Child Sexual Abuse

There are many predators out in the world living among us. Some of those predators are accessible to distinguish and safe guard against. Others however do not have a definite classification which makes them a bigger threat. An example of such a predator is a child sexual abuser. According to a research report made by the National Institute of Justice, “There is no single ‘profile’ that accurately describes or accounts for all child molesters� (doc1). More focus must be put on this topic to be able to accurately profile the characteristics of a child sexual abuser. According to Kali Munro, M.Ed., the definition of child sexual abuse is “any form of sexual activity with a child by an adult, or by another child where there is no consent or consent is not possible; or by another child who has power over the child. By this definition, it is possible for a child to be sexually abused by another child who is younger than they are. Sexual abuse includes showing a child pornographic materials, placing the child’s hand on another person’s genitals, touching a child’s genitals, and the more extreme form of abuse that of penetration. Penetration does not have to occur for it to be sexual abuse� (doc2). This

With new studies currently in affect, the situation of child abuse is starting to be addressed properly. The biggest obstacle seems to be trying to find a way to get children to come forth about there victimizations. There have been many school programs in affect to try to get children to speak up about any abuse that they might be receiving however, the success of these programs will be based mainly on the children’s willingness to cooperate. With the majority of child sexual abusers still on the streets, it is important for parents or any caregiver to communicate with there children about child sexual abuse.

One thing that makes child sexual abuse a difficult topic to study is the fact that there are not any actual guideline to a way an offender is supposed to act. They come from all paths and do different things to children but often times, the “perpetrators are most often someone the child knows and trusts” (doc2). “The sexual abusers of children are highly dissimilar in terms of personal characteristics, life experiences, and criminal histories” (doc1). However, there are some very general guidelines to their characteristics including an offender’s sexual focus, victimization as children, social competence, personality and developmental influences. There are two components of sexual focus in child molesters. One component is the intensity of pedophilic interest. This focuses on how much an offender views a child in a sexual manner. The other component focus’s on how an offender views only children as sexual objects. These two focuses differ because where the first doesn’t count out the idea that the offender still has interest in adult relationships, the second focus’s on the exclusivity of preference to children. Although it has not been proven, studies show that there may be a link that suggests that an offender may be affected by his own sexual victimization as a child. “Tests of the recapitulation theory on a sample of 131 rapists and child molesters revealed that child molesters who committed their first assault when they were 14 or younger were sexually victimized at a younger age than offenders who committed their first assault in adulthood; th