Abstract
Sexual violence is a problem that has existed throughout the history of mankind and, unfortunately, is not going to disappear. It can have harmful consequences on the well-being, social relations, and health of the victim in the future, particularly when against a child. This traumatic event can lead to many complications, especially with the mental health of a child. Thus, children who were once subjected to violence can become sex offenders themselves in their future life. In this paper, a study was conducted, the purpose of which was to analyze the literature on the topic under study. It was an analytical study that evaluated the available material.
The main results showed that becoming a sex offender after experiencing sexual abuse as a minor is influenced by multiple social factors; sometimes, people choose the wrong path not only because of external factors (such as delinquent peers and environment) but also because of internal influences (such as harmful relationships in the family).
Moreover, it is worth noting the role of parents and guardians in the fight against child violence. This close circle of friends can both aggravate the situation and help aid a faster recovery after the case. This is since the responsibility for the crime committed against the child mostly lies with the elders, who either did or could not supervise the child or give the necessary knowledge about the prevention of the breakdown.
Particularly, the consequences of a traumatic experience can lead to the emergence of destructive ideas in the undeveloped thinking of children, with a minority then going on to commit similar crimes themselves. Such consequences can be managed through restructuring sexual training and attempting to address issues such as anger and empathy.
Literature Review
Sexual violence is presented as one of the main global problems. The number of cases of sexual abuse of children and young people is countless, although self-report suggests the figure lies at around one in twenty (Radford, 2011). The experience of such trauma results in such a strong psychological shock that, even when undergoing preventive work, the victims remain reluctant to talk about their terrible experience. Yet the victim-offender cycle often occurs, where some who have been sexually abused as a minor then go on to carry out similar offences themselves (aka the Sexually-Abused and Sexual Abuser (SA-SA) hypothesis. To effectively combat sexual violence, a multi-stage approach and the involvement of many specialists are necessary.
The study of protective factors that prevent the hypothesis of sexual violence by the abuser and the cycle of “victim-offender” are of critical importance (Bucerius et al., 2021). An understanding of risk factors and protection against them, as well as characteristics associated with the SA-SA hypothesis, are needed for a more detailed development of a plan to combat the problem. This literature review presents an analysis of articles that affect this topic.
Currently, the number of research papers devoted to the analysis and interpretation of the consequences of trauma caused by violence towards young people and its impact on the personal and mental qualities of the victim is increasing. Articles consider the topics of child abuse, such as the problems of victimization, helping children who have suffered from sexual abuse, or the problem of preventing traumatic experiences. Scientists are faced with the need to review the features of the subsequent development of children and adolescents (Saunders & Kober, 2020) to provide the most effective intervention.
When studying the psychological state of victims of sexual violence, the main problem is the understanding their ability to perceive and interpret the experienced circumstances. Moreover, it is necessary to analyze the nature and significance of the actions of the person who committed the crime (Mariano et al., 2017). The individual psychological characteristics of the victim, indicating the ability to receive and store perceived information, its analysis, and the level of mental and personal development in relation to certain age norms, affect the creation of measures for prevention and rehabilitation and mean that it is difficult to adopt a one size fits all approach to tackling sexual violence.
In addition to considering the consequences of committed violence for minors, it is crucial to consider the reasons that push people, particularly those who have experienced the same trauma as a minor, to commit them. At times it is easy to understand the psychology and personal qualities of a rapist in some studies, although this is often less due to external characteristics and more so through the subconscious and the background (Mariano et al., 2017). Understanding these aspects can provide a significant amount of information for practical conclusions. Analysis of subconscious motives makes it possible to understand the root cause of the criminal’s actions.
In the article The Narratives of Male Sexual Abuse Victims’ Resiliency to Sexually Offending, almost fifty participants were chosen with the help of certified specialist in the sphere of unlawful sexual intercourse (Lambie & Johnston, 2015). Results highlighted that most of the chosen people believed that the main thing that protected them from becoming offenders was connected to their experience of being a victim. This demonstrates firstly that not every person who experienced sexual violence become sexual offenders and in fact victimization can act as a deterrent. Moreover, once it was established that victimization did not contribute to the further problem, four main points were determined for the reasons why people did not commit such crime: empathy for victims, knowledge that offending is immoral, no sexual desire to abuse children, and empathetic nature of participants/their belief that it is wrong (Lambie & Johnston, 2015).
