What is Sexual Violence? > Offenders

Offenders

Who are Offenders?

Offenders can be anyone. A common myth is that only people who have mental illnesses or who are psychopaths commit sexual violence. The reality though is that offenders come from all walks of life.

Risk Factors for Perpetration

The following factors have been identified as increasing the risk that a man will commit rape. These factors relate to individual attitudes and beliefs as well as social conditions (Krug et al. 2004):

Individual Factors

• Alcohol and drug use

• Coercive sexual fantasies

• Impulsive and antisocial tendencies

• Preference for impersonal sex

• Hostility towards women

• History of sexual abuse as a child

• Witnessed family violence as a child

Relationship Factors

• Associate with sexually aggressive and delinquent peers

• Family environment characterized by physical violence and few resources

• Strongly patriarchal relationship or family environment

• Emotionally unsupportive family environment

Community Factors

• Poverty, mediated through forms of male identity crisis

• Lack of employment opportunities

• Lack of institutional support from police and judicial system

• General tolerance of sexual assault within the community

• Weak community sanctions against perpetrators of sexual violence

Societal Factors

• Societal norms that support sexual violence

• Societal norms that support male superiority and sexual entitlement

• Weak laws and policies related to gender equity

• High levels of crime and other forms of violence

A combination of societal, relational, and individual factors, including biological and psychological characteristics, may explain perpetration of sexual violence (Malamuth 1998).

Relationship Between Offenders and Victims

• In 8 out of 10 rape cases, the victim knew the offender (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000).

• In the National Violence Against Women Survey, 64% of women and 16% of men reported being raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by an intimate partner. This includes a current or former spouse, cohabitating partner, boyfriend/girlfriend, or date (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000).

• In the National Women’s Study, intimate partners (current or former spouses or boyfriends) represented 19% of offenders, family members represented 27% of offenders, and 29% were relatives, friends or acquaintances. Only 22% of offenders were strangers (Kilpatrick, Edmunds, and Seymour 1992).

References

Kilpatrick DG, Edmunds CN, Seymour AK. Rape in America: a report to the nation. Arlington (VA): National Victim Center and Medical University of South Carolina; 1992.

Krug EG, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, Zwi AB, Lozano R, editors. World report on violence and health [serial online.] 2004 May: World Health Organization. Available from the World Health Organization

Malamuth NM. The confluence model as an organizing framework for research on sexually aggressive men: risk moderators, imagined aggression, and pornography consumption. In: Geen RG, Donnerstein E, editors. Human aggression: theories, research, and implications for social policy. San Diego (CA): Academic Press; 1998. p. 229–45.

Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Full report of the prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: findings from the national violence against women survey. Washington (DC): National Institute of Justice; 2000. Report NCJ 183781.