrument is a four-page questionnaire containing 35 closed-ended items. The items assess demographics, offenses characteristics, questions about whether, by whom, and how often the offender is recognized as a registered sex offender, and attitudes regarding registries in general and the registration experience specifically.
The dependent variables for this analysis are self-reports by registered sex offenders regarding ten different negative consequences they may have experienced (loss of a job, denial of promotion, loss/denial of a place to live, being treated "rudely" in a public place, being asked to leave a business, loss of a friend, harassment or assault and receipt of harassing/threatening telephone calls or mail). Also used as dependent variables are items assessing registrants' perceptions of shame, being unfairly punished by registration, understanding the purpose/goal for the registry and perceiving social stigmatization, all as a result of registration.
Results
Analysis focused on identifying the distribution of negative consequences reported by registrants as arising from registration, as well as perceptions and attitudes of registrants toward registries and the activities of officials charged with maintaining the registries.
In order to understand the negative consequences that may come from a sex offender being placed on the registry, it is important to assess the degree to which others in a registrant's social milieu know of the registrant's status and offenses. When asked to indicate what portion of their "family, friends, coworkers, and other people you consider a part of your life know about your sexual offense conviction(s)," responses indicated that for almost all offenders, at least a sizable minority if not all or nearly all of these persons know of the offender's offenses. Only 5.0 percent of registrants report that fewer than 10 percent of others in their lives know about their offenses. However, fully 45.0 percent report that 90 percent or more of others know of their offenses, with 25.0 percent saying everyone they know has knowledge of their offenses. Whether this knowledge is attributable to the registration process and site is not known; however, the important point is that for most registered sex offenders, others know their status as sexual offenders.
Perceived Collateral Consequences of Registration
As shown in Table 2, a number of negative experiences stemming from sex offender registration are commonly reported by registrants. More than 30 percent of registrants report having lost a job, losing or being denied a place to live, being treated rudely in public, losing friends, and being personally harassed as a result of public knowledge of one's offenses.
Table 3 presents the distribution of negative experiences resulting from registration for registrants based on length of time on the sex offender registry. It is apparent that for all ten collateral consequences, a greater percentage of women who have been on the registry for longer than the sample median of 32 months report having had such a negative experience.
Attitudes Toward Registration
In addition, to assess registered female sex offenders' perceptions and reports of negative consequences arising from their listing on the registry, analysis also examined registrants' responses to five attitudinal items. Women were asked to report their level of agreement with each of 5 statements (1= strongly disagree, 10 = strongly agree), as shown in Table 4 . Registrants report a high level of shame about their registration and largely believe that registration is an unfair form of punishment; yet typically say they understand why society desires a sex offender registry.
There are no statistically significant mean differences in responses to the five attitudinal items across registered female sex offenders based on the length of time they have been on the sex offender registry.
All registrants were also asked whether they believed that "because my name and personal information is listed on the Sex Offender Registry I am less likely to commit another sexual offense in the future." The mean response to this item is 7.42. Nearly two-thirds (61.1 percent) of registrants report complete agreement with the statement, although the actual effect of registration on recidivism cannot be determined. No statistically significant differences are seen for registrants based on length of time on the registry.
Discussion
As one of the more recent responses to sexual offending, the use of sex offender registries clearly has far-reaching implications for society as well as for individuals listed on registries. However, little previous research has examined these implications. The present research is one of the first attempts to examine both the consequences of sex offender registration for offenders and one of the few assessments of female sex offenders outside of clinical settings.
The results of this research make clear that registered female sex offenders frequently experience collateral consequences that may have serious deleterious effects on their social, economic, and physical well-being. While the goal of shaming sex offenders seems to be achieved through registration, and registered female sex offenders report an understanding of why society would want to have such registries, there are also obvious indications of registration having lasting negative consequences for individual offenders. Approximately one in three (or more) registered female sex offenders report that as a result of their listing on a sex offender registry they have lost a job, lost or been denied a place to live, lost friends, and been personally harassed. Such experiences are directly contradictory with the goals and resources known to be critical to successful community reentry and the reduction of recidivism. And, as women remain on a sex offender registry for longer periods of time, these (and other) collateral consequences become more common.