Future researchers in the victim-offender cycle must study unconventional ways of checking members of the group (Lambie & Johnston, 2015). These might include gaining statement of offending status from different sources, such as family and close people. Those who participated in the research might have been more injured by the abuse, therefore it called for a need to visit counselling, than other victims of child sexual abuse. Since the study was retrospective, employing self-report methods, the research mythology must be considered with caution. The main findings also might be affected by deviations of over- and under-reporting.
The outcomes of the work Resiliency in the victim-offender cycle in Male Sexual Abuse also show that friendly relationship and support might act as a crucial part and as an amortization factor to the victim-offender cycle. It was found that the resilient group (the victim group who did not become sexual offenders themselves) were able to access a higher degree of mental care during childhood and this emotional support from parents, relatives, and adults outside of their home. The type of emotional support was also important. The resilient group received more verbal and physical displays of affection and the level of emotional support received during times of crisis was higher than the non-resilient group. This group also more frequently reported that harmful home conditions were an obstacle to gaining mental help.
Furthermore, no differences were found in the recurrence or extent of mistreatment suffered, or the age that the abuse started or finished. Two groups of adult males were included. Both groups had a history of being a victim of rape in the early years; an offender group that attended or attending sexual offending treatment in community had subsequently become culprits of juvenile harassment. Resilient members had not turned into offenders of child sexual abuse and were attending counselling.
Participants in the victim-offender group did not report larger degree of sexual tension and satisfaction, in the cases of assault, however, did state having fantasies about the disturbing experience and practise onanism to their harassment actions. During the experiment, the researchers noted that the stable group experienced a lot of comfort associated with their abuse. They justified such results by differences in academic performance. Thus, people who were subjected to violence or committed it had lower knowledge and academic success. The study participants who were more developed and educated had more positive experience in an educational institution. In addition, they were characterized by an increased number of friends and close people and were more predisposed to attend school.
The main limitations are related to the method used in the selection of the sample and the sample, the relationship between retrospective visions of knowledge about the parties and the potential shortcomings of the measures involved. The work “executed a non-random sample where two groups were not matched on demographic characteristics, and differences emerged in that the resilient group was overall younger and had better socioeconomic backgrounds” (Lambie et al., 2002). Moreover, the resistant participants might not be considered as representative of every male victim since they were all in, or had been in, counselling, therefore one could argue they might have been traumatized even greater after the abuse. Similarly, the selection of offenders, which was acquired during the conducted program for the healing of sexual offenders in society, has the opportunity to imply that it showed all the criminals who committed a crime under the study. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that most of the violators who agreed to take part in the study were tried and punished for the terrible acts committed and declared guilty. Moreover, the probability that they will be sharply different from the convicted people in the prison of sex offenders is low.
The author of Victim-Offender Overlap in Sexual Offending conducted a paper-based questionnaire which uses bivariate profit approach. It studied the coincidence among sexual offenders and victimization between almost a thousand people in Hong Kong. Approbation of theoretical statements of some of the criminological theories, the incidence of participants of usual, penetrative, and nonpenetrative perpetrations and victimization are examined. (Chan, 2020). Theoretical framework was subsequently extended to the examination of the experience of being a victim and proposed that the danger of reliving the traumatic events was related to the specifications of unsatisfactory restrain of a person (e.g., disagreeability, irritability, and an inability to recognize the long-term effects of actions).
The author wrote that attendees who experienced sexual abuse have a great chance of becoming a victim of a sexual harmful relationship (Chan, 2020). The same level was found in sexual victimization in foreseeing sexual offenders (Chan, 2020). The two-dimensional probit model supported the similarity of the sexual victim and the offender, while the Spearman rho ratio for the uncorrected model considers a significant coincidence with the total sexual crimes. The received information showed that sexual offenders and becoming a victim and an offender are closely correlated, and future studies implementing multidimensional research supported the connection between the experiences.
