Female Adolescent Sexual & Nonsexual Violent Offenders: A Comparison of the Prevalence & Impact of Risk & Protective Factors for General Recidivism

This study adds to the scarce literature on female adolescent sexual offenders by examining differences between female adolescent sexual and nonsexual violent offenders in the prevalence and impact of dynamic risk and protective factors for general recidivism.

The sample consisted of female adolescents who were convicted for a sexual offense (FSOs; n=31) or nonsexual violent offense (FNSOs; n = 407), and for whom the Washington State Juvenile Court Assessment was completed.

In FSOs, considerably more protective and fewer risk factors were present than in FNSOs in almost all domains (i.e., school, relationships, family, attitude and aggression). In addition, differences in the impact of risk/protective factors on general recidivism were found. In FSOs, risk/protective factors in the family and aggression domains were especially important, whereas in FNSOs, risk/protective factors in the attitude domain were especially important.

The results of this study indicate that treatment programs developed for mainstream female offenders may also be useful for female sexual offenders in reducing general recidivism. Furthermore, the results are of importance for determining the main focus of treatment for both mainstream and sexual female adolescent offenders.

Table 3
Background Characteristics and recidivism rates for the female adolescent sexual and nonsexual offenders
	FSOs	FNSOs	F
	(n = 31)	(n = 407)
Ethnicity:
European Americans	80.7 %	48.7 %	12.07**
African Americans	3.2 %	17.0 %	4.06*
Hispanic Americans	6.5 %	8.4 %	.14
Other	3.2 %	9.1 %	1.25
Unknown	6.5 %	17.0 %	2.34
Average age:
At the time of the assessment	15.10 (SD = 1.56)	15.40 (SD = 1.34)	1.46
At first offense	13.42 (SD = 1.79)	13.58 (SD = 1.60)	.30
Recidivism rates:
Total Recidivism	23 %	36 %	2.24
Felony Recidivism	10 %	18 %	1.37
Violent Felony Recidivism	3 %	6 %	.38

*p < .05, **p < .01

Table 4
Prevalence of dynamic risk and protective factors in female adolescent sexual and nonsexual offenders
	Dynamic risk factors			Dynamic protective factors
	FSOs	FNSOs	F	FSOs	FNSOs	F
	(n = 31)	(n = 407)		(n = 31)	(n = 407)
School	4.39	6.90	7.16 a	7.00	4.69	11.54 a
Relationships	1.94	3.40	17.13 a	4.77	3.33	14.05 a
Family	5.45	10.00	16.70 a	13.58	9.67	22.73 a
Alcohol/drugs	.68	1.01	2.03	1.52	1.30	1.97
Attitude	5.55	7.36	3.93 b	8.74	6.62	5.44 a
Aggression	3.10	5.30	16.07 a	5.39	2.64	28.69 a
Skills	4.42	5.58	1.56	9.71	7.98	3.67 b
Total score	25.52	39.56	16.86 a	50.71	36.22	19.77 a

a Significant after controlling for the false discovery rate using the method of Benjamini and Hochberg (1995), using a .05 level for the false discovery rate

b trend-significant after controlling for the false discovery rate using the method of Benjamini and Hochberg (1995), using a .10 level for the false discovery rate

Full article at: http://goo.gl/bBX3zZ

By: Claudia E. van der Put

Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94208, Amsterdam, 1090 GE, The Netherlands

  

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