In light of these findings, the importance of sex offender registration as a tool for promoting public safety needs to be questioned. While the present research does not definitively conclude that sex offender registration leads to recidivism or poor community adjustment following conviction, it does suggest that the very resources identified as centrally important for successful reentry are diminished and weakened by registration. As such, it is important to continue to assess the consequences of sex offender registration on recidivism, and on accompanying costs (both financial and social) experienced by offenders and communities. If registration cannot be shown to be associated with significantly lower rates of recidivism (see Adkins, et al., 2000), the costs may well outweigh the benefits of registration. And, if registration in fact is associated with lower rates of sexual offending recidivism, it may be useful to examine whether the current method for registering (and publicizing information about registrants) can be modified in a way that maintains the positive outcomes while reducing the costly collateral consequences.
The present study is a first step toward evaluating these costs and benefits. Future research needs to look more closely at the costs of sex offender registration and the benefits. At present it appears that registration of sex offenders—or at least the female sex offenders questioned in this study—may generate more societal costs and negative consequences for individuals than intended, necessary, and appropriate.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Female pedophilia is rare, difficult to understand
By Carolyn Susman, Cox News Service
Star Tribune - January 13, 2004
http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/4314720.html
It is one of the worst taboos in society: a nurturing mother figure who sexually abuses a child. But three recent criminal cases in Florida's Palm Beach County have brought the topic to the fore.
Last month, Amy Duane, a 37-year-old mother of three, was sentenced to four years in prison for having sex with a 13-year-old boy. Her friend, Debra Favre, 39, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to having sex with a 16-year-old boy and serving alcohol to minors in Duane's home west of Greenacres.
Last week, Boynton Beach music teacher Carol Lynn Flannigan was charged with sexual battery on a child. Police say Flannigan, 49, the mother of a 16-year-old autistic son, began an affair with one of her students 19 months ago, when the boy was 11. She was freed on $30,000 bail and placed on house arrest while she awaits trial.
When men commit sex crimes, they spark horror but little surprise. But many people seem unwilling to believe that women are capable of such things.
"I think the first reaction is denial. Then people think, 'She has to be crazy,' " said Gail Ryan, who has studied hundreds of sex offender cases and directs the Perpetration Prevention Program at the Kempe Children's Center in Denver. "I think the public feels that a woman who does such things must be mentally ill, as opposed to the whole population of men [who are sex offenders]. That's because women are regarded as nurturers and mothers."
In fact, the thought of a woman molesting a child is so abhorrent that for years researchers avoided the subject, making scientific studies rare and limiting general understanding of female pedophilia.
"We don't want to see mothers in that capacity," said Alison Tarlow-Sale, a psychologist who specializes in treating sexual abuse.
Why do they do it?
Sex offenses are still very much a man's crime, according to the Justice Department. Men were perpetrators in 96 percent of sex assaults reported nationwide in 1999.
Women were most often involved in cases in which the victim was under age 6, making up 12 percent of those offenders. Women were involved in 3 percent of sex cases in which the victim was 6 to 12 years old, and 3 percent for victims 13 through 17.
Experts are not able to draw an accurate profile of a typical female sex offender, because they are so rare. The few psychologists who have studied the issue believe female pedophiles are most likely to be women who have had failed adult relationships, who have suffered a great loss, or who have been victims of abuse themselves.
Middle-aged women who have sex with teenage boys -- classified as "Teacher/Lovers" by researchers -- sometimes have additional motives, psychologists say.
"You're talking about a power differential," said Tarlow-Sale. The offender "is a person of perceived power, so they're going to have a much greater influence [on the child]. In the case of a teacher, that would certainly be the situation."
Some say female pedophiles are struggling to fulfill emotional needs through sexual relationships that are entirely within their control. Desperate for love but trapped in an unsatisfying marriage, or unable to sustain any kind of adult relationship, a woman looks to a child for the affection, intimacy and attention that she has failed to secure from an adult male.
"She's in control here," said Tarlow-Sale. "The child gives her the attention and love she's yearning for. The intimacy through the sexual relationship and attention [translates into] love."
But although sex is the mechanism for securing what the female pedophile needs, few see it as the driving force behind the abuse.
"They don't seem to be pedophiles like men," Hollida Wakefield told ABC News. Wakefield has studied and treated sex offenders for more than 20 years at the Institute of Psychological Therapies in Northfield, Minn. "There are some cases where some people are in bad relationships or marriages and are just really lonely, and they find themselves in a relationship with these children. It isn't so much that women are sexually aroused."
