TYPOLOGIES OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSERS

J

during adulthood, has had virtually no age-appropriate sexual relationships . The fixated offender ismore likely to choose victims who are male and not
related to him (Abel and Rouleau, 1990; Simon etal., 1992 ; West, 1987) .

THE FIXATED/REGRESSED TYPOLOGY

It is the fixated offenders who are most dangerous
to society, constituting "a public health problem"(Abel, Lawry, Kalstrom et al ., 1994) as well as a"criminal problem" (Freeman-Longo, 1996) . These
offenders develop relationships with vulnerable
children (vulnerable in either an emotional or situational sense), and they typically recruit, groom andmaintain the children for a continuing sexual relationship (Conte, 1991) . The offenders delude themselves into believing they have established a caring,supportive role with the child and that the child isable to derive pleasure and educational experiencefrom the interaction (Abel and Rouleau, 1995 ;Marshall and Barbaree, 1990b) .

n the ongoing effort to develop an understanding of characteristics that would allow for classification of sex offenders into specific groups,
many researchers have proposed typologies ofoffenders . These typologies, or classification
schemes, utilize offender characteristics and/or victim-choice information, including interpersonal andsituational characteristics, to outline a framework
for analysis (e.g. Knight & Prentky, 1990; Simon etal., 1992 ; Schwartz, 1995) .

In the 1970s, researchers began to classify offenders
based upon their motivation for committing sexually deviant behavior. One of the most basic classification schemes was proposed by Groth et al .
(1982), who considered two issues : the degree towhich the deviant sexual behavior is entrenched
and the basis for psychological needs. With regard
to the first issue, Groth proposed the fixatedregressed dichotomy of sex offending . This is not
simply a dichotomous distinction, but rather exists
on a continuum, as shown in Figure 1 .

Fixated offenders are particularly dangerous
because their offenses often go unreported, andsubsequently, many have been convicted of far
fewer offenses than they actually committed (Abeland Rouleau, 1990 ; Abel et al ., 1994 ; Elliot,
Browne and Kilcoyne, 1995) . Offenders who abuse
young boys are at the highest risk of recidivating
and are also likely to commit the most offenses(Marques, Day, et al ., 1994 ; Marques, Nelson et al .,1994) . Abel and Rouleau's (1990) study of 561
male offenders who voluntarily sought treatment
showed that the non-incestuous offenders in thesample who assaulted young boys averaged 281
offenses with an average of 150 victims . It is thestrongly fixated offenders who have the most victims and the highest rate of recidivism and should
consequently be considered the highest risk to thecommunity.

The fixated offender is characterized as having apersistent, continual and compulsive attraction tochildren. They are usually diagnosed withpedophilia, or recurrent, intense, sexually arousing
fantasies of at least six months in duration involving pre-pubescent children (American Psychiatric
Association, 1999). Finkelhor (1984) classifies
these offenders as exclusively involved with children and points out that they are usually not related
to their victims and are attracted to children fromadolescence . According to Holmes and Holmes(2002), the offender has not fully developed andshows characteristics of a child . In particular, fixated offenders do not develop past the point where
they find children attractive and desirable . The fixated offender's actions are typically premeditated innature and do not result from any perceived stress .
In addition, this type of offender is often unable toattain any degree of psychosexual maturity and,The regressed offenders' behavior, on the other
hand, usually emerges in adulthood and tends to beprecipitated by external stressors . Gebhard et al .
(1965) touched upon the role of external stressors
as precursors to sexual offending. In this early classification system, the authors state that sexual174

is generally measured through a penile plethysmograph (PPG) as the male is shown erotic material .
The control group generally shows some level ofarousal to photos of young children in erotic poses,
and it is therefore difficult to differentiate between
the two groups . This indicates that, as with rapists,
the offender is not necessarily motivated by sexual
needs alone .

offending is the product of environmental stressors
and disordered childhood relationships . These twovariables intersect in such a manner as to render theoffender powerless to control his behavior, thus culminating in an offensive act . At the time of the creation of this classification system, the authors wereunable to specify childhood precursors to offending ; however, there has been extensive researchevaluating the nature of stressors . These stressors
can be situational, such as unemployment, marital
problems and substance abuse, or can related tonegative affective states such as loneliness, stress,
isolation or anxiety . These stressors, according to
Schwartz (1995), often lead to poor self-confidence
and low self-esteem, thereby undermining theabusers confidence in themselves as men. Sexual
involvement with children is not fixed, but isinstead often a temporary departure from theoffender's attraction to adults (Simon et al ., 1992) .
This type of offender is more likely to choose victims who are female .