Based on the results obtained, some consequences for the practice can be proposed, namely in the case of Chinese cultural values. Many organizations and specialists working in the field of social services organize their programs so that they are client-oriented and tailored to each case, basing their ideas either on those who have been subjected to sexual violence, or on being its perpetrator. Specifically, many victim-assistance programs tend to target their service to those whom they perceive to be the most deserving or true victims (Chan, 2020). Due to the fact that sexual violence has a strong impact on the psychology of the victim, it can cause serious psychological trauma. Rehabilitation should include stress relief with the involvement of visualization of internal images. Conducting such a practice at the beginning of the rehabilitation process will significantly speed up the process of studying and rethinking the horrific event.
Male Sexual Interest in and Offending Against Children presents the meta-analysis on differences of pedophilic offenders and non-pedophilic adult offenders. They showed substantial distinctions, and two indicated insignificantly bigger tendencies of abuse background in pedophilic criminals. Nevertheless, even though considerable outcomes were not discovered, it was concluded that other studies could be particularly mediated by a pedophilic tendency. The outcomes of the study emphasized that the hypothesis is significantly severe for mixed offenders, with child sexual mistreating and child pornography assaults against young people (Alanko et al., 2017).
The goal of clarification of the connection of crime against children and affront against juveniles in adult age was set in many studies. The other goal was to implement knowledge from population-based research to investigate if types of experiences of abusive incidents during childhood were related to the mature sexual involvement in the juvenile, but not disgrace against children, because informed offending were rare in the chosen sample. It has also been proven that children of criminals of mixed characteristics may have tendencies to sexually aggressive behavior, having an increased risk of inheriting such attitude.
The question of child sexual abuse in mixed offenders, causes incomplete conclusions, despite the sexual interest in minors suggests that such inclinations partly explain this connection. Moreover, sex offenders who are sexually interested in children are more likely to experience sexual violence at a young age. Each sample was self-reporting, which may influence responses in many ways, even if full anonymity is ensured. Likely social desirability and fear of consequences of being caught may lead to participants not to answer honestly. Moreover, prejudices in a separate sample and during selection could have an impact on those participants who were hesitant to participate in the study or not.
The objective of the article Young People who Sexually Abused Reflect on Preventing Harmful Sexual Behavior was to increase and improve prevention programs related to carnal offences. The research implemented semi-structured examination of underage participants and treatment-providing workers. The sampling was targeted, and the participants were treated in advance for dangerous sexual behavior in Victoria, Australia (McKibbin et al., 2017). They have been studied by experts, relying on their former experience of facilitating in detrimental sexual relation.
Five main themes were found during the conversation with juvenile people: those who dealt with child victimization; acquiring knowledge about sex education and agreement; who had safe and respecting relation; received conducive reactions from other people; and the concept of oneself as an evolving person. The categories were created using the reflections of the evidence about impeding severe sexual behavior. The possibilities included operating on behalf of children to restructure the sexual training, correct their trauma of being a victim and assist them in their view of adult content. The opportunities presented in the study help in the creation of initiatives to enlarge the prevention agenda. The first opportunity suggests reforming knowledge about sex that might assist in preventing of severe sexual actions and attitudes in children of young age.
Child Sexual Abuse: The Detrimental Impact of its Specific Features discussed the influence of child sexual abuse on psychosocial results in young people and the differential impact of a variety of the features of harassment in abnormal behavior and psychopathological features, in sex victims and offenders. The sample researched about six hundred adults and information was gathered using the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study Questionnaire, the Deviant Behavior Variety Scale and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. Pearson relations and point-biserial comparisons were utilized to consider the relation among the child sexual abuse and features of psychopathological characteristics and deviant actions (Maciel & Basto-Pereira, 2020). Bivariate correlations, child sexual abuse, abnormal performance and intellectual well-being difficulties were counted utilizing the entire pattern (Maciel & Basto-Pereira, 2020). Child offense was closely associated with the first years of life and noted anomaly during lifetime and psychopathological evidence at the beginning of becoming of age, especially anxiety, uneasiness, and depressive state.
