Citation

Lindsay WR, Law J, Quinn K, Smart N, Smith AH. Child Abuse Negl. 2001; 25(7): 989-995.

Affiliation

Tayside Primary Care NHS Trust, Dundee, Scotland, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11523873

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To review patterns of physical and sexual abuse in cohorts of sexual offenders and nonsexual offenders with intellectual disability. METHOD: Forty-six sexual offenders were compared with 48 male nonsexual offenders in relation to their experiences of sexual and physical abuse in childhood. Comprehensive assessments were taken over a period of at least one year, and were conducted independently by a range of professionals. RESULTS: Thirty-eight percent of the sexual offenders and 12.7% of the nonsexual offenders had experienced sexual abuse, while 13% of the sexual offenders and 33% of the nonsexual offenders had experienced physical abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual abuse seems a significant variable in the history of sexual offenders, while physical abuse seems a significant variable in the history of nonsexual offenders. The results support the view that the "cycle of abuse" is neither inevitable nor an adequate explanation of future offending.

Language: en