ABSTRACT

The motivational factors that contribute to female sex offending and the crime scene behavior that defines it are still relatively unexplored. While there is no doubt that sexual crimes by women occur less often than sexual crimes perpetrated by men, the hidden nature of many aspects of female sexual offending are slowly beginning to surface and to prompt more careful examination and study. The intimacy with which women provide physical care to children, combined with the popular stereotypes of males as sexual aggressors, often makes detection of these crimes difficult. However, the emergence of sexual registration laws across the country has helped to document the different patterns of offending by women. This is particularly true among those who come to the attention of the criminal justice system, and such laws also help identify the need for formal research. Investigatory experience with women identified by child protective services and those referred into voluntary or compulsory treatment further broaden our understanding of the ways that women offend sexually against others. The current chapter is devoted to a review of this information along with a discussion of the investigation significance of this evolving area of inquiry to law enforcement and child protective investigators.