Victims, or just 'lucky'?
Abuse cases in which the victim is male and the offender female are likely to be under-reported because of society's attitudes about boys' sexual development. What is rape when the victim is a girl might be considered a boy's "rite of passage."
"In society, it used to be that with a 13-or 14-year-old male, if his first sexual experience involved a 25-year-old girl who may well have taken advantage of him, his male counterparts may say, 'Hey, you lucked out,' " Richard Gartner, author of "Betrayed as Boys: Psychodynamic Treatment of Sexually Abused Men," told ABC News. "It was almost seen as a rite of passage. That's the only group that later recalls such experiences as 'lucking out.' You don't find that in females. Today that kind of behavior is regarded as sexual assault."
Whereas abuse of a young girl by a man is always seen as horrifying, this "rite of passage" perception can make cases involving the abuse of a boy by a woman seem titillating -- and thus irresistible to the media. It is unlikely, for instance, that Mary Kay Letourneau, the former schoolteacher serving time for having an affair with one of her students (and ultimately bearing him two children), would have generated countless headlines and a made-for-TV movie if she had been male and her victim female.
The scenario in which an older woman "teaches" a young man about sex is also ubiquitous in literature and movies. "The Graduate's" Mrs. Robinson and "The Summer of '42" are classic examples of a theme that has been explored endlessly.
"Society glorifies the French tutor, the older woman teaching the younger boy," said Patricia Pape, a Florida psychologist. "But for a child [underage], there is no informed consent."
And experts say these messages can confuse male victims and subtly encourage them not to report abuse. Because boys tend to be easily sexually aroused, Gartner said, adults can manipulate their victims into thinking they were equal and willing participants in sexual acts. And because society sometimes perceives that the incidents aren't abuse but a case of the boy "getting lucky," male victims might not admit or even realize they've been abused until they reach adulthood.
A boy might see sex with an older woman as "a sort of a prize," said Tarlow-Sale. "Depending on the maturity level, that could be something they would want. . . . It would be really hard to judge whether he felt raped. If he's gone through puberty and is having sexual feelings, it could be working out for both of them. It's absolutely inappropriate, but the victim might not be aware of that."
Female sex offenders reveal cultural double
standard
By Rebecca Morris, Special to The Seattle Times
Seattle Times - September 10, 2008
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2003874026_predator10.html
It all seems so terribly familiar.
A trusted, even respected or beloved teacher is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student.
What used to shock us, but is now much too commonplace, is that the teacher is a woman.
Their names become tabloid headlines: Mary K. Letourneau, Debra Lafave, Pamela Diehl-Moore and others.
And now two more cases, both local.
Jennifer Leigh Rice, a 31-year-old former Tacoma teacher, was charged with having sex with a 10-year-old boy who had been in her fourth-grade class. The boy's father says she lavished the boy with attention until she was told not to come to their house anymore.
So she abducted the boy, police say, drove him to a highway rest stop outside Ellensburg and had sex with him. After her arrest in early August, Rice said she'd had sex with the boy four or five times, including once when she sneaked into his house as his parents slept.
Earlier this year, former Tenino math teacher Dawn Welter, 38, was charged with second-degree sexual misconduct after spending the night at a motel with a 16-year-old female student. Her lawyer explained her relationship with the student as "horseplay that became sexual."
The decadelong wave of sexual offenses committed by women — teachers in particular have exposed a cultural double standard: The public is more willing to accept the female abuser's claim that she had a "relationship" with the victim. And in cases in which the male is a teenager, the sexual abuse is more likely to be dismissed as a rite of passage. The questionable, yet overriding assumption, is that women predators are somehow different from men.
"Men are demonized, women are diagnosed. Men are beasts, but women are troubled or mentally ill," said media scholar Matthew Felling in an interview with Fox News. In fact, accounts of women sexual offenders are often more titillating than harsh. Felling calls the news coverage of young, attractive teachers involved with their students "part crime drama, part Penthouse letter."
About 25 percent of women and up to 17 percent of men say they experienced sexual abuse as children, ranging from seeing someone exposing themselves to intercourse. Boys are less likely to report abuse.
Despite the troubling news accounts, the National Education Association says schools are still among the safest places for children to be. The number of cases of sexual abuse by teachers, male and female, is less than 10 percent of all sex crimes against minors.
