THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF JUVENILE SEX OFFENDING

Research over the past 20 years indicates that adolescent sex offenders account for a significant number of child sexual abuse perpetrators. Studies indicate that this group has a variety of severe family problems, including neglect and physical and sexual abuse. Academic and behavior problems, psychopathology, and social isola-tion tend to characterize adolescent sexual offenders. The research also indicates that juvenile sexual offenders are a heterogeneous population with diverse charac-teristics and treatment needs. A number of typologies have been developed to clas-sify various types of offenders, but more empirical research is needed. Because of the diversity of the population, careful assessment is needed before treatment plans are developed and implemented. Most treatment programs have been modeled after treatment programs found to be effective with adult sex offenders, but new pro-grams are aimed more specifically at juveniles. Based on the research, recommen-dations are made with respect to important target areas for treatment. Key words: adolescent sex offenders, correlates of adolescent sex offenders, assessment of sex offenders, treat-ment of sex offenders, delinquent sex offense