Descriptive data are presented on 305 adolescent sexual offenders. Types of offenses and the circumstances under which they occurred are described. Results suggest that adolescents commit an array of sexual offenses, that they are not typically isolated incidents, and that they are frequently indicative of more general adjustment difficulties.

The purpose of this research was to investigate how best to identify juvenile sexual offenders who are likely to reoffend. The juvenile justice records of 112 male juvenile sexual offenders were examined. Information obtained during evaluation at a specialized, community-based program was compared with records of subsequent sexual and nonsexual reoffending. Certain characteristics of the referral offense and aspects of the offender's clinical presentation were found to be reliably related to reoffending; on several dimensions the nonsexual reoffenders differed markedly from the sexual reoffenders. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify the combination of predictor variables that best discriminated reoffense groups.

The MMPIs of 262 adolescent males who committed sexual offenses were categorized by means of cluster analysis into four distinct groups. Each of these groups was found to contain different two‐point code types. Referral offense, historical and clinical data were compared for each of the four cluster groups and for each of the two‐point code types; the latter provided more reliable discrimination among groups. The four modal personality types suggested by the cluster analysis indicate, contrary to previous research, that juvenile sexual offenders are a heterogeneous group who represent a wide variety of personality traits and levels of adaptation.

Descriptive data on a group of female adolescent sexual offenders seen in an outpatient clinic are presented, with characteristics of offenders, offenses, and victims. Unlike female adult sexual offenders of previous studies, these adolescents committed offenses without coercion from male co-offenders starting at an early age. Results are discussed with reference to gender differences among adolescent sexual offenders.