A distinction is made between a sex-pressure
offense and a sex-force offense . In a sex-pressure
offense, the offender either entices or entraps his
victim . In his pursuit for sexual gratification, theoffender would prefer his victim to cooperate .
However, should his victim resist, the offender usually will . not follow through with the sexually abusive behavior .
In contrast, a sex-force offense is one wherein theoffender uses either intimidation or physical aggression . When intimidation is used, the offender may
be drawn to his victim primarily because the victim
is easily overpowered and may present less resistance than an adult . The offender is using his victim
purely as a means of sexual release . Those offenders who use physical aggression to overpower their
victim, commonly known as "sadistic" offenders,must inflict pain in order to achieve sexual gratification . Fortunately, this type of offender is therarest .

Regressed offenders tend to victimize children towhom they have easy access, and as such, they often
victimize their own children . It is difficult to establish accurate patterns of arousal for regressed
offenders, and researchers (Freund, McKnight,
Langevin et al ., 1972 ; Quinsey, Steinman,
Bergerson et al ., 1975) have found that they have
similar arousal patterns to "normal" men. Arousal

Figure 3 . The fixated and regressed offender continuum, showing that fixation is continuous,
not dichotomous .

Exdusivev Involveo

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Table 2 . Characteristics of fixated and regressed offenders .
PRIMARY VICTIMRISK OF

PREFERENCEREOFFENDING• Extrafamilial
Female (prepubescent), male

Very high risk of recidivism
The risk of recidivism(pubescent/adolescent)*Typically recruits vulnerable
children and engages inextensive grooming in orderto ensure the continuationof the abuseincreases according to
the number of victims .

I ntrafamilial, acquaintance
Gender varies, depending

S ince they are not sexually

MOTIVATIONFIXATED OFFENDER• Having never developed
an attraction to age-appropriate partners, the fixated
offender has a persistent,
continual, and compulsive
attraction to children .
*Behavior emerges inadolescence .
Offenses are premeditatedin nature and do not stemfrom stressors .
Most likely to be diagnosed/characterized withpedophila/ephebophilia .

REGRESSED OFFENDER*Offending stems from stressors in the individuals environment which undermine
self esteem and confidence .
*Behavior emerges inadulthood .
O ffending is a departurefrom the offender's attraction to adults .
S imilar to rapists, theoffender is not necessarily
motivated by sexual needs
alone .

on who is accessible .
Tend to victimize children towhom they have easy
accessSimon et al. (1992) attempted to empirically validate the fixated-regressed typology. They sampled
136 consecutive cases of convicted offenders over a
two-year period . They reviewed pre-sentence datathat comprised a case history, MMPI results, presentence reports and police report data . Applicationof the criteria defining fixated versus regressed status yielded a unimodal and continuous distributionof offenders rather than the bimodal (fixated/
regressed) distribution predicted by Groth's theory.
Based on the results of this study, Simon et al . suggested that Groth's fixated/regressed dichotomy
was unable to account for all child sexual abusers
and recommended using a modification of Grath's

fixated on children, they
are at a lower risk of reoffending if treated .
C apable of feeling remorsefor their actions

approach . This modification would entail the use ofGrath's criteria along a continuum and rejecting theoriginal dichotomy . The findings of Simon et al .
identify a potentially causal link between generalcriminality, anti-social behavior and child molestation . These variables have been typically ignored bytheories such as Groth's . A further contrast between
Groth's classification system and Simon et al . is thesuggested existence of at least three different age
groups of child molesters (not two) . The presence of
these age clusters suggests that situational opportunities (i .e ., marital discord and availability of ayoung, potential victim) may interact with the "stable" tendency of an individual with a past history of

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antisocial acts . This leads to a potential increase in
the risk of child sexual abuse . Thus, molesters ofdifferent age groups may differ in terms of the predisposition to molest as well as opportunity .

