The dark figure of sexual offending: A replication and extension

Abstract

Studies of the dark figure of sexual offending using federal correctional clients reported significant evidence of previously unknown or hidden sexual violence, often among clients with no official criminal history. Unfortunately, research has produced variable estimates of how large the dark figure is. The current study sought to replicate recent studies of federal sexual offenders about the dark figure of sexual offending. We also extended the knowledge base by providing additional correlational analyses to see whether self-reported and official sexual offending have shared or divergent correlates. Overall, 73.8% of federal sexual offenders reported prior contact victims, which is higher than, but generally consistent with, prior prevalence estimates of 55-69% in studies of federal correctional clients. In the current data, clients convicted of child pornography possession or receipt and who had no official record of sexual abuse nevertheless reported contact sexual offenses in more than 59% of cases. 1 | INTRODUCTION Coined by Biderman and Reiss (1967), the "dark figure of crime" is a substantive and methodological concept that describes the differences between the true amount of criminal offending that occurs in a population as assayed by validated offender self-reports compared to official estimates based on arrest reports and other criminal justice system information and victimization surveys. To be sure, self-report and official estimates of crime have an

Online child pornography offender risk assessment using digital forensic artifacts: The need for a hybrid model

“…Some researchers have concluded that online child pornography offenders are primarily interested in fantasizing about children as sexual objects [12,13,18]. These individuals have little desire to engage in the physical world with children in a sexual manner despite their fantasies and pose a low risk of contact [2,6,29]. Online child pornography offender's activities are "online" and primarily centered around the collecting (possessing) of CSEMs (CSEM) that add to or enhance their fantasies [2,6,13].…”

“…Other studies have indicated that online child pornography offenders may still be motivated by a sexual interest in children and that often their previous contact offenses have not been identified [29,30].…”

Social, Economic and Human Capital: Risk or Protective Factors in Sexual Violence?

“…In this line, the #metoo movement of 2017 highlighted the sexual assaults experienced daily by hundreds of women in the workplace, the impact of which brought about the creation of a series of regulations on labor matters to promote a harassment-free work environment in different organizations around the world [ 10 , 11 ]. In addition to this figure, we must consider “the dark figure” of sexual aggressions, which according to several international studies is estimated to be between 10 to 20.5 times higher than that reported [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]…”

Group sexual offending in Spain: an exploratory study

“…Another difficulty in the analysis of this phenomenon lies in the absence of official records regarding these crimes, as well as the presence of a "dark figure" that keeps information about these types of attacks from being discovered (Drury et al, 2020). Also, and although this dark side of crime is common to all criminal offences (Levan Miller, 2010), the nature of sexual offences produces a series of negative reactions in the victims (anger, shame, guilt) that prevent them from reporting the attack (Jones et al, 2009).…”