ABSTRACT
Despite the existence of various typologies of sexual aggressors of women, most offenders can be grouped into one of the four main types. However, existing typologies do not specifically discuss elderly sexual abuse. Studies that have looked at elderly sexual abuse appear to treat this form of crime as a homogeneous phenomenon. Yet, some authors have suggested that elderly sexual abuse could present different motivations. Unfortunately, these types and the motivations associated with elderly sexual abuse discussed in the literature have all been identified through clinical observations and have not been tested empirically. In this chapter, we present an empirical evaluation that aims to identify the various motivations associated with elderly sexual abuse. Moreover, our goal is to examine whether these motivations are associated with offender and crime characteristics. Results show that four distinct motivations are associated with elderly sexual abuse: sexual, opportunistic, vindictive/anger, and experimental. Furthermore, findings reveal an existing relationship between the four identified types of motivation and the offender and the crime characteristics.
