Merdian, Hannah Lena and Wilson, Nick and Boer, Douglas P. (2009) Characteristics of internet sexual offenders: a review. Sexual Abuse in Australia and New Zealand , 2 (1). pp. 34-47. ISSN 1833-8488

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Abstract

The review presented in this paper provides some descriptive findings regarding Internet Sex Offenders (ISOs) in comparison to contact sex offenders. In general, Internet Sex Offenders are found to be Caucasian, male, relatively young, highly educated, intelligent, and well-employed. ISOs also appear to be highly sexualised, in both their current lifestyle as well as childhood experiences as victims. ISOs can also be classified into several subgroups, such as child pornography offenders, who again are a heterogeneous group themselves. Professionals dealing with ISOs should be aware that they seem to share similar deficits with contact sex offenders but might differ in some important areas. This information should be kept in mind when reading their files, establishing treatment needs, and interpreting psychometric test results. To date no personality and risk measure is validated on this 'new' or emerging offender category, hence any results should be interpreted with caution.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The review presented in this paper provides some descriptive findings regarding Internet Sex Offenders (ISOs) in comparison to contact sex offenders. In general, Internet Sex Offenders are found to be Caucasian, male, relatively young, highly educated, intelligent, and well-employed. ISOs also appear to be highly sexualised, in both their current lifestyle as well as childhood experiences as victims. ISOs can also be classified into several subgroups, such as child pornography offenders, who again are a heterogeneous group themselves. Professionals dealing with ISOs should be aware that they seem to share similar deficits with contact sex offenders but might differ in some important areas. This information should be kept in mind when reading their files, establishing treatment needs, and interpreting psychometric test results. To date no personality and risk measure is validated on this 'new' or emerging offender category, hence any results should be interpreted with caution.
Keywords:	internet, Sex Offenders, bmjfind
Subjects:	C Biological Sciences > C800 Psychology C Biological Sciences > C890 Psychology not elsewhere classified
Divisions:	College of Social Sciences > Faculty of Health & Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User:	Alison Wilson
Date Deposited:	14 Jan 2012 16:04
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2013 09:03
URI:	http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/4843

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