ABSTRACT
There are little data on the prevalence of child sexual abuse, since many crimes are unreported. Estimates are obtained from victim studies and self-report studies of offenders. Estimates obtained from self-report studies of incarcerated offenders differ from self-reports of nonincarcerated offenders. A recent outpatient study suggests that the number of crimes committed by the average child molester is far greater than previous estimates (Abel, Becker, Mittelman, et al., (1987). In this study, pedophiles were divided into four categories. The findings were as follows: 224 men had sexually molested 4,435 female children not related to them; 153 men had sexually molested 22,981 male children not related to them; 159 men had sexually molested 286 female children related to them; and 44 men had molested 75 male children related to them.
