Understanding Sexually Abusive Clergy as a Unique Offender Subgroup: Risk-based Comparisons Across the Course of Offending

ABSTRACT

The current study compares offending trends of sexually abusive clergy (n = 1,428) to general sex offenders (n = 2,842) on risk measure items coded across the course of offending. Results suggest significant differences on most risk-relevant variables. Clergy were particularly more likely to have male victims, V = .62, 95% CI [.58, .65], and less likely to be married, V = .59, 95% CI [.56, .63], or use force, V = .76, 95% CI [.73, .79]. The magnitude of differences remained when matched on offense factors (e.g., male child acquaintance victims). Findings suggest sexually abusive clergy are a unique subgroup differing from general sex offenders on factors associated with recidivism.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual abuse
• clergy
• sex offenders
• offense trends

Acknowledgments

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.

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.