Child Sexual Offenders Typologies: An Exploratory Profile Model using Multiple Correspondence and Cluster Analysis of Portuguese Convicted Offenders Sample

ABSTRACT

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is not a recent phenomenon. However, it increased visibility in Portugal in 2002, when a news piece raised suspicions about numerous public figures. Since then, there has been an upward trend in complaints and has stabilized in recent years. Nevertheless, even though the research emerging, it presents gaps in the characteristics and modus operandi of the child sex offenders in the Portuguese context.

This article presents an exploratory study, where 66 case reports of inmates in Portugal (Lisbon District) were convicted for CSA crimes recorded in the last ten years.

We used the Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis as statistical procedures, focusing on the dynamics of the offense, context, number of victims, relationship, and characteristics of the offense. With this analysis, we identified four distinct profiles, which occurs with both techniques. In addition, we found differences regarding the use of aggressivity and/or treating during or after the offense, nature of abuse and introduced the crime admission as an active variable, with contributions to the model definition. According to these results and international literature, we defined our groups in four types: Regressed, Indiscriminate, Inadequate, and Violent.

We discuss our results based on the international models and demonstrate affinities with them.

KEYWORDS:

• Child sexual abuse
• sexual offenders
• multiple correspondence analysis
• criminal profiling

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Portuguese General Office of Prison Services and Social Rehabilitation (Direção Geral de Serviços Prisionais e Reinserção Social) and the prison establishment where the study was conducted.

Disclosure statement

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