According to a paper that is written by Kelly Richards there are five common misperceptions that are prevalent among people regarding Child Sex Offenders.

The first misperception is that all offenders of child sexual abuse are pedophiles. The terms pedophile and child sex offenders are commonly interchanged and one has to understand that the two terms have different meanings and that not all child sexual abusers are pedophiles and vice versa.

The second misperception is that the child sex offenders tend to target strangers rather than known children. The Personal Safety Survey that was conducted by the Australia Bureau of Statistics found that only 11% of the victims were targeted by strangers and most child sexual abuse is perpetrtaed by someone known to the victim.

The third misperception is that all offenders of child sexual abuse crime were victims of childhood sexual abuse themselves. According to Salter 2003 and Hindman & Peters 2001 while not all abuser have been victims of childhood sexual abuse a considerable percentage of child sexual abuse offenders have a history of being victims of childhood sexual abuse themselves.

The fourth misperception is that offenders of child sexual abuse tend to have high rates of recidivism. There have been contrasting reports of child sex offenders being compulsive recidivists and though the public and media tend to believe that all or most of the child sex abusers are repeat offenders there is no conclusive evidence.

The fifth misperception is that child sex abusers have victimized hundreds of children before he or she is detected. According to the research done by Abel et al in 1987 males who abuse female children averaged 20 victims with male victims even being higher.

If you have been the victim of childhood sexual abuse or other serious crime contact Victims of Crime Compensation & Counselling Services on 1800 000 055 or complete our enquiry form at www.victimsofcrime.com.au or email: support@victimsofcrime.com.au

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