Sex Crimes: Female Sex Offenders

Rachel Scholl

Dr. Delores Craig-Moreland

CJ 515: Sex Crimes

October 16th 2014

Female Sex Offenders

When you think of the term sex offender, the first image that is thought of typically is a male. While it is statistically proven that men commit the majority of sexual offenses, there is number of women who commit these offenses as well. Many researchers have put away the thought that women are capable of being sex offenders due to the sparse statistics available. Several analysts in the past have concluded that female sexual offenders were “of little significance” and “virtually unknown” (Hickey). Woman are typically seen as victims and the prospect of being the perpetrator goes against popular belief. Sexual abuse by a female offender is often

A popular classification system was created by Mathews, Matthews, and Speltz and the majority of female offenders can fall into one of three categories in the model that includes; teacher/ lover, male-coerced and predisposed sex offenders (Hickey). For example, an affair that has taken place between an older female teacher and a younger student would fall under the teacher/lover classification. It is not uncommon to hear in the news that a student and teacher have been caught sleeping together. In fact quite recently two English teachers, a twenty-four and thirty-two year old were caught sleeping with a sixteen year old male student in Louisiana (Delong). The male- coerced category includes female offenders that commit offenses because they are forced to by their partner. Another classification does exist between male-coerced and predisposed and that is male accompanied. Male accompanied offenders commit offenses with a male accomplice and are often times more involved in abusive behaviors than male-coerced offenders. Lastly in the Matthew’s classification system is the predisposed sex offender. These offenders were victimized sexually as children and when they reached adulthood they began to victimize their own children or other children that they knew . These typologies are effective but several researchers have considered them too broad. It is for this reason that psychologists have added to and expanded female sex offender typologies. Faller, McCarty, and Hislop have all created their own offender classification systems that have contributed to our understanding of female sex