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Residential placement of intra-familial adolescent sex offenders

  • Jan Grant, Jenny Thornton and Christabel Chamarette
  • Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice, no. 315
  • ISBN 1 921185 08 2 ; ISSN 0817-8542
  • Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, May 2006
  • Criminology Research Council grant no. 5/03-04

Abstract

In 2003, 1,821 males and 5,669 females aged under 15 years were recorded by police as victims of sexual assault but we know from crime victim surveys that sexual assault is the crime least likely to be reported to the police. We also know from research that adult sex offenders and victims are significantly more likely to have suffered abuse as children. A significant proportion of this abuse occurs within the family by intra-familial offenders. Interventions that will protect the victim but also break the cycle of reoffending will have a significant positive impact on families. However, there is some research that suggests particular interventions may make matters worse. This paper focuses on the issue of removing the intra-familial adolescent sex offender from the family home and describes an alternative model to relocation being used in Western Australia. As the paper reports there has been little rigorous evaluation of all types of interventions to determine what works best and under what circumstances. To reaffirm the authors' conclusion, 'urgent evaluation of the efficacy and effectiveness of both community-based and residential treatment programmes for young offenders should be a priority'.

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