A comparison of physical and sexual abuse: histories of sexual and non-sexual offenders with intellectual disability

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.

Résumé

Objectifs: Examiner les caractéristiques des séevices physiques et sexuels dans des cohortes d’auteurs d’agressions sexuelles et d’auteurs d’agressions nonsexuelles préesentant une déficience intellectuelle.

Méthode: Quarante-six auteurs d’agressions sexuelles ont été comparés avec 48 hommes auteurs d’agressions nonsexuelles en relation avec leur expérience d’agression sexuelle et physique suble dans enfance. Des évaluations détaillées ont été pratiquées pendant une période d’au moins une année et de façcon indépendante par une série de professionnels.

Résultats: 38% des auteurs d’agressions sexuelles et 12.75 des auteurs d’agressions nonsexuelles avaient connu l’expérience de sévices sexuels alors que 13% des premiers et 33% des seconds avaient subi des sévices physiques.

Conclusions: Il semble que les sévices sexuels constituent une variable significative dans l’histoire des agresseurs sexuels alors que les sévices physiques le seraient dans l’histoire des auteurs d’agressions nonsexuelles. Les résultats vont dans le sens de l’opinion que le “cycle des mauvais traitements” ne serait pas inévitable et ne constituerait pas une explication adéquate des agressions futures.

Resumen

Objetivos: Revisar los patrones de abuso fı́sico y sexual en coetáneos de ofensores sexuales y no ofensores sexuales con discapacidad intelectual.

Método: Se compararon cuarenta y seis ofensores sexuales con 48 varones no ofensores sexuales en relación a sus experiencias de abuso sexual y fı́sico en la niñez. Se realizaron evaluaciones integrales en un perı́odo de por lo menos 1 año y fueron realizados independientemente por un grupo de profesionales.

Resultados: Treinta y ocho por ciento de los ofensores sexuales y 12.7% de los no ofensores habı́an tenido experiencias de abuso sexual mientras el 13% de los ofensores sexuales y 33% de los no ofensores sexuales habı́an tenido experiencias de abuso fı́sico.

Conclusións: El abuso sexual parece ser una variable significativa en la historia de lso ofensores sexuales mientras que el abuso fı́sico parece una variable significativa en la historia de los ofensores no sexuales. Los resultados apoyan la teorı́a de que el “ciclo del abuso” no es inevitable ni una explicación adecuada para futuros ofensores.

Introduction

The link between physical and sexual abuse in childhood and psychological and emotional problems in later life is now well established Beitchman et al 1992, Kendall-Tackett et al 1993. Further investigation of abuse has suggested that specific forms of abuse may be related to specific maladaptive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes in adulthood. Briere and Runtz (1990) found that physical abuse was linked to aggression towards others, while sexual abuse was related to maladaptive sexual behavior in adulthood. Findings such as these give some support to the fairly long-standing hypothesis that sex offenders are individuals who themselves have been molested in childhood (Finkelhor, 1984). However, as Finkelhor (1984) himself has elucidated, the etiology of sex offenses cannot be explained by such a simple hypothesis. Groth (1979) reports that 32% of a group of 106 men who offended against children had themselves been abused in childhood. Dhawan and Marshall (1996) found rates of 58% of individuals experiencing sexual abuse in childhood among a cohort of sex offenders, and 20% of subjects being sexually abused in childhood in a cohort of nonsexual offenders.

Hanson and Slater (1988) accept the intuitive attraction of the “cycle of abuse” to explain sexual offending. In their meta analysis of the literature on child molesters who were themselves sexually abused as children, they conclude that around 28% of 1717 offenders reported a history of sexual abuse in childhood. They cite several psychological issues that confound the studies, including problems with control and possible tendencies to overestimate abuse as an event from the individual’s past that might mitigate current offending. For example, Groth (1979) employed a control group of 64 police officers of whom only 3% reported sexual abuse in childhood. However, it is clear that this is an inappropriate control since it may be that individuals with similar social and educational backgrounds to the offenders may have had similar levels of abuse in childhood. In addition, not all abuse victims go on to become offenders (Briggs & Hawkins, 1996), while a proportion of sex offenders have not been abused in childhood (Langevin, Wright & Handy, 1989).

In a prospective study of 908 substantiated cases of childhood sexual abuse, neglect, and physical abuse, Widom and Ames (1994) found that sexually abused children were significantly more likely to have been arrested for prostitution. However, they found no significant differences between the groups in relation to arrest for any sex crime in adulthood. In a further prospective study, Williams et al. (1995), reported in Cycle of Sexual Abuse (1996), did not find a significant difference in the number of sex offenses committed by a sample of individuals who had been sexually abused in childhood, compared with appropriate controls. Several studies have found a relationship between childhood abuse and neglect in general, and an increase in adult criminal behavior. Widom (1989) noted that childhood abuse increased the risk of delinquency, adult criminal behavior, and violent criminal behavior. Perez and Widom (1994) found that abused and neglected children were significantly poorer in intelligence quotient (IQ) and reading ability than control subjects were. All of these authors are careful to note that the majority of abused and neglected children do not become delinquent, criminal, or violent. In a report to the House of Representatives (Cycle of Sexual Abuse, 1996) it was concluded that “the experience of childhood sexual victimization is quite likely neither a necessary nor a sufficient cause of adult sexual offending.”

Bearing in mind these caveats, there is some evidence that different types of abuse may have a tendency to promote different types of problems in adulthood. In a study of a variety of types of childhood maltreatment, Briere and Runtz (1990) linked physical abuse in childhood to aggression towards others in adulthood, emotional abuse in childhood to low self-esteem in adulthood, and sexual abuse in childhood to maladaptive sexual behavior in adulthood. However, Mullen, Martin, Anderson, Romans, and Herbison (1996), in a study of 2250 women who had been physically, emotionally, and/or sexually abused as children, found that the similarities in the adult sequelae of the three types of abuse were more striking than the differences. There was a trend for sexual abuse to be associated with sexual problems, emotional abuse to low self-esteem, and physical abuse to marital breakdown.

The present study investigates these issues in relation to offenders with intellectual disability. A cohort of individuals who were charged with sex offenses will be compared to a cohort charged with nonsexual offenses. Comparisons are made on the incidence of sexual abuse in childhood and the incidence of physical abuse in childhood. It is hypothesized that sex offenders will have a higher incidence of sexual abuse histories than those charged with nonsexual offenses, while (consistent with the study by Briere & Runtz, 1990) nonsexual offenders will have a higher incidence of physical abuse histories than those charged with sexual offenses.