The results maintain the theory that the assault relates to adverse psychosocial implication in young people and propose that some characteristics are linked with psychopathological signs of abnormal behaviour. In addition, conclusions are compatible with experimental confirmations with reference to the connection of abusive behavior towards children and psychopathological symptoms, indicating that uneasiness, pressure, and depressive states are outstanding in people who have the experience in such type of actions. Furthermore, the results support the reputable confirmations that child abuse increases the chances of developing issues related to well-being connected with emotions in the beginning of adult life.
To completely realize the influence of sexual harassment on the complainants’ psychosocial development, it is essential to consider the characteristics of the misuse, because they could shape how people who experienced it assimilate and cope with such cases. Further research must deal with the combination of interviews implementing different indicators (e.g., psychiatric diagnosis, criminal child sexual abuse: the destructive influence of evidence) to give more in-depth knowledge on the effects of the harassment characteristics on emotional state and ignorance towards social interactions.
In The Developmental Nature of the Victim-Offender Overlap information was gathered from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Study, a representative United Kingdom’s birth group of about two thousand children born in the late nineties and accompanied until they were of age. They were also crime connected through self-report at the age of eighteen. The study implemented the twin research method to disassemble differences in the victim-offender cycle into genetic and environmental causes. It executed rear deviation to analyze the impact of child threat factors. The authors concluded that the surrounding and genetic characteristics heavily influenced the victim-offender overlap (Beckley et al., 2020). The results noted that low self-control and abnormal behavior doubled the probability of turning into a victim-offender. Every further ACE enlarged the prospects this aspect, by approximately twelve percent, indicating to the significance of total childhood adversity.
The research indicated that the victim-offender overlap is developmental, and foreseeable from individual childhood features and a concentration of a variety of negative experience. The cycle of becoming a person who commits or experiences the crime might be sometimes clarified with the help of individual risk factors and additive ACEs. Many people become criminals and victims during the peak age of crime-victimization and victim-offenders are characterized by early abnormal behaviors and are subjected to a variety of adverse childhood experiences.
The Impact of Peer Groups and Routine Activities gives vision into correlates of the victim-offender cycle by differentiating their group-related roles. The work studies risk factors for participation in violence using a sample of almost three thousand people of fourteen and sixteen years old. The outcomes indicate that closeness to friends and following norms increasingly influence victim-offender cycle. Violent offenders and becoming a victim-offender happened more frequently in male led mixed gender group. Consistent alcohol abuse was also connected with risk of the victim-offender overlay.
Victims and offenders were found to have many similarities and characteristics of victimisation can also linked to offending. Thus, offenders have an elevated chance of becoming victimized. The data support that density of close relationships and delinquency-accepting standards of peers considerably predicted becoming a victim, abusing, and the cycle among both (Erdmann, 2021). This is proof that those who were once subjected to violent acts and subsequently became offenders have a wide number of risk factors. Thus, the lack of timely psychological assistance and measures to punish the rapist led to a chronic post-traumatic stress disorder that triggered conflicts in relationships. That is why, despite the fact that the information collected during the investigation, of course, has a certain significance in the study of the “victim-criminal” cycle, it also shows the need to expand and study in more detail the theoretical and empirical knowledge about the mutual influence of victimization-the offender.
