Citation

Perillo AD, Mercado CC, Terry KJ. Crim. Justice Behav. 2008; 35(5): 600-614.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0093854808314368

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Despite wide reports of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, empirical data on Catholic Church sexual abuse have not been readily available. The present study examines factors associated with sex-offender risk assessment along three criteria (repeat offending, victim gender, and victim relationship) on a sample of sexual abusers in the Catholic Church. Data from 4,392 priests with documented allegations of child sexual abuse were used. Logistic regression analysis resulted in significant predictive models for all comparisons. Factors consistently found to be significant predictors across comparisons included victim age, cleric age, all male victims, and history of victimization.

RESULTS suggest that risk predictors for Catholic Church sexual abusers are similar to those used in the general sex-offender population.

Language: en