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Characteristics of adolescent sex offenders in New South Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Ian Nisbet  and
Katie Seidler
Ian Nisbet*
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
Katie Seidler
Affiliation:
NSW Department Corrective Services
*
School of Applied Psychology, Mt Gravatt Campus, Griffith University, NATHAN QLD 4111, Tel: 61 7387 53316, Fax: 61 7387 55802, [email protected]
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Abstract

Characteristics of adolescents who sexually offend, their patterns of their offending behaviour and the defining features of their victims are firmly established in the overseas literature. The research literature in Australia, however, is less developed. This study describes the characteristics of a sample of clients of the Sex Offender Program of the New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice and examines patterns of offence behaviours and related descriptions of victims. Adolescents who sexually offend in NSW have backgrounds of low educational attainment and abuse and a range of other social risk factors, and they are most likely to victimise female children. A typology of adolescent sex offenders based on their offending behaviour is offered.

Keywords

Adolescent Sex OffendersJuvenile Sex OffendersSexual OffendingJuvenile justice
Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , 2001 , pp. 71 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2001

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