Lussier,
P. (2015). Juvenile Sex Offending Through a Developmental Life Course
Criminology Perspective: An Agenda for Policy and Research. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and
Treatment. Advance online
publication.
Abstract
Current
American policies and responses to juvenile sex offending have been criticized
for being based on myths, misconceptions, and unsubstantiated claims. In spite
of the criticism, no organizing framework has been proposed to guide policy development
with respect to the prevention of juvenile sex offending. This article proposes
a developmental life course (DLC) criminology perspective to investigate the
origins, development, and termination of sex offending among youth. It also provides
a review of the current state of knowledge regarding various parameters characterizing
the development of sex offending (e.g., prevalence, age of onset, frequency,
persistence, continuity in adulthood, and versatility). The review highlights some
heterogeneity across these developmental parameters suggesting the presence of
different sex offending patterns among youth. In fact, it is proposed that,
based on the current knowledge, such heterogeneity can be accounted for by a
dual taxonomy of adolescents involved in sexual offenses: (a) the
adolescent-limited and (b) the high-rate/slow-desister. The DLC criminology
approach and the dual taxonomy are proposed as organizing frameworks to conduct
prospective longitudinal research to better understand the origins and
development of sex offending and to guide policy development and responses to
at-risk youth and those who have committed sexual offenses.
Could you talk us through where the idea for the research came from?
This article is the result of close to
fifteen years of research going back to the start of my PhD studies in
criminology and, since then, several experiences working on longitudinal cohort
studies on the psychosocial development of children and adolescents in Canada,
USA, UK and the Netherlands. These experiences lead to the formulation of developmental
life course (DLC) framework, as proposed in the article, to describe and
explain the origins and developmental course of sexual violence and abuse. The
idea for this article was sparked by three key observations: (a) misguided policy
development regarding the prevention of sexual offenses, which includes
measures that are too often based on myths, misconceptions, false and/or unsubstantiated
claims about individuals having committed a sexual offense; (b) major advances
in developmental research in the past three decades regarding the processes by
which atypical, non - normative, and maladaptive behaviors start, develop and
terminate, as well as the importance of recognizing the role and importance of age-graded
factors contributing to their developmental course, and; (c) the lack of
prospective longitudinal research to investigate the origins and the
development of sexual violence and abuse to inform policymakers and treatment
providers. This article offers a theoretical and research framework to better
understand the origins and the development of sexual violence and abuse.
What kinds of challenges did you face throughout the process?
The ideas put forth in the article have
been extraordinarily well received. There seems to be an understanding that it
is a necessary step for the advancement of research and policy in the field of
sexual violence and abuse. The real challenge, now, is the implementation of a
DLC research program to study the origins and the developmental course of
sexual violence and abuse over time.
What do you believe to be to be the main things that you have learnt
about juvenile sexual offending and its relationship to policy?
Much has been said about the significant
and dangerous gap between research and policy with respect to juvenile sex
offending and the disastrous consequences. Current policies are typically repressive,
reactive, and after the fact. At that stage, for some young persons, the risk
factors have been operating for years and these factors could have been
identified and corrected sooner. For others, the risk factors are transitory
and contextual and can be corrected through specialized intervention. This
speaks of the diversity of developmental trajectories that can lead to the
occurrence of sexual offending during adolescence.
Research in the field of juvenile sexual
offending has also been reactive or in reaction to these misguided policies. A
more proactive approach is necessary for better policy development and to align
policies with empirically-based evidence. It starts with the implementation of
prospective longitudinal research with community-based samples of families. It
includes a program of research to better understand the development of
normative and non - normative sexual behavior and associated risk and
protective factors from the earliest developmental stages, such as
pre/perinatal, infancy, etc. This program of research also takes into
consideration that discontinuity of non - normative behavior is the general rule
across developmental stages and that early identification of non - normative
sexual behavioral development is more complex and subtle than commonly
believed. In sum, the developmental life course perspective offers a proactive
perspective to assist and guide policy development for the prevention of sex
offending.
Now that you’ve published the article, what are some implications for
practitioners?
The DLC perspective is a theoretical and
research framework allowing this field of research to make a significant step toward
the realities that practitioners are encountering on a daily basis. This step
includes a common language for researchers and practitioners to communicate more
clearly about the origins and the developmental course of sex offending. In
doing so, the framework will stimulate the development of an understanding of sex
offending in the context of developing human lives. Because the DLC perspective
recognizes the diversity of human lives and individual development, it allows for
a person-oriented perspective for
assessment and treatment purposes, something currently lacking. In all, the
proposed DLC framework aims to bring those realities into the realm of research
and, most importantly, policy and prevention.
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