Situational Precipitators and Interactive Forces in Sexual Crime Events Involving Adult Offenders

Abstract

We investigated the role of situational precipitators in sexual offenses in relation to the use of physical force by offenders, penetration of the victim, and physical injuries to the victim. We used self-report data obtained from a Canadian sample of 553 incarcerated adult male sexual offenders. All data used in this study were gathered through a semi-structured interview conducted with each participant. First, we found that 75.8% of sexual crime events were somehow precipitated, or characterized, by the presence of precipitators before crime. Second, the relationship between each precipitator and the type of offense was statistically significant except for one precipitator. Third, although a number of precipitators were associated with the dependent variables, we also found two interaction effects that illuminated the complexity of the role of precipitators in sexual offenses. Interaction analysis can increase our understanding of sexual crime events and better inform prevention practices, such as relapse prevention.