THE FBI TYPOLOGIESThe FBI also expanded on Grath's typologies toinclude seven subgroups of offenders : regressed,
morally indiscriminate, sexually indiscriminate,
inadequate (these are situational offenders) ; seductive, fixated and sadistic (these are preferential) .
Four of these subgroups (regressed, morally indiscriminate, sexually indiscriminate and inadequate)
correspond to regressed offenders as described by

Groth and three subgroups (seduction, introverted
and sadistic) correspond to Grath's description of
fixated child molesters . The morally indiscriminate
offender chooses his victim based on accessibility,
whereas the sexually indiscriminate offender isdriven by his desire to experiment with almost any
type of sexual behavior . The inadequate offenderchooses his victim because he is socially inept andlikely to perceive his victim as a vulnerable object
through which he may satisfy his sexual curiosity .
Those offenders who utilize seduction will groom
their victim . However, the introverted offender does
not have the social skills necessary to seduce a victim,
thus they molest very young children . Table 3 summarizes the characteristics of these offender types .

Table 3 . The FBI typologies of situational and preferential offenders and their seven subgroups .
TYPE OF OFFENDER

CHARACTERISTICS OF OFFENDERS

Situational offenders
REGRESSED

Offenders have poor coping skills, target victims who are easily accessible,
abuse children as a substitute for adult relationships .

MORALLY INDISCRIMINATE

Offenders do not prefer children over adults and tend to use children(or anyone accessible) for their own interests (sexual and otherwise) .

SEXUALLY INDISCRIMINATE

Offenders are mainly interested in sexual experimentation, and abusechildren out of boredom .

INADEQUATEOffenders are social misfits who are insecure, have low self-esteem,
and see relationships with children as their only sexual outlet .

Preferential offenders
SEDUCTIVE

Offenders "court" children and give them much affection, love, gifts,
and enticements in order to carry on a "relationship ."FIXATED

Offenders have poor psychosexual development, desire affection fromchildren, and are compulsively attracted to children .

SADISTIC

Offenders are aggressive, sexually excited by violence, target stranger
victims, and are extremely dangerous .

Source: Holmes and Holmes (1996)

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of deviance on the slide assessment for Axis I .
Interestingly, the average deviance indices for all
four levels of Axis I indicated at least a failure todifferentiate appropriate from inappropriate stimuli
in terms of sexual responding ; however, the highfixation-low social competence group was the only
one that demonstrated a clear sexual preference forchildren. The high fixation-low social competencegroup was also distinguished by their preferences
for male victims and their higher levels of selfreported childhood sexual abuse . On Axis II, thelow contact-high injury offenders displayed moredeviant arousal on the female's sexual violence
assessment than other groups . These offenders werealso more intrusive in their offending and weremore likely to use physical force . Although mostAxis II groupings were equally likely to choose maleas well as female victims, the exploitative group had
a clear preference for female victims . Differenceswere not found for groups when rates of sexual andviolent recidivism were examined although it was
revealed that sadistic offenders committed a great
number of violent offenses . Preferential child molesters (i .e ., those in high fixation and high contact
categories) were found to be more likely to exhibit
deviant arousal, to have greater numbers of victims
and to cause little physical harm . They were also
more likely to commit new sexual offenses although
this difference was not significant. Given thatdeviant sexual arousal is one of the best predictorsof sexual recidivism, these individuals present as
being higher risk and having higher treatment
needs. Low contact-high injury offenders also had agreater number of victims and were more likely todisplay deviant arousal . They were more likely totarget strangers, were more intrusive in theiroffending and were more likely to cause serious
physical harm to their victims . With regard to
implications for risk assessment, sadistic offenders
had a greater number of violent offenses, indicatingthat these offenders may be at higher risk for violent nonsexual offenses . Also, low social competence offenders were more likely to reoffend in a
nonsexual, nonviolent manner.

