Timeline of victim disclosures by juvenile sex offenders

摘要

This study examined the number of victims disclosed by 12- to 17-year-old male, adjudicated juvenile sex offenders over the course of their mandated sex offender treatment program. Records were reviewed to ascertain the number of unique victims disclosed at each of four time periods: Adjudication, Assessment/Education phase (first day of treatment until polygraph), at the Polygraph Examination, and Continued Treatment (from after the polygraph until discharge). Results indicated a statistically significant increase in victims disclosed over those periods, representing a mean of 2.39 additional victims (SD = 3.50), with the greatest number of additional victims being reported during the Assessment/Education phase (prior to the polygraph). Notably, not all of the juvenile sex offenders reported additional victims; during the period of the highest disclosure (Time 2), 58.11% reported additional victims whereas polygraph examination resulted in disclosure by only one offender. These findings are somewhat different from previous studies and the results are discussed with reference to previous findings.