Injury Matters: On Female-Perpetrated Sex Crimes

Abstract

Despite the importance of studying sexual assaults perpetrated by women, the field knows very little about female sexual offenders’ (FSOs) use of violence or physical injury resulting from these assaults. This study draws more than 20 years of National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data reported to police (1992-2014) to identify factors that distinguish between female perpetrated incidents of sexual assault that result in severe, minor, or no physical victim injuries above and beyond the sexual assault itself. Using a multinomial logistic regression model (MNLM), 15,928 incidents of FSO-perpetrated sexual assault were analyzed from the NIBRS. The results showed that the extent of victim injuries sustained during the sexual assault incidents was associated with a number of factors, including the presence of a female victim, the age of victim, a greater number of offenders, and the presence of weapons. In particular, incidents that resulted in major victim injuries were significantly associated with alcohol and drug use by the perpetrator. In general, incidents with young children were at increased risk of a sexual assault resulting in a major or minor victim injury. Although further investigation is needed to continue to better understand female sexual offending behaviors, these findings suggest that certain incident characteristics increase the likelihood of the assault to involve the use of violence by an FSO against her victims.