Background: Some studies have found higher rates of childhood sexual abuse in sex offenders while others have failed to find such relationships. Method: This study reviews the sexual and physical abuse histories of 156 male sex offenders with intellectual disability (ID), 126 non-sexual male offenders with ID and 27 female offenders with ID.…

The study explored the predictive validity of "Multiplex Empirically Guided Inventory of Ecological Aggregates for Assessing Sexually Abusive Children and Adolescents (Ages 4 to 19)" ("MEGA"[eighth note]; Miccio-Fonseca, 2006b), a comprehensive developmentally sensitive risk assessment outcome tool. "MEGA"[eighth note] assesses risk for coarse…

All Swedish court cases from 2004 and 2006 concerning alleged child sexual abuse (sexual harassment excluded) were identified through criminal registers. Fourteen cases (one boy) concerned a child with a neuropsychiatric disorder. The diagnostic groups were mental retardation (10 cases), autism (three cases), and ADHD (one case). Psychiatric…

This study examines the effects victim disability (physical vs. intellectual vs. none), victim resistance (physical vs. verbal vs. none) and respondent gender (male vs. female) have on attributions of blame and credibility in a hypothetical case of child sexual abuse. Three hundred and thirty-five respondents read a fictional police statement…

Background: Childhood sexual and physical abuse has been related to subsequent offending behaviour in non-disabled individuals as well as people with intellectual disabilities, but there is a dearth of research examining the link between these two characteristics and psychological, behavioural and psychiatric symptoms amongst sex offenders with…

This discussion of abuse of people with intellectual disabilities notes the varieties of abusive actions found, including sexual abuse; the possible incidence of such abuse; and reasons why this population is especially vulnerable to abuse. A current study to examine the incidence of abuse and reporting mechanisms is briefly described. (Author/DB)

Women (n=288) were randomly assigned a vignette describing a sexual encounter between an adolescent girl and boy, in which variables included the girl's diagnosis (mentally retarded or nonretarded), the boy's diagnosis (mentally retarded or nonretarded), and the girl's behavior (encouraging, passive, or resisting). Factor analysis of responses…

Analysis of confirmed incidents of abuse of persons with mental retardation in public residential facilities indicated that the number of confirmed incidents was relatively small; direct care staff members committed and reported most incidents; most abuse incidents occurred on the second shift; and abuse committers were more often males.…

This rebuttal to Goldberg's criticism (EC 609 744) concerning Herzog and Money's 1993 paper on Klinefelter Syndrome supports the use of Depo-Provera as an adjunct to counseling in cases of pedophilia in men with Klinefelter's Syndrome. (DB)

Objective: To understand how the Swedish legal system perceives and handles mentally handicapped children who may have been victimized. Method: Twenty-two judicial districts in Sweden provided complete files on 39 District Court cases (including the Appeals Court files on 17 of these cases) involving children with learning difficulties or other…

Background: This report employs a recently developed assessment on attitudes consistent with sexual offending [Questionnaire on Attitudes Consistent with Sexual Offences (QACSO)] to compare different groups of sex offenders with intellectual disability. Method: Two studies are reported each from a different region and each conducted by different…

This paper examines the characteristics and behaviors which may exacerbate the vulnerability of children with an intellectual disability toward sexually abusive relationships. It focuses on incidence, characteristics of offenders, characteristics of children, consequences of sexual abuse, and challenges for intervention and prevention. (JDD)

Describes a study of a clinical sample of 72 women who allegedly abused 332 children. Perspectives include whether the abuse was intrafamilial, extrafamilial, or both, and whether the abuse involved single or multiple abusers. Also examines situational factors, individual deficits, and other factors that might lead women to sexually abuse…

A man with mental retardation, in detention for five years because of sex offenses with preadolescent boys, was not only diagnosed as having Klinefelter syndrome when a social worker read suspected the possibility and arranged for a chromosome test. The importance of a complete medical work-up is emphasized in such cases. (JDD)

Issues in the sexual abuse and exploitation of individuals with mental retardation are discussed, including sociolegal considerations of special protection from abuse and neglect, incidence of sexual abuse, increased vulnerability of individuals with mental retardation, nature of the abuse, initial and long-term effects, professional response, and…