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Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Women: Case Series and Review of the Literature
Author(s) -
Curti Serena Maria,
Lupariello Francesco,
Coppo Elena,
Praznik Evan Julian,
Racalbuto Sara Simona,
Di Vella Giancarlo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.14033
Subject(s) - child sexual abuse , sexual abuse , psychopathology , injury prevention , psychiatry , poison control , suicide prevention , criminal justice , human factors and ergonomics , economic justice , medical record , medicine , psychology , criminology , medical emergency , law , surgery , political science
The literature on child sexual abuse ( CSA ) perpetrated by female sexual offenders ( FSO s) is exiguous, and many studies have focused on judicial databases. The present retrospective study, instead, analyzed clinical and judicial data of a group of both victims and alleged FSO s, to additionally include women who have not been convicted by the criminal justice system, but who hold strong clinical suspicions of being perpetrators of CSA . The medical records and the Court files of 11 children and their eight suspected FSO s have been collected and critically reviewed in light of the literature to date. This approach allowed for a deeper understanding of the relationship between child and FSO . The authors hypothesize that the victims’ severe psychopathological outcomes were a result of a failure to develop appropriate attachments with their prospective caregivers, which could have been damaged by the pathological relationship with FSO s, who were the victims’ caregivers.