Violent adolescent sexual offenders

The past 20 years have brought a significant increase in the general knowledge about adolescent offenders and sexual offenders and the potential harm that they cause to victims. Currently, however, we are left with perhaps more questions than answers in several important areas. We have concluded that there is no single cause or etiologic agent common to all sexual offenders. Sexual offenders are by nature a complex and a heterogeneous group, and sexual offending is likely caused by multiple causation and interactive factors. Awareness has spread as to the necessity of providing appropriate assessment and treatment facilities for adolescents. The limited outcome studies indicate a lower recidivism rate for adolescent offenders than adult offenders. This may reflect a better prognosis for adolescent offenders who have not had years of reinforcement of deviant sexual arousal patterns and whose personality traits are more malleable than those of adult offenders. Further research is needed in the area of subclassification of sexual offenders, controlled treatment studies, and prospective longitudinal studies to determine more accurate risk assessment.