THE MTC :CM3 TYPOLOGY

In their attempt to classify child molesters, Knightand Prentky (1990) employed deductive-rational
and inductive-empirical research strategies (simultaneously) to develop multidimensional typologies
of offenders on two axes . Axis I addresses thedegree to which an offender is fixated with children
and is further broken down to consider theoffender's level of social competence . Axis II evaluates the amount of contact an offender has withchildren and is analyzed according to the meaning(interpersonal or sexual) of that contact . This axis
further evaluates the amount and type of physicalinjury involved in the contact. Through this system,
which is known as the Massachusetts Treatment
Center : Child Molester Typology, versions 3[MTC:CM3], each offender is assigned a separate
Axis I and Axis II typology . Knight and Prentky
state that this classification system has alreadydemonstrated reasonable reliability and consistentties to distinctive developmental antecedents . In
addition, the preliminary results of a 25-year recidivism study of offenders conducted by the authors
indicate that aspects of this system have important
prognostic implications .
In 2001, Looman et al . attempted to replicate
Knight and Prentky's research strategies with 109
child molesters in Canada . These child molesters
were classified in accordance with the MTC :CM3
typology. Groups of molesters were compared on anumber of meaningful variables, such as number ofvictims and sexual deviance . Results showed that it
is possible to apply the MTC:CM3 child molester
typology in a population outside of Massachusetts .
All molesters, with the exception of the sadistic
types, were classified into all subgroups with anacceptable level of reliability . The authors claimthat this exception may be due to the low number
of offenders who fell into these subgroups rather
than difficulties with the classification system .
Differences were found between groups on thephallometric assessments, with the high fixationlow social competence group having highest levels

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Table 4 . MTC : CM3 classification of child molesters .
AXIS

DESCRIPTION OF AXIS MEASUREMENT

Axis I• Assesses the extent fo which the offender is fixated with children(on a continuum)• Measures the level of social competence of the offender

Axis II• Assesses the amount of contact the offender has with children (e .g ., exclusively
involved with extrafamilial children, abuses own children)• Meaning of the contact (sexual and interpersonal]• Amount and type of physical injury involved in the contact (including threats
and use of force)present study are consistent with earlier reports thatmany pedophiles are married and have children of
their own, they conflict with the reports indicatingthat pedophiles tend to exhibit strong sexual preferences for children . The authors suggest that thismay be a result of the rather small sample fromwhich the present data were obtained . Overall,choice of victim was clearly related only to sexual
response patterns, and then only in the case of a
prepubescent victim . Pedophiles and homosexual
offenders responded more to male children than did
heterosexual offenders .

OTHER TYPOLOGIESOther researchers have used various forms of datain their attempt to differentiate types of childmolesters . Baxter et al . (1984) evaluated the criminal records, personal histories, social-sexual competence and physiological responses to erotic stimuli
of incarcerated pedophiles, ephebophiles (thoseindividuals with recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies about adolescents) and rapists . Results
indicated that there were significant differencesamong the groups in criminal and personal background. Pedophiles tended to be older, more poorly
educated, more likely to be unmarried and less frequently involved in nonsexual crime . Social andsocial-sexual inadequacy was common to all groups
as reflected by under-assertiveness, low self-esteem
and negative attitudes .