The work Promoting Resilience and Preventing Sexual Offenses underlined the features that influence the trajectory of people who were sexually mistreated to committing an offense. Of all articles implemented in the review, some of them revealed protective factors, and some risk factors. The authors showed security factors such as constant support during the work with abuse survivors. Using these factors to screen allows for more appropriate support and implementation in interventions can lead to a reduction of adverse outcomes. The factors that were revealed are: environment, close kinships, spiritual views, internal features, actions to cope with stress, knowledge, exposure to harassment, and the necessity for a combination of protective factors (DeGraw, 2018). They also include mental and affective misuse, immoral actions, addiction to alcoholic beverages or substances, abnormal behavior, and stress disorders. A risk characteristic for committing sexual offences were an attribute or impact of a person that enlarges the possibility of gaining negative outcomes (DeGraw, 2018). The work points out that there is a necessity for funding to be put towards prevention efforts which can lower the occurrence of sex offending and its treatment. Furthermore, more funding must be put into prevention systems and with children experiencing risk and there might be a link to future concerns with abnormal behavior.
The sample of Self-Reported Reasons for Sexual Offending included forty men who had been abused in their young years and were themselves preys of child sexual abuse. Most of them were between thirty and forty years old. The purpose of the research was “to help people who counsel male survivors to identify areas to focus on in counselling, with the hope that the research will reduce prevalence of sexual abuse in our communities” (Lambie & Reil, 2020, p.2). The researchers also set themselves the task of forming an answer to the question of whether the explanations of the ways of sexual violence fully prove. Moreover, it was also particularly necessary to clarify whether the abusers understood the connection between becoming a victim and ill-treatment. The authors ‘ work was based on qualitative and quantitative indicators and included a sample of SA-SA. All the studied people reported having experienced sexual abuse in childhood with twenty percent of participants reported being abused on one occasion and thirty four percent were abused on at least 10 occasions. The sexual assault experienced in childhood ranged from genital touching, oral sex, and anal penetration with an object and other assaulting acts.
The disturbed idea of sexual intercourse and sexual relations and self-arousal in the memory of the committed traumatic action on children were the direct characteristics of the male participants in the study. These factors are proof that they are directly correlated with SA-SAs. The results show that solving problems related to normalization and, within this framework, minimizing sexual abuse of children can also be important. Therefore, various social services are working for victims of violence. They are also aimed at preventing family problems and provide comprehensive work with the whole family and the elderly who at some point in their lives were subjected to sexual violence or witnessed it.
Work with criminals who have committed an act of violent acts against children should be implemented in comprehensive social service centers, family and children assistance centers. Moreover, it can be applied in specially formed crisis institutions for sex offenders. In addition, it is important to establish institutions for the protection of minors from abuse. To this end, the quality of assistance to the younger generation who have suffered from abuse and criminal attacks, ensuring the development of rehabilitation and prevention organizations, and raising awareness of minors and parents about the ways and consequences of violence against children must be improved. It is worth noting that even though the majority of victims of violence do not become its causes, the results of the authors ‘ research show that actions aimed at solving problems in this area can reduce the risk of future sexual crimes.
The first goal of the study Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Sexual Offenders’, devoted to unfavorable childhood experiences among sex offenders, was to measure the frequency of ACE in a group of offenders who committed sexual crimes, and compare this indicator with other samples. In addition, the authors set their task to work out and interpret the mutual influence between ACE and cases that may contribute to the repetition of violent actions. The third goal was to study the links between ACE indicators and diagnoses of adult psychopathology in the sample, including anxiety, depression, substance use, paraphilia and antisocial personality disorder (Kahn et al., 2020). The study sample showed an increased ACE indicator compared to the sample of the entire population and the selected sex offenders.
Narcotic substances and alcohol affect the sexual behavior of the offender and motivates the commission of sexual violence. The types of such abuse include sexual harassment, rape, and child molestation. A traumatic and terrible experience occurs due to the fact that addiction and the harmful influence of other harmful substances relieve shyness, increase aggressiveness and violate judgments. They also give courage and encourage various types of risky sexual behavior. Violence suffered at an early age can lead to disorders of brain development and have lifelong negative consequences for other parts of the nervous system. The need to address this issue and the development of preventive programs for working with both children and adults is a critical part of the work of social and legislative bodies.
