ABSTRACT
It is estimated that juveniles (typically defined as those under 18) account for up to one fifth of the rapes and one half of the cases of child sexual molestation committed in the U.S. each year (Sickmund, Snyder, and PoeYamagata, 1997). Generally consistent with overall trends in youth-perpetrated violence, juvenile sexual crime rose between 1985 and 1993 but has decreased since that time (OJJDP, 2000). Adolescent males commit the preponderance of these sexual crimes, although prepubescent children and females have been documented to engage in sexual aggression.
