‘If you’d had my life, you’d have done it too’: exploring the experiences of adult males who rape elderly females

ABSTRACT

This study focused on adult males who have committed a sexual offence against elderly victims (aged 55 and over) in order to increase our understanding of this group of offenders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five such individuals. Interview data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four main themes emerged: life's been really tough (where participants talked about difficulties they had faced); I’m not bad, I did what anyone would do (where participants sought to explain their behaviour); Other people haven’t helped or have made things worse (where participants highlighted challenges they faced in relationships and the impact they felt this had); and Coping and pleasure (which highlights the use of sex and alcohol in their lives). Implications for the practice and treatment of individuals offending against elderly victims are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Rape
• sexual offending
• elderly
• qualitative
• IPA
• victims

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the help, support and guidance of HMPS, and in particular, the participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Belinda Winder http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9118-679X