Future Directions in Child Sexual Abuse Prevention addresses the issue of child sexual abuse within an Australian context. The works and practices that provide information about the readiness and reduction of opposition to the fight against sexual cruelty against the younger generation, based on a comprehensive method in healthcare, are studied. A measured, evidence-based publicity health method to the warning of sexual affront and representatives of young generation is vital to strengthen the preventative measures. Forms of child harassment under the research in Australia involve child sex trafficking; technology-facilitated sexual dating violence; and observation of child abuse information (McKibbin & Humphreys, 2020). Bias exists around the epidemiology of these various kinds of childhood sexual assaults, with both risk and protective factors, and line of movement of perpetration, difficult to pin down.
The binary between victim and perpetrator obscures the reality that many victims of sexual crime, particularly the youth with disgraceful sexual characteristics, are also preys of this traumatic experience and overlook this. Children are consistently perceived to be innocent, at risk of being damaged by adult evil offenders. While there is truth to this sentiment, it obscures the statement that young people can also be the perpetrators of sexual abuse too. McKibbin and Humphreys (2020) point out that some works show that almost most of the child sexual abuse cases could be committed by the rest of juvenile generation. The distributed focus on the research question has given possibility to overcome resistant attitudes and give way to a broad reaction to the prevention of childhood sexual mistreatment. Researchers should analyze the findings, to ensure a balance between not catastrophising all severe abnormal behaviors but to continue to discover the progression of the behavior through childhood into adolescence or adulthood, in the hope that early interventions can be developed and trialled.
The article Child Sexual Abuse and the Propensity to Engage in Criminal Behaviour starts by summarising the key theoretical frameworks explaining the actions by which child sexual abuse may lead into criminal outcomes. The developmental psychopathology pattern shows that, childhood injuries can be a hindrance to adequate developmental processes. Amongst other studies that explored the linking of child sexual abuse and overall offending (such as general delinquency, property damage, drug dealing, theft, arrests for any crime), many explored that an experience of child sexual abuse was essentially associated with an intensified risk for committing a crime. A conducted meta-analysis estimated that the prevalence of child sexual abuse ranged between eight and thirty one percent for girls and three to seventeen percent for boys (Papalia et al., 2018). It also estimates of the level of frequency of repetition of more significant and strong types of sexual crimes account for about ten percent of all cases. A range of models have been suggested to explain the mechanisms underpinning the relations of child abuse and following delinquent, criminal, or violent behaviours and are outside the scope of this study.
Findings also looked at the impact of gender and found that girls are typically more likely than male representatives to be exposed to any kind of child sexual abuse (Papalia et al., 2018). Several harmful social and environmental background characteristics were specified as risk factors of child sexual abuse. In addition, it is crucial to form a full-fledged point of view about how risk factors that contribute to the commission of sexual crimes against children and to conduct further study of this topic with the help of a promising longitudinal study. This is due to the fact that at the moment there is not enough research on the topic of violence against young people. Protection and preventive measures should be carefully analyzed in order to protect the adolescent population from the influence and harmful consequences of the victim-rapist circle. For its best application in practice, future work should carefully work out the mechanisms and processes that are of critical importance in solving this problem.
The last researched work Does Childhood Victimization Predict Specific Adolescent Offending? assesses the peculiarity of the cycle among young people who experienced different forms of abuse or who had witnessed substance use at home using sixty-five thousand people in Florida. It also aims to determine if victimization enlarges the risk of violence and sexual offending. The experience of bodily and sexual harassment at a young age greatly increased the chance of similar actions in adolescence. Abusive severe factors do not happen in isolation, there is a further issue of multicollinearity (Miley et al., 2020). However, low levels of poly-victimization were found in the research, with over ten percent of young people experiencing both types of victimization, and eleven percent experiencing physical abuse and witnessing household substance use.
Currently, the study’s findings are uncertain if the relations among becoming a victim of harassment and going to abuse have common characteristics, understanding that multiple kinds of victimization enlarge the danger of several kinds of disturbing behavior, or if it is more peculiar, and concrete types of cases of being a victim essentially increase the chance of the similar abnormal behaviour (Miley et al., 2020). The outcomes of the work have several implications. There is substantial specificity in the victim-offender cycle issued in the work and more research must be done to investigate specificity between other dyads, such as specific forms of parental offending and becoming a sexual abuser.