Simkins (1993) conducted an exploratory investigation, the purpose of which was to compare sexually
repressed and non-repressed child molesters on
therapy progress and on a battery of personality
and research instruments. From information
obtained on psychosexual histories, 68 child molesters were categorized as repressed, non-repressed or
exploitive . Results indicated that significantly larger
portions of therapy failures were sexually repressed .
There were also significant differences between
repressed and non-repressed offenders on some ofthe special research scales of the MMPI, the Burt
Rape Myth Scales, some of the Multiphasic Sexual
Inventory Scales and Mosher's Sex Guilt Scale .
Differences on these measures are consistent withthe characteristics of intrafamilial child molesters
reported in the clinical and research literature . The
results of this investigation are, however, quite speculative due to the small sample size of the repressedgroup . It is also conceivable that differences intreatment effectiveness between repressed and non-

Baxter et al .'s data provide a degree of support for
the view of the pedophile as a sexual deviate .
Pedophiles were somewhat older than other subjects and were more likely to be repetitive sexual
offenders, with less nonsexual criminal involvement
than rapists or ephebophiles . They were more likely
to exhibit deviant sexual arousal, inasmuch as they
responded much more to children than nonpedophilic subjects . However, the pedophiles did
not so much show an erotic preference for children
as display a failure to either inhibit responding tochildren or to show a clear erotic preference for
adults . Non-pedophilic subjects showed an attenuated response to children relative to adults whilepedophiles did not . Although the findings of the

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titioners, mental health clinics or other professionals (i.e ., attorneys), and 13% were self-reported . All
participants admitted to either a sexual attraction
to children or to some inappropriate sexual activity
with a child . The average age of the participants
was 36.08 years (range = 18-74) . Eighty-seven percent were Caucasian, 8% were African Americanand 5% were Hispanic . About 26% were married or
involved in a common-law relationship, 28% wereseparated or divorced and 46% had never married .
Socioeconomic status based on annual income
showed that 14% were middle class, 20% werelower middle class and 66% were lower class . Fiftytwo men did not participate in the research due tovarious reasons, including a) bisexual child molesters
were excluded, b) anyone who did not complete all
three measures were excluded and c) the attrition
rate for the outpatient treatment project was quite
high . The remaining 72 child molesters completed aself-report card-sort measure of sexual interest, as
well as direct monitoring of . penile response (using
the PPG) when presented with erotic slides or audio
material . The reliability of all measures was high . All
three measures used to assess pedophilic interest (i.e .,card-sort, PPG slides, PPG audio) significantly differentiated boy-object and girl-object child molesters .
The card-sort measure showed the greatest classification accuracy and was the only measure to significantly improve accuracy once the other two modalities were considered . Consideration of all threemeasures proved classification accuracy (91 .7%)
greater than any single measure .

repressed groups may be attributed to differences insocial skills rather than to sexual repression .
Danni et al . (2002) conducted a study for the purpose of differentiating three types of child sexual
offenders-pedophiles, ephebophiles and incest
offenders . In this study, 168 convicted sex offenders
participated . Data was gathered from the pre-sentence investigation reports, which were used by the
court for sentencing proceedings . Eight independent
variables were found to significantly discriminate
among the three types of sex offenders almost 90%of the time . These variables were : sexually victimized as a child, pre-pubertal victim, seduction
motive, age-appropriate relationships, stress, own
child as victim, social facade and anger . Based onthese results, the authors concluded that pedophiles
are more likely to have experienced sexual victimization as a child, to prefer pre-pubertal sex partners and to be motivated to seduce their victims
than non-pedophiles . The findings also illustratethat ephebophiles are more likely to have experienced external stress than non-ephebophiles, while
incest offenders are more likely to have a higher
level of perceived entitlement than non-incest
offenders . Ephebophiles were correctly classified in
92.86% of the cases and incest offenders were classified correctly in 100% of the cases . However,pedophiles were the most difficult to correctly classify (84 .06%) . The authors attribute this phenomenon to the fact that pedophiles' victims are typically
young and are not always able to effectively verbalize or convey the things that happen to them . The
forms of seduction utilized by the offender may
confuse the victims . The authors conclude that the
primary characteristic of pedophilia is the offender'sown childhood sexual victimization . The unwillingness to disclose that information makes it less likelythat a pedophile will be discovered . They purportthat this manipulative behavior is harder to detect .

