Characteristics of deaf sexual offenders referred to a specialist mental health unit in the UK

Abstract

Sexual offences have been acknowledged by society to be a significant problem. Given the relative lack of empirical information on deaf sexual offenders, this paper reports on the findings of a case file review of a cohort of 137 (1969 – 2002) deaf sex offenders, referred to the National Centre for Mental Health and Deafness, a specialist mental health service for deaf people. The findings suggest deaf sex offenders are primarily male, single, have child victims and have low rates of major mental disorders. This cohort had high rates of mental impairment, poor communication with caregivers, little sex education, and a history of sexual offences in public places. Further research is needed to better delineate the characteristics of deaf sex offenders.

Keywords:

• deaf
• sex offender
• sex offending behaviour

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Dr Sharon Ridgeway for her comments on the data collection sheet and the librarians at Prestwich library for their effort to obtain articles.