A person’s propensity for behavior that increases the chances of committing a crime against others is presented as a fundamental problem. The experience of sexual violence plays a critical role in the manifestation of this fact. Therefore, Lambie and Johnston (2015) state that for most people the main thing that protected them from becoming offenders was their experience of being a victim. This information is unambiguous as it opposes the victim-offender cycle hypothesis. Studies on the topic of the circle of victimization and the commission of sexual violence show the characteristic features of this problem and justify the factors.
The literature review showed that the environment and attitude in the family of people who have experienced violence play an essential role. Of most important ones are marital dissonance and abuse, the lack of death of one or both ancestors, and the existence of stepparents (Papalia et al., 2018). Furthermore, damaged parent-child relationships, poor caregiver attention, and parental setting, including mental problems and abuse of substances, have all been linked to the improved risk of child sexual abuse. In one study, the resilient group had more outstanding academic achievement at school and a more significant number of peer friendships that influenced their attitude to the traumatic experience of abuse (Lambie et al., 2020). Violence is a complex phenomenon and is characterized not only by individual actions or signs. That is why its study is of particular importance and value.
It is worth noting that it is necessary to consider that the generally accepted facts about why people commit violent acts are not exhaustive, and there may be more severe aspects behind this horrific act. Thus, some findings indicated that research participants’ sexual offending was predominantly motivated by externalizing justifications, such as anger, revenge, and deviant arousal, rather than internalizing reasons, for example, loneliness, depression, and low self-esteem (Lambie & Reil, 2020). To create effective and efficient programs, many studies have been conducted based on data obtained from people who are victims and once committed a crime against the rights of another person because of this. Moreover, further research must analyze what protective factors lead young people to become resilient rather than offenders (Miley et al., 2020). Knowledge about the characteristics may result in resilience and would allow researchers to pay more attention to fostering these characteristics in young people who experienced ACEs, thus reducing the aftermath of abuse.
The research revealed that friendship is not only essential for the interpretation of crime but for solving the victim-offender cycle. One of the works also found several methods of avoidance measures, for example, functioning with the consideration of young people’s interests for the transformation of sex education, alter victimization memories and attitudes, and facilitate them in the management of pornographic materials (McKibbin et al., 2017). The peculiarities and magnitude of the significance of crimes against minors are that sexual offenses can result from the most serious experiences of victims, the influence of which can be transmitted through their entire life, affecting their self-perception and perception and view of the world. In addition, a traumatic event can affect relationships with other people, especially with representatives of the opposite sex, and in the future family relations. Such an experience causes deep emotional trauma, which can result from suicide or lead to dangerous somatic and mental diseases. Thus, the damage from sexual violence is extensive, especially if the victims are children and adolescents.
Prevention work with children and adolescents on the topic of sexual violence, prevention of subsequent events against them is a critically important, social, and urgent problem. Its solution has a multi-functional and multi-stage character. It is necessary to involve employees of various systems, guardianship authorities, representatives of social and pedagogical spheres, and psychological institutions in this activity. The resolution of the issue of violent acts against minors is possible with the joint work of all these systems.
The main goal is to reduce the consequences of attacks on children and to help in the restoration or formation of families of the ability to perform correct activities. The knowledge and experience of specialists and competent work, a professional position in relation to the modern problem is the main factor of practical activities to protect children from violence. Injuries resulting from violence should not be considered a sentence. A comprehensive and qualified warning, a careful and respectful attitude can help children and young people in rehabilitation, and the organization of preventive activities contributes to the effective exclusion of crimes against minors. Teaching children about personal security and borders is also an essential aspect of the work to prevent the frequency of sexual crimes. It should be carried out not only by specialized specialists but also in a family environment. This helps to avoid repeating the circle of the victim and the rapist.
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