CHARACTERISTICS OF
CLERGY OFFENDERS
Some researchers claim that clergy offenders are
truly unique in comparison to offenders within thegeneral population (Kafka, 2004) . This is a theory
that has been illustrated by a number of
researchers . Camargo (1997) concluded that clergy
offenders were unique based upon their status as
Diocesan priests and the combination of passivity(with the absence of overt hostility), test-taking
styles which present the self as being free of major
symptoms, low anxiety and high relative gregariousness . Haywood et al . (1996) found that noncleric offenders reported more psychopathology asmeasured by the MMPI-1 and that, contrary toLaws et al . (2000) conducted a study that examinedthe extent to which the use of multiple measures ofpedophilic interest improved on the diagnostic
accuracy of any single measure . One hundred
twenty-four males voluntarily consented to participate in an outpatient evaluation and treatment program for child molesters . Of these, 56% werereferred from the Florida Department ofCorrections, 31 % were referred from private prac-

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backgrounds "characterized by rigidity and dysfunction with themes of abuse, had little insight
into these areas, had insufficient training in theissue of transference/counter transference, had virtually no training or education concerning sexual
abuse, domestic violence, addictive disease, or
healthy professional boundaries, and failed toappreciate how their history of trauma affected
their professional life ." Most of the individuals inthe sample met the diagnosis for personality disorders with features of antisocial/psychopathic traits
or paranoid, sadistic, or schizoid features . The
results also illustrate that narcissistic and dependant
traits clustered and modeled together in an
exploitive manner.

expectations, there were no differences concerninga history of childhood sexual abuse between clergy
and non-clergy offenders . These findings contrast
with those of Langevin et al . (2000) who concluded
that while the clergy offenders in their sample weresimilar to the matched group of non-clergy offenders, 70 .8% were sexually deviant and characterized
as homosexual pedophiles with courtship disorder.
Few of the participants in either group had beensexually abused as children . None of the clergy participants were diagnosed with antisocial personality
disorder, but they did exhibit symptoms of substance abuse .
Certain personality characteristics have also beenshown to be unique to clergy offenders . Fones et al .
(1999) studied the sexual struggles of 19 clergymen
and found that they grappled with loneliness, masturbation conflicts, and a wish to be known beyond
their role by others . Through a review of the available literature, Plante (1996) maintains that clergy
offenders display shyness, loneliness, and passivity .
Their MMPI scores illustrate the presence ofdepression, authority concerns, and addiction problems while Rorschach results indicated greateraffect constriction than normal. Plante, et al . (1996)
found that the presence ofover-controlled hostility
differentiated clergy offenders from non-offending
priests . The authors found that the sexually abusive
clergy tended to have higher verbal IQ scores thanthe control group . While this finding showed slightsignificance, it was nullified when age was taken
into account . It is postulated that those priests who
sexually offend may in fact be acting out theirchronically over-controlled anger and aggression .
Ruzicka (1997) studied 10 convicted clergy offenders (seven of which were either Catholic priests or
religious brothers) and concluded that the subjects
were well educated, of average to above-average
intelligence, and had a limited history of substanceabuse . Irons and Laaser (1994) studied a sample of
25 male clergy who had been referred for sexual
misconduct, primarily with adults . They came from

What is interesting to note is the personality functioning of non-offending priests . In a review of
research conducted after Vatican II, Doyle (2003)
cites the unpublished work of Baars and Terruwe(1971), which reveals that 20-25% of the priests
had serious psychiatric difficulties while 60-70%
suffered from emotional immaturity . The authors
assert that some of the priests experienced psychological disturbances developed in childhood
whereas others developed difficulties while in theseminary . These results are consistent with the findings of Kennedy (1972), who concluded that 6% ofpriests were psychologically and emotionally developed, 29% were still developing, 57% were underdeveloped, and 8% were maldeveloped . Those who
were underdeveloped were more comfortable withteenagers, had few friends their own age, and used
intellectualization as a coping device . As cited by
Scheper-Hughes (1998), Kennedy ascertains that
"The vows of poverty and obedience infantilize theadult male, making him dependant on a series offather figures at a time when they should be in control of their own lives and responsible for the livesof children and young people . The vow of celibacy
takes from the adult a main vehicle for the expression of intimate social relations . The end result ischronic infantilization ."1 81