Adolescent Sex Offenders

In our society, female children are alerted in early childhood to the potential risk of victimization and taught to avoid dangers and seek protection. We are often quite oblivious, however, to the victimization of males even though male children are more often victims of serious physical injury from child abuse than females, males are at least 25% of the victims of sexual abuse, and males of all ages are more often victims of both violent crimes and property crimes than their female peers. In all types of victimization, however, there is little recognition of the impact upon the male victim, and few services attempt to identify and aid in him coping with and resolving the feelings of anger, powerlessness, and lack of control which victimization may produce. We build the expectation that being male includes protecting and defending oneself. If the child on the playground who is hit is a female, we say, “Go tell the teacher,” but if the child is male, we say, “Hit him back!”. When the young child leaves home to play in the neighborhood, the female child hears “Be careful,” while the male child hears, “Stay out of trouble.” Consequently, when the young male is victimized he finds himself powerless to defend himself. We have set him up believing that it is his weakness, his failure as a male, or perhaps even his behavior, which has resulted in the victimization. It is, therefore, very unlikely that he will seek help or protection but rather will internalize the quilt for his own victimization, carrying with him his feelings of anger and powerlessness.

For the victims of abuse, the abuse may produce either a learned helplessness or a repetitive aggressiveness. The victims, without therapeutic intervention, are often destined to a future of repeated victimization of themselves, the inability to protect others, or the development of similar abusive behaviors toward others. While sexuality may be biological and instinctual in nature, the ways we behave sexually and our definitions of appropriate sexual behavior are learned from the models and information made available to us in our environment. The male who has been exposed to deviant sexual behaviors, attitudes, or information during the developing years, (through his own victimization or exposure to inappropriate sexuality or attitudes in his environment) may add these behaviors to his repertoire of potential sexual behaviors. In puberty, when establishment of his male identity becomes urgent, he may conquer his earlier feelings of powerlessness, confusion, and/or victimization by taking control of others, even re-creating his own victimization or trauma by taking the role of the perpetrator, and in this way, attempt to establish his own power as a male. By overpowering, exploiting, manipulating, or controlling others, he may be attempting to undo or protect himself against the impact or implications of his own victimization, or be over identifying with the aggressor. In his role as perpetrator, he now perceives himself as powerful and able to protect himself.

Because of the reinforcing nature of sexual behaviors, the deviant acts of a sexual offender may become repetitive, ingraining deviant patterns which become habitual and may progress to incorporate more and more deviant sexual acts. Reinforcement comes from the thrill of secrecy, the anticipation in fantasizing, planning, and stalking, the addictive qualities of seeking more and better “highs.” and the thinking errors which rationalize and support the behaviors. Behavioral reinforcement occurs with the arousal and ejaculation from masturbator fantasies as wall as during the sexual assaults. The perceived positive feelings of power and control combine with physical gratification to outweigh the potential negative consequences of the behavior.

The case of Stretch, a 16-year-old male who was committed to a secure juvenile treatment center two and one-half years ago and recently recommitted for an additional 18 months, demonstrates the progressive development of deviant behaviors. The offense history (having been put together retrospectively during the client’s treatment) is a classic example of a puzzle which was never put together. Behaviors and incidents, starting at age five and progressing over ten years, demonstrate many points at which educated teachers, neighbors, mental health and social services providers might have been able to identify the developing sexual offender. By the offender’s own retrospection, he discloses rape-cycle behaviors in place at age nine. Offenses which appeared to be “non-sexual,” in his memory prove to have been linked to sexual motives.

The offense history begins with voyeuristic behaviors from ages five to seven, including attempts to watch grandmother and mother using the bathroom or taking showers. These activities would be considered within the realm of normal exploratory curiosity of an 18 to 30-month-old who is interested in learning how adults do everything from baking cookies to driving the car, and including use of the bathroom. These behaviors should subside by age five when the child is no longer curious about the bathroom, having mastered its use for himself. By Stretch’s own account, this stage included observing the babysitter having sex with her boyfriend, and was accompanied by assaultive behaviors toward girls in the school grounds motivated by a desire to actually frighten, control, and degrade them.