The current awareness of women predators began with Mary K. Letourneau, a 34-year-old elementary-school teacher and a married mother of four, who in 1996 began a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old former student, Vili Fualaau. Letourneau eventually had two children with him and served more than seven years in prison. She resumed contact with Fualaau, by then an adult, after she was released. While a male offender might have been publicly shunned, Letourneau's 2005 wedding to Fualaau was covered by "Entertainment Tonight."
Female predators' crimes are often attributed to marital problems, depression, loneliness, immaturity or self-esteem issues. Letourneau was reported to have "a loveless marriage" and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Spiritual "relationships"
Not only do we look at female offenders differently, so do the offenders themselves. Women predators are more likely to see the abuse as a romantic relationship. Letourneau told CNN's Larry King that she and Fualaau had a "deep spiritual oneness" before they were ever sexual, and that she did not consider herself a sexual predator.
Dr. Leigh Baker, a clinical psychologist in Colorado, interviewed hundreds of male and female predators for her book "Protecting Your Children From Sexual Predators." All were incarcerated at the time, and their stories help form her theory that there are four types of predators: inadequate, narcissistic, anti-social and pedophile.
An inadequate adult (and predator) has trouble forming attachments with other adults and is most comfortable with children, she says. A narcissist loves him- or herself to the detriment of others; someone who's anti-social doesn't abide by society's rules; and a pedophile is sexually aroused by children.
While some women are pedophiles and some men do profess their love for the children they sexually abuse, women are more likely to "couch it as a relationship," according to Baker. Men are more likely to be serial pedophiles; women seek that "deep spiritual oneness" that Letourneau says she found.
The traits women predators exhibit — seeing themselves as a victim, low self-esteem, a sense of inadequacy, needing to be the center of attention, putting their own need for a connection before common sense — probably place most women predators into two of Baker's four categories.
"My suspicion is if you took a large enough number of female predators, they would fall into all four types. But, we know women are less anti-social than men, and there are fewer female pedophiles, so I think most women are narcissistic or inadequate types of predators."
There are signs of the inadequate, the narcissist and the anti-social predator in Letourneau. She formed an inappropriate bond with a 12-year old, ignoring society's mores and the well-being of her own four children.
While a mental illness may produce hypersexuality, impulsiveness and poor decision-making, such a diagnosis for a sexual predator is rare, according to Baker. They are more likely to have a personality disorder (such as a anti-social, or narcissistic) or to have been sexually abused themselves.
The "Mrs. Robinson Syndrome"
To watch NBC's "To Catch A Predator" you'd think all predators are men. The series uses decoys on the Internet to lure men hoping to hook up with underage teens. Robert Weiss, executive director and founder of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, who provided his expertise in one of the episodes, says sexual compulsions on the Internet are male-dominated.
But female predators are beginning to use the Internet — not in an anonymous way to find children but to stay in close touch with those they are involved with. Rice, the former Tacoma teacher, communicated online often with the 10-year-old she had sex with, according to court records.
Then there is the ultimate double standard: The wink wink, nudge nudge, of boys getting their sexual initiation from grown women.
"Society sees it as they got 'lucky' " to receive a sexual initiation from a woman, according to Dr. Keith Kaufman, chairman of the department of psychology at Portland State University. "But their brain maturation isn't complete. Boys aren't in a position to give consent to a sexual relationship. Girls see it as abusive much more quickly. Boys won't want to see themselves as a victim."
There is a prevailing sense that boys are not harmed by sexual liaisons with older women. It's called the "Mrs. Robinson Syndrome," after the character in the 1967 film "The Graduate." But Benjamin, Mrs. Robinson's target, wasn't a child; he was in his 20s, had just graduated from college and was contemplating that career in plastics.
"We tend to see the female teacher-male student relationship as less abusive and less harmful psychologically," according to Dr. Susan G. Kornstein, a psychiatrist and director of the Institute for Women's Health and the Mood Disorders Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University. "But in fact, a sexual relationship between a female teacher and a male student can be just as harmful and can have both short- and long-term consequences on the child's emotional stability and psychological and sexual development."
Boys who have sex with grown women are anything but "lucky." "It is always abuse," says Dr. Kaufman.
Rebecca Morris has been a broadcast and print journalist for 33 years. She teaches journalism at Bellevue Community College.
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Updated Last: 03/17/2008
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