ABSTRACT
When one thinks of a sex offender, a middle-aged or old man who lurks in the bushes waiting for his next victim might come to mind. As noted in previous chapters, however, sex offenders are a heterogeneous group. This is also true of juvenile sex offenders. They commit diverse sex crimes. In this chapter, we provide a summary of the theories, research, and realities of juveniles who commit sex crimes. Although the focus is on juvenile sex offenders, some researchers use the term adolescents; hence, both terms are used in this chapter. The purpose of this chapter is not to present all of the available information on juvenile sex offenders, as the scope of that information is too broad for this one chapter. Several authors have written entire books on this topic, which shows the amount of available information is vast.
