General Characteristics of Child Sexual Offenders in Hatay, Turkey.

OBJECTIVE

Child sexual offenders are a poorly studied and relatively neglected population in our country. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between criminal behavior and socio-demographic characteristics of a series of child sexual offenders.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

The records of social worker interviews with 48 child sexual offenders between 2009 and 2013 were used. The reports issued by social workers regarding child sexual offenders were retrospectively examined, since these reports were relatively the most thorough documents including offenders' personal and familial characteristics, and criminal event information. Cases were investigated in terms of socio-demographic and psychosocial characteristics.

RESULTS

There were 48 children interviewed based on an alleged sexual crime, during four-year of study period. All of the cases were male and their ages ranged between 12 and 17 years. Of these, 50% were students at any grade of school. Five cases were living in social service facilities. Only two cases involved incest. Of all, three offenders were accused of repeated sexual crimes. Type of sexual assault was anal penetration in 20 (41.7%) cases. Of all cases, 19 were cigarette smoker, while 4 were drug abusers. The families of 12 (25%) cases suffered from low socio-economic status, while 23 (47.9%) offenders were members of broken families. According to social worker reports, 47 cases had criminal responsibility based on their psychosocial development. Out of all cases, 7 children were suspected of suffering from impulse control disorder and one was suspected to be mentally retarded. Twelve cases were reported to need consulting and social protective services.

CONCLUSION

The rate of offenders with interrupted education was considerably high. Interestingly the number of male victims and the frequency of cases involving anal penetration were high. Obtained results suggest that male children of broken and scattered families, and particularly those lacking father's supervision were more likely to commit a sexual crime.