By age eight, Stretch was showing the development of what, by age 13 would become obscene phone calls, beginning with writing sexually orientated notes to his third grade classmates, and gradually progressing into degrading sexual comments and open sexual harassment. Intrusive behaviors and inappropriate touching began at age nine with supposedly “accidental” incidents of contact with female genitalia during play in crowds, and the stealthy watching and waiting for girls, which by his own admission, were the beginnings of intent to assault and the first development of the planning and stalking of his rape cycle.

At age ten, he was beginning experimental cross-dressing and intrusiveness had developed into stealing keys and sneaking into houses. By age 11 he had progressed to actually grabbing the chests and butts of female classmates, threatening them with sexual acts, and was discovered standing in the bedroom of a friend’s mother, watching her sleep. (By his own report, he was planning to rape her). It was also at this point that he began sodomizing his little brother on a regular basis, although this was never disclosed except by his own admission years later in treatment.

In seventh grade, at age 12, he selected four girls for continual harassment and touching, and encouraged friends to join him in the behaviors. During this time, he also began cross-dressing during his victimization of his little brother and was finally reported for a sexual assault on two seven-year-old girls whom he had bribed to disrobe and touch each other. Within 12 months, he was reported to police for two property crimes of theft and one sexual assault on a child, but all charges were dismissed or refused by the DA for insufficient evidence. He finally received probation for a burglary charge when he was 13, with outpatient psychiatric treatment stipulations. The “burglary” included trying on a woman’s underwear, cutting up her clothing, cutting phone wires, and spreading butcher knives around the house while he waited for her to come home. During his probation, by his own report, he continued frequent, multiple break-ins of neighborhood homes, frequently stalking school peers, grabbing at them in halls, and engineering a gang rape which was never reported.

During the last six months prior to his commitment, he was reported to the principal for rubbing himself against a girl at school, assaulting the same girl with intent to rape her after she threw a snowball at him, and after hitting her with his fist, was expelled from school. The behaviors resulting in his commitment included 13 obscene phone calls to a neighbor culminating in breaking into her home following threatening her on the phone. While in the house, he stabbed her waterbed repeatedly. He was committed at age 15 to the department of corrections for sex offender treatment as a rapist in an unprecedented decision based on the evidence supporting his potential behavior without ever having succeeded in completing the act of rape on record. The placement decision was difficult because it was felt that Stretch would need intensive psychiatric work as well as a sex offender program and no resource was available to provide both. Although he is working on the cognitive/behavioral aspect of his problem, clinicians continue to feel psychiatric work would be beneficial because the early origins of his disturbance remain unclear. The case points to the need for massive educational efforts at many levels in order to pick up on the developing offender earlier, as well as the need for increased resources to provide more multi disciplinary options to meet the needs and challenges of these clients.

While both the offender and the offenses are uniquely individual, some commonalities have been observed and have enabled sex offender therapists to identify significant issues which need to be considered in all treatment settings. These issues include denial and minimization of assaulting behaviors rejected, ignored, put down, victimized, criticized, controlled, jealous or powerless. Failures, family problems and disrupted relationships with peers may reflect some element of reality within the situation, but because of the offender’s distorted perceptions and negative self-image, the effect on the offender is unrealistically extreme, and triggers a negative chain of maladaptive coping strategies.

The first reaction to these negative feelings is termed “expectation of rejection.” In this stage or mode, one reacts to situations by relating to others in a way which will either fulfill his expectations of being rejected or act to reject others before they can reject him. This may be done in a violent way by picking a fight or provoking angry outbursts which cause people to withdraw, or may be done through inappropriate approaches to people such as being too forward, too controlling, trying to overpower, or asking the impossible. However this expectation of rejection is played out, it results in the offender becoming isolated, often by his own withdrawal.

