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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Beteiligte: | ; |
Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Veröffentlicht: |
[2017]
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In: |
Criminal justice and behavior
Jahr: 2017, Band: 44, Heft: 2, Seiten: 145-162 |
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Volltext (Resolving-System) |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
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Zusammenfassung: | 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. |
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ISSN: | 1552-3594 |
DOI: | 10.1177/0093854816658923 |