Females’ Engagement in Offline and Online Sexual Offending and Their Interactions With the Criminal Justice System: A Gender and Age Comparison

Isabelle Hull; Larissa S Christensen; Nadine McKillop; Susan Rayment-McHugh

doi:10.1177/08862605241299445

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Females’ Engagement in Offline and Online Sexual Offending and Their Interactions With the Criminal Justice System: A Gender and Age Comparison

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Females’ Engagement in Offline and Online Sexual Offending and Their Interactions With the Criminal Justice System: A Gender and Age Comparison

Isabelle Hull, Larissa S Christensen, Nadine McKillop and Susan Rayment-McHugh

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol.40(21-22), pp.4948-4970

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241299445

Appears in UniSC Diversity and Inclusion Research Collection

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Abstract

Causes and prevention of crime

Crime prevention

Justice and the law

female-perpetrated sexual offending

child sexual abuse material

technology facilitated sexual violence

female sex offenders

child exploitation material

sexual violence

UniSC Diversity Area - Life Stages

This study aimed to extend limited extant knowledge of female-perpetrated sexual offenses, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offenses, that enter the criminal justice system. Sexual offenses actioned by the police in one jurisdiction of Australia between 1 January 2012 and 30 June 2021 (N = 37,864) were analyzed to explore the prevalence of sexual offenses and types of sexual offenses perpetrated; the relationship between perpetrator gender, age, and offense type; and the relationship between perpetrator gender, age, offense type, and likelihood of law enforcement action (N = 34,835). Consistent with previous research, (predominantly adult) males were responsible for most sexual offenses before police. Females were responsible for 12.2% of all offenses over this period, with juvenile females (10–17 years) implicated in a significant proportion (10.2%) of all offenses. In fact, juvenile females were responsible for the majority of assaultive CSAM offenses, whereas juvenile males mostly perpetrated offline child sexual abuse offenses. Regarding adults, there was a minimal, statistically significant difference between gender and offense type. Odds of perpetrating an online assaultive CSAM offense were 20 times higher for juvenile females compared to both adult males and adult females, and 7.69 times higher for juvenile females compared to juvenile males. Finally, for the same offense type, gender and age differentially impacted law enforcement action. For all offense types, enforcement and gravity (e.g., arrest and referral to court) of further action, were significantly lower among all females and juvenile males compared to adult males. Juvenile females were least likely to have any serious action taken. These findings provide a seminal platform from which to expand much-needed research on female-perpetrated offending to inform policy and practice.

Details

Title: Females’ Engagement in Offline and Online Sexual Offending and Their Interactions With the Criminal Justice System: A Gender and Age Comparison
Authors: Isabelle Hull (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Larissa S Christensen (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Nadine McKillop (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Susan Rayment-McHugh (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Publication details: Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol.40(21-22), pp.4948-4970
Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc.
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1177/08862605241299445
ISSN: 1552-6518; 0886-2605
Copyright note: © The Author(s) 2024. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Organisation Unit: School of Law and Society; Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991081998302621
Output Type: Journal article