Withdrawal is often used to defend against rejection, but then becomes self-fulfilling. It is in this stage of withdrawn isolation that the offender resorts to fantasies designed to make him “feel better” and provide him with the illusion that he has defenses to control whatever provoked him. For the sexual offender, these fantasies may involve a deviant sexual theme, but often are more concerned with creating a powerful, desirable self-image. For the more aggressive “rapist” (who may be assaulting adults, peers of children) whose reaction to rejection has taken an angry or violent form, these fantasies may include violent retaliations against those who have rejected him, including use of weapons and force and may or may not result within the fantasy in the rape of some victim. For the less-violent offender, fantasies may include exaggerated abilities to control with seduction, exploitation, or embarrassment resulting in the fantasized assault. For all offenders, their fantasies compensate for the feelings of powerlessness, victimization, and lack of control which triggered the cycle. The central theme is usually power and control exaggerated in direct proportion to the level of personalization in the offender’s interpretation of the incidents which triggered his negative self-image and perceived rejection. The goal within the fantasies may be to evoke the same negative feelings in the victim by controlling, overpowering, defiling and degrading. For all sexual offenders, the fantasies result in the offender feeling more powerful and lead into a series of cognitive distortions which support their progression into planning to carry out their sexual assault. These fantasies may include the coercion and molestation of a child or the seduction of some other inappropriate sexual partner such as a movie star or teacher. However, often the sexual fantasies involve an age appropriate, submissive partner. Distorted thinking then acts to enable the offender to act out his fantasies with an inappropriate and/or unwilling partner whom he thinks either “wants,” “invites,” or “deserves” his sexual assault. These fantasies may be repeated again and again and may be supported by masturbation.

The planning process may be carried out entirely in fantasies or may include the selection, stalking, and setting up of the victim. During this stage, victims may be watched, their homes may be broken into, clothing may be taken, etc., or a relationship may be started, designed to create a potential situation where the victimization may occur.

The next stage in the cycle is the sexually offending behavior it self which is reflective of the earlier parts of the cycle in its content. For the more aggressive offender whose cycle includes a lot of anger and violence, the offense may be so violent as to even result in death of the victim. For the less violent offenders, the offense may be more explosive and coercive but still fulfill the need for power and control. The offense vindicates the offender’s feelings of rejection and makes him feel powerful. More cognitive distortions follow the offense: attempts to rationalize the behavior, minimize its meaning, and feelings of “transitory guilt” which are most often related to guilt over getting caught (thus losing his power and control) as opposed to guilt over his behavior. Finally, sobering thoughts of potential consequences have a suppressing affect, bringing him to the end, and the beginning, feeling bad about himself.

The case of Luke, now 16 years old and finishing three years of treatment following his molestation of his younger sister, demonstrates that treatment can provide self-awareness that may potentially enable a developing sexual offender to turn his behavior around. Luke was committed to a secure correctional facility at 15 and spent two years in their sex offender program where he was confronted daily to recognize inappropriate behaviors and cognitive distortions. He is an angry offender, resentful and jealous of the sister he victimized and afraid of rejection by his adoptive parents. His choice of victims may have been a classic setup to provoke (and thus control) the parental rejection he expected. For Luke, however, his offense did not result in parental abandonment and family therapy has been part of his treatment.

After two years at the correctional facility, he returned home and continued treatment in an outpatient group in the community. In his final group, he summarized his rape cycle without prompting, pointing to examples in his daily life of situations which make him angry. He acknowledged that anger is still a problem but feels his mother is a constant, available support, that she is not afraid for him to tell her about his negative feelings and that she is good at helping him figure out acceptable alternatives when he cannot. He seems confident in his knowledge of himself without minimizing his potential to re-offend if he is not alert to his feelings. He spent the most time dwelling on his fear of loss. His father’s recent experience with cancer makes this loss of a parent a very real threat, and he was able to acknowledge that loss will be his biggest trial.

Luke describes his cycle as a “whirlwind,” how he can move through the stages in a matter of minutes, compared to other offenders who may spend weeks moving from stage to stage. The speed of his cycle is the other real danger for Luke because a situation which triggers his feeling bad about himself can literally explode, isolating him within minutes. For this reason, prevention for Luke must concentrate on prediction of potential situations and development of escape plans to avoid the trigger situations. Once triggered, he must bail out immediately – walking away from the situation and immediately seeking his reality supports. It was suggested that he could have trouble if his mother was not available when he needed her, and that he needs to continue to define how she helps him process events until he can do it himself.

Luke is still a sex offender. He is still at risk of offending, and always will be. But, he has been given the tools to control his behavior, if he chooses to do so. He has been given choices.