The use of substances in sexual offending in a United States sample

Abstract

Substance use is often involved in sexual offending. Understanding the ways in which substances are used in sexual offending is critical for developing prevention strategies. The present study explored the ways that substances are involved in the perpetration of sexual abuse against adults and minors, including intoxication and supplying substances to victims by individuals convicted of sexual offenses. Data were collected from the records of 2803 individuals convicted of sexual offenses in the United States. A series of binary logistic regressions found that offenses against adults were more likely to have alcohol or drugs involved than offenses against minors, while supplying substances to victims was less likely in intrafamilial than in extrafamilial offenses against minors. Findings suggest that implementing sexual violence prevention strategies (e.g. bystander intervention) in adult drinking contexts and integrating education about problematic substance use behaviors (e.g. grooming) during childhood prevention programs can aid in sexual abuse prevention.

Keywords:

• alcohol
• child sexual abuse
• drugs
• grooming
• intervention
• offender intoxication
• prevention
• sexual assault
• sexual offending
• substance use

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the New Jersey Department of Corrections and New Jersey Department of Human Services for their support in providing access to files. The opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions that supported this research. We thank Allison Tobar-Santamaria and Melissa R. Schick for their assistance in preparing this manuscript for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical standards

Declaration of conflicts of interest

Katelyn T. Kirk-Provencher has declared no conflicts of interest

Elizabeth L. Jeglic has declared no conflicts of interest

Cynthia Calkins has declared no conflicts of interest

Nichea S. Spillane has declared no conflicts of interest

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by Grant No. NIJ 2007-IJ-CX-0037 from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.