The Proportion of Sexual Offenders Who Are Female Is Higher Than Thought: A Meta-Analysis

Women commit sexual offenses, but the proportion of sexual offenders who are female is subject to debates. Based on 17 samples from 12 countries, the current meta-analysis found that a small proportion of sexual offenses reported to police are committed by females (fixed-effect meta-analytical avera...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cortona, Franca (Author) ; Babchishin, Kelly M. (Author) ; Rat, Clémence (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: [2017]
In: Criminal justice and behavior
Year: 2017, Volume: 44, Issue: 2, Pages: 145-162
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:Women commit sexual offenses, but the proportion of sexual offenders who are female is subject to debates. Based on 17 samples from 12 countries, the current meta-analysis found that a small proportion of sexual offenses reported to police are committed by females (fixed-effect meta-analytical average = 2.2%). In contrast, victimization surveys indicated prevalence rates of female sexual offenders that were six times higher than official data (fixed-effect meta-analytical average = 11.6%). Female sexual offenders are more common among juvenile offenders than adult offenders, with approximately 2 percentage points more female juvenile sex offenders than female adult sex offenders. We also found that males were much more likely to self-report being victimized by female sex offenders compared with females (40% vs. 4%). The current study provides a robust estimate of the prevalence of female sexual offending, using a large sample of sexual offenses across diverse countries.
ISSN:1552-3594
DOI:10.1177/0093854816658923