Elderly sex offenders against children: A descriptive study of child sex abusers over the age of 65

Abstract

A group of 13 child sex abusers over the age of 65 years is described. They are similar in most respects to sex offenders against children in other age groups, with regard to the seriousness of the abusive behaviours described, but they differ in terms of being of higher socioeconomic status, having stable backgrounds and reporting low rates of personal sexual victimization. These factors may contribute to their apparent skill in avoidin detecdemonstrate low levels of psychiatric illness, and in particular of organic disorders. There appears to be an increased tendency by the courts to consider non-custodial disposal options for elderly sex offenders as they are perceived as being less of a risk and their physical frailty may make them less able to tolerate the rigours of prison life.tion. In common with younger child sex abusers, these elderly o B fenders Little has been written about the elderly child sex abuser. This may reflect a view that old age is inevitably accompanied by a decrease in sexual desire and functioning, which has perhaps created the assumption that there is an automatic decrease in risk as the young sex offender ages. Goodwin et al. (1983) state that 'men who molest children in old age are unlikely to repeat

Is there a case for a specialist forensic psychiatry service for the elderly?

“…This does not mean that older men are more likely than younger men to commit a sexual offence as younger men between 15-24 years of age commit most sexual offences. This may, however, reflect the fact that sexual offending does not decrease with age to the same degree as violent and acquisitive offending, particularly as persistent offending is not an uncommon pattern among older sex offenders (Clark and Mezey, 1997).…”

Elderly Sexual Offenders

“…Clark and Mezey [57] found low rates of mental illness including dementia in a group of 13 offenders. Fazel et al (2002) compared around 100 elderly sexual offenders to a similar comparison group and found a surprising low dementia rate of 1 %, suggesting offending was less related to cognition and more to personality factors [58].…”

Psychiatric, demographic and personality characteristics of elderly sex offenders

“…Information on the offence was gathered using a semi-structured interview based on that used by Clark & Mezey (1997). This section was not administered to non-sex offenders.…”