ABSTRACT
Despite crime statistics that indicate adolescents play a signicant role in sexual oense rates and can vary psychopathologically from adult oenders, research on adolescents who sexually oend (oen referred to in the literature as an adolescent sex oender or ASO) is largely limited in comparison to studies of adult sex oenders. Available data reveal a wide range of estimates about ASO’s incidence and prevalence. For example, one study estimated that approximately one-third to one-half of known sexual assaults against a child are committed by an adolescent oender (Prentky et al. 2000; Finkelhor et al. 2009). Ocial statistics have indicated that 12.5% of all arrests for sexual assault and 14% of arrests for other sex oenses involve ASOs (U.S. Department of Justice 2009). According to Snyder (2000), juveniles account for 23% of all sex oenders. When broken down by victim age, adolescents are reported to account for 4% of sex oenses against adults and 33% of sex oenses against children. When examining child victims, 40% of adolescent perpetrated sex oenses are against victims under age 6 (Snyder 2009). In Ybarra and Mitchell’s online survey study (2013) of 1058 youth aged 14-21 years old, 1 in 10 (9%; n = 108) self-reported sexual perpetration ranging from unwanted kissing, touching, or other unwanted sexual contact (8%; n = 84) to completed rape (2%; n = 18).
