David Axlyn McLeod
The Impact of Perpetrator Gender on CPS Sexual Abuse Cases: A National Picture Prospectus Defense 5.7.2012
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How did I get to this topic? Professional Exposure • • • • •
L.E. (SV Detective) C.P.S. Multidisciplinary Work Transitioning Cyclical Nature of Forensic Trauma
• Forensic SW • Criminal Psychopathology • Criminal behavior development • Neuroscience
What’s Really Happening Up to 10 times as many children were sexually victimized in 2009 than contracted polio at the height of its epidemic in 1952
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1 out of 4 (24.7%) females is sexually assaulted as a child 1 out of 6 (16%) males is sexually assaulted as a child 82.8% of sexual assaults occur before the victim reaches the age of 25 14 years of age is the modal age for sexual assault victimization Over 66% of sexual assault victims reported no visible physical injuries 54% of female sexual assault survivors endured their first rape at 17 years of age or younger Only 2% of reported sexual assaults have been determined to be false reports (80-90%) of children are molested by family members and close friends or acquaintances. 203,830 rape/sexual victimizations reported to authorities in 2009 16% of all sexual assaults are actually reported to the police Over 1.2 million survivors of sexual assault in the United States in 2009 (based on above statistic)
Why Focus on Female Offenders? • • • • •
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Females do not sexually abuse Females only abuse if coerced or accompanied by a man if females sexually abuse, it is gentle, loving Females only abuse boys if you are a female and you were abused by a female then you will be lesbian; if male gay or misogynist If you were sexually abused as a child you will sexually abuse as an adult People who say they were abused by a female are fantasizing or lying Women only abuse adolescents If a thirty-year-old woman were to seduce a thirteen-year-old boy, it would not be sexual abuse. If a thirty year old man were to seduce a thirteen year old girl, it would If a mother has an incestuous relationship with her son in his late teens/early twenties it is sex between two consenting adults It is worse to be sexually abused by a woman than a man
Gap Identified
Female Sex Offending • 60% - 92% of FSO's have multiple victims • FSO's are less likely to be identified than their male counterparts • FSO's are more likely to offend on their own biological children • FSO's are less discriminating about gender than MSO's • FSO's are less discriminant about victim age and are more likely to have younger victims than males • FSO’s are more likely to be reported to CPS than LE • Represent less than 1% of incarcerated sex offenders in US
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20% of disclosures = 1% of incarcerations? Huge (likely to re-offend) populations evading detection…. How are we not identifying them? How can we learn more about how gender impacts CSA cases?
What is the impact of primary perpetrator gender on the manner by which substantiated child sexual offenders travel through our CPS systems?
Between 15% & 20% of all child sexual abuse cases involve a female perpetrator
The Myths
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Null Hypothesis: Perpetrator gender has no impact on the manner by which child sexual abuse cases enter child protective services, the types of services delivered and received by the family systems while there, and the disposition and notifications associated with these cases upon system exit. Research Questions: RQ1 = Does a national CPS data sample reflect demographic and offense characteristics, for female child sexual offenders and their victims, in a manner consistent with the state of current literature? RQ2 = To what degree does perpetrator gender impact CPS system entry, service delivery, and system exit in reference to child sexual abuse allegations? RQ2a = How do sexual assault allegations compare to other maltreatment types in the dataset, in reference to the impact of perpetrator gender? RQ3 = Can particular case characteristics, as related to CPS services, be clustered in a manner that predicts offender gender? RQ4 = Are child sexual abuse cases handled differently based whether the offending female acts alone or with a co-offender? RQ5 = Do other victim, or offender, demographic, or offense, characteristics impact the trajectory of these cases? RQ6 = Does the presence of multiple maltreatment types, in conjunction with sexual abuse allegations, hold any gendered implications? RQ7 = To what degree is child sexual assault substantiation impacted by perpetrator gender?
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The Data (NCANDS) • • •
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National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System FFY2010 National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect | Family Life Development Center | Cornell University N>3.5 million 49 states Highly coordinated dataset assembly led by National Data Archives technical assistance team
“A Pilot has already been run on 2009 data and has been used to inform this project.” Methods • • •
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DV = perpetrator gender Filter Variables (ex. maltreatment type or disposition level) IV’s = system entrance and exit, services obtained, victim, offender, offense, and investigation characteristics Univariate and bivariate Multivariate o Binary logistical regression o Theoretically informed logit models Prescreening o Complete data o Outliers o Multicollinearity
Reporting • • • •
Theoretical reasoning for each procedure Reports of assumptions for procedures Tables and Graphs when appropriate Discussion of statistical findings and their relevance
My Questions for the Committee •
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What are some things I should consider if I come across findings that could be considered controversial, either about social work practice or female sexual offending? What are your thoughts on the dissemination of transdisciplinary research? Are there things I should start considering now in order to effectively develop products for social work, mental health, and criminal justice domains? Do you have any advice about how to manage the fact that I am a male researcher talking about women being violent? o This concept throws some traditional socially imposed gender perspectives on their head. o Some people do not tend to be as open to this.
Project