RT Article T1 The Proportion of Sexual Offenders Who Are Female Is Higher Than Thought: A Meta-Analysis JF Criminal justice and behavior VO 44 IS 2 SP 145 OP 162 A1 Cortona, Franca A2 Babchishin, Kelly M. A2 Rat, Clémence LA English YR 2017 UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1700559419 AB 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. K1 Female sexual offenders K1 Prevalence K1 Meta-analysis DO 10.1177/0093854816658923