A Typology of Sex Offending Against Minors: An Empirical Study of Rape and Molestation Cases in China

Abstract

Efforts to classify sexual offending and offenders continued to evolve over the years based on criteria such as offender and victim characteristics, offender–victim relationships, the nature of sexual offenses, and other situational factors. This current study draws up a typology of sexual offending against minors based on 436 adjudicated rape and child molestation cases in China. Specifically, sexual offending against minors is classified into six major categories, including opportunistic offenses, serial offenses, dating couple offenses, educator abuses, gang/party offenses, and incest offenses. Based on this empirical typology, a number of crime prevention measures are suggested. These suggestions aim at involving multiple players and institutions to focus on education, target hardening, and crime investigation. This study makes a significant contribution to comparative studies in this field, and the results could be potentially applied in other cultures.