1. Plant City Police Department
Training Unit

2.  It is estimated that there are 60 million survivors of childhood
sexual abuse in America today. Long-term effects of child abuse
include:
◦ Fear
◦ Depression
◦ Anger
◦ Hostility
◦ Inappropriate sexual behavior
◦ Poor self-esteem
◦ Tendency toward substance abuse
◦ Difficulty with close relationships
 This can cause long-term emotional/psychological damage which
can be devastating to the child

3.  Approximately 80,000 cases of child sexual abuse reported
annually
 Children are afraid to tell anyone
 No child is mentally prepared to cope with repeated sexual
assaults
 Even a 2 or 3 year old, who doesn’t’ understand that sexual
activity is “wrong, will develop problems resulting from the
inability to cope with the overstimulation

4.  Molests an average of 117 children; most of which
do not report the offense
 71% of offenders younger than 35 yrs. old and
knew the victim at least casually
 80% fall within the normal intelligence ranges.
 59% gain sexual access to victims through
seduction or enticement

5.  Investigating child abuse, sexual abuse, and
neglect can be challenging and difficult.
 Cases are often long and sometimes tedious.
 Cases frequently weigh on the officer’s
emotions.

6.  Good investigative interviewing
 Thorough documentation of the facts.
 Excellent collection/preservation of evidence.

7. An abuser’s confession – thereby sparing a
child from participation in a trial.

8.  A child 12 years of age or younger who is alleged
to have committed a violation of Florida Statutes
 A child (Includes children 18 and under) who is
alleged to have committed any violation of law or
delinquent act involving juvenile sexual abuse
 More than experimentation

9.  Child on child sex offenses involve more than
experimentation. Sexual Offenders behavior may
include any of the following:
 Obscene phone calls
 Exhibitionism
 Voyeurism
 Showing/taking lewd photographs
 Varying degrees of direct sexual contact
 Fondling
 Digital and/or penetration with any other object
 Rape, fellatio, sodomy, and various other sexually aggressive acts

10.  Any sexual behavior that occurs without the
consent, without equality, or as a result of
coercion or manipulative seduction

11.  Intelligent, knowing, and voluntary, and does not
include coerced submission
◦ Consent shall not be deemed or construed to mean the
failure by the alleged victim to offer physical resistance to
the offender
 Non-consent is not an element in sexual assaults
of victims less than 16 years of age in Florida

12. Two participants operating with the same
level of power in a relationship, neither being
controlled nor coerced by the other.

13. Exploitation of authority, use of bribes,
threats of force, or intimidation to gain
cooperation or compliance

14.  Oral, anal, or vaginal penetration by, or union
with, the sexual organ of another or the anal
or vaginal penetration of another by any
other object; however, sexual battery does
not include an act done for a bona fide
medical purpose
 “Rape” is not a legally accepted term for
sexual abuse

15. Temporarily incapable of appraising or
controlling a person’s own conduct due to
the influence of narcotic, anesthetic, or
intoxicating substance administered without
his or her consent or due to any other act
committed upon that person with his or her
consent

16. Unconscious, asleep, or for any other reason
physically unable to communicate
unwillingness to an act

17.  A person knowingly marrying or having
sexual intercourse with a person to him
he/she is related by consanguinity, or a
brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece

18. The act or fantasy of engaging in sexual
activity with pre-pubescent children (Usually
13 or younger), as repeated, preferred or
exclusive method of achieving sexual
excitement

19. A person who is sexually attracted to and/or
engaged in any type of sexual activity with
individuals legally defined as children

20.  (SAIN)
 A community-based, multi-disciplinary,
inter-agency case and services management
systems network, specifically designed to
assist a jurisdiction in addressing the
management of juvenile sexual offenders and
their families

21.  Offenders are usually between the ages of 5-
19
 Median age is 14-15
 Over 90% are males

22.  Over 90% are known by the victim
◦ Babysitter
◦ Relative
◦ Acquaintance
 Median victim age is 7
 Females are 3 times more likely to be victims than males
 Male victimization believed to be largely under reported

23.  More than 60 % involve penetration
 Over 1/3 involve physical force
 In comparison to adult offenders, juveniles are more likely to
have intercourse or some other form of invasive sexual
contact
 One study reports 56% of the sexual abuse cases referred to a
Washington D.C. hospital involved juvenile perpetrators
 A number of studies estimate that juvenile offenders commit
20-30% of rapes and 30-50% of child molestations
 Due to young age of offenders cases often are not reported

24.  As juvenile offenders become adults offenses increase 50 fold
 47-58% of adult sex offenders committed their first offense
as an adolescent
 While these statistics are shocking it does not imply that
every juvenile offender will progress to an adult offender
“ There is little evidence to support the assumption that the
majority of juvenile sexual offenders are destined to become
adult sexual offenders, or that these youths engage in acts of
sexual perpetration for the same reasons as their adult
counterparts.

25. Offenders sexual orientation
◦ Homosexual
◦ Heterosexual
◦ Bisexual

26.  Non-contact
◦ Obscene phone calls
◦ Exhibitionism
◦ Voyeurism
◦ Showing or taking lewd photographs
 Direct sexual contact
◦ Fondling
◦ Digital and/or penetration with any other object
◦ Sexual battery
◦ Fellatio
◦ Sodomy

27.  63% Due to neglect
 19% Physical Abuse
 10% Sexual Abuse
 8% Psychological

28.  Statistically speaking the majority of abuse
situations occur within the following:
◦ In the home
◦ In Day Care

29.  27% of women and 16% of men report being sexually abused as
children.
 Boys:
◦ Median age: 9.9
◦ 22% before the age of 8
◦ 33% never disclosed abuse
 Girls
◦ Median age- 9.5
◦ 23% before the age of 8
◦ 42% never disclosed
 Most of the offenders were more than 10 years older than the
victims.

