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Salfati, C. G., Almond, L. and Griffiths, D. (April 2002)

The Classification of Youths Who Sexually Abuse. British Psychological Society's Division of forensic Psychology Conference, Manchester, UK.


Abstract: Recent research in the UK (National Children's Homes, 1992) has put the figure of sexual abuse committed by young people as high as 30% of all sexual offences. However, there is little mention in the literature what actually constitutes a sex offence committed by a child or a young person, nor is there much information on possible sub-groups of youth perpetrators in terms of the nature of the act and the characteristics of the perpetrators. The current study, based on the Multidimensional Analysis (Smallest Space Analysis) of 40 cases, aims to investigate the possibilities of classifying the nature of, and differences within, sexual acts committed by young people, and relate these to different sub-groups of young abusers in terms of personal characteristics and perpetrator-victim relationship.

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