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Societal reactions to sexually abusive adolescents: a Swedish perspective
Author(s) -
Långström N.,
Lindblad F.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2397.00081
Subject(s) - recidivism , law enforcement , psychological intervention , psychology , perspective (graphical) , criminology , social welfare , welfare , psychiatry , law , computer science , political science , artificial intelligence
It is urgent to detect and appropriately treat young sex offenders (YSOs) to prevent continued sexual offending into adulthood. We studied the presence of two significant factors in YSO treatment, i.e. interagency cooperation and specific focus on offending behaviours among social services, mental health, and law enforcement professionals involved with identified YSOs. The sample consisted of a subset of all 56 YSOs subjected to forensic psychiatric assessment (FPA) in Sweden between 1988 and 1995. These sixteen individuals were known by the authorities for sexually abusive behaviours already before committing the sex offence leading to FPA. Both interagency cooperation and professional focus on offending behaviours per se were rare. Thus existing interventions for YSOs in a well‐developed social welfare state failed to prevent further sexual offending. We suggest that empirically based individual‐oriented models for the prevention of criminal recidivism among YSOs should supplement general social welfare policies and non‐specific interventions.