30.  67% Were Juveniles (Under the age of 18)
 34% under the age of 12
 1 of 7 under the age of 6
 40% of offenders who victimized children
under the age of 6 were juveniles

31. It is estimated that children with disabilities are
4 to 10 times more vulnerable to sexual
abuse than their non-disabled peers.

32.  A child’s initial denial of abuse should not be the
sole assurance that abuse has not occurred
 Young victims may not recognize their
victimization as sexual abuse
 The inability to trust is pronounced among sexual
abuse victims, leading to secrecy and non-
disclosure.
 Children often fail to disclose due to the fear that
the consequences of disclosure may be worse than
those of experiencing further victimization

33.  Victims may be embarrassed or reluctant to answer
questions about sexual activity
 Victims may also feel that “there’s something
wrong with them,” and that the abuse is their fault
 It is clinically assumed that children who keep
sexual abuse secret suffer greater psychic distress
than those who disclose and receive assistance and
support

34.  31% of female prison inmates claim they were abused as
children
 95% of teen prostitutes were sexually abused.
 Sexual victimization may profoundly interfere with and alter
the development of attitudes toward self, sexuality, and
trusting relationships during the critical early years of
development.
 Sexually abused girls are three times more likely to develop
psychiatric disorders or abuse alcohol & drugs in adulthood.

35.  Withdrawal, chronic depression
 Role reversal/overly concerned for siblings
 Poor self-esteem, self devaluation, lack of confidence
 Scared in public, doesn’t want to leave home
 Hysteria, lack of emotional control, traumatized
 Excessive seductiveness
 Inappropriate sex play, premature understanding of sex
 Threatened by physical contact/closeness
 Uncomfortable changing clothes in front of anyone
 Exhibits fantasy or baby-like behavior
 Frequent nightmares, high level of unexplained anxiety
 Want to hang around parents
 Nervous when around people who may resemble assailant

36.  Massive weight change
 Suicide attempts (Especially adolescents)
 Torn, stained or bloody underclothing
 Pain, swelling, itching, bruises, or bleeding in genital area
 Difficulty walking or sitting
 Venereal disease

38.  Situational Child Molester:
◦ Regressed
◦ Morally indiscriminate
◦ Sexually indiscriminate
◦ Inadequate
 Preferential Child Molester
◦ Seducer
◦ Introvert
◦ Sadistic

39.  Does not have a true sexual preference for children but
engages in sex with children for varied reasons.
 Usually has fewer numbers of different child victims.
 May also sexually victimize the elderly, sick, and disabled.
 Highest number of situational child molesters are in the lower
socioeconomic class.
 Categorized by four patterns: regressed, morally
indiscriminate, sexually indiscriminate & inadequate

40.  Regressed Offender
◦ Usually poor self-esteem
and coping skills
◦ Seek victims based on
availability (many molest
their own children)
◦ Coerce children into
having sex
◦ Pornography may include
homemade photos or
videos of the child
 Morally Indiscriminate Offender
◦ Tend to lie, cheat & steal
◦ Tendency to abuse spouse,
friends & co-worker
◦ Victim criteria is vulnerability
and opportunity-if they have
the urge and a child is
present, they act.
◦ Methods are force, luring &
manipulation
◦ Pornography may be
sadomasochistic or depict
pubescent children, or they
may collect detective
magazines

41.  Sexually Indiscriminate Offender
◦ Appears to be discriminating except in sexual behavior.
◦ Willing to try anything sexual.
◦ Basic motivation is sexual experimentation.
◦ Appear to have sex with children from boredom
◦ Most likely to have multiple victims
◦ Come from a higher socioeconomic background.
◦ Collects pornography & erotica with only a small portion
dealing with children

42. Inadequate Offender
◦ May suffer from psychoses, eccentric personality disorders, mental retardation, &
senility – the social misfit
◦ Mental or emotional frustrations may result in cruel sexual torture
◦ Some have difficulty expressing anger & hostility
◦ Becomes sexually involved with children out of insecurity or curiosity and because
children are non-threatening
◦ Victims may also be elderly
◦ Selection is random – victim may or may not be previously known to the offender
◦ Pornography will most likely be of adults

43.  Have a definite sexual preference for children
 Potential to molest large numbers of victims
 Usually have age and gender preferences, more prefer boys over
girls
 They have a need for frequent and repeated sex with children
 Higher socioeconomic groups tend to be over-represented among
this group
 Three major patterns of behavior; seductive, introverted, and
sadistic

44. Seducer
◦ Seduces children over a period of time gradually lowering their sexual
inhibitions
◦ Victims arrive at the point where they are willing to trade sex for the
attention, affection and other benefits received from the offender
◦ Many offenders are involved with multiple victims and operating child sex
rings
◦ Identifies with children – they know how to talk and listen to children
◦ Most likely to use threats and physical violence to avoid identification and
disclosure or to prevent a victim from leaving before he is ready

45. Sadistic Offender
◦ Must inflict psychological or physical pain or suffering on
the child to achieve arousal.
◦ Use force to gain access to their victims
◦ More likely to abduct and even murder their victims
◦ There are some cases where seduction molesters have
become sadistic molesters

46. Introvert
◦ Lacks skills to seduce the victim
◦ Generally molests strangers or very young children
◦ Likely to hang around playgrounds and other areas children congregate
◦ May expose themselves or make obscene phone calls to children.
◦ May use child prostitutes
◦ May marry and have their own children for ease of access.