In a nearly mirror opposite trend, the percentage of acquaintance perpetrators rises throughout childhood, reaching a steady level of approximately 70 percent for victims ages 12 and older. The percentage of perpetrators who are strangers also rises slightly, but not dramatically, as juvenile victims grow older and spend more time in public areas. Adult perpetrators predominate for children younger than age 7, but during school years juvenile perpetrators prevail, until the late teenage years. Adult and juvenile acquaintance perpetrators also show different patterns. However, starting in adolescence, offenses committed by juvenile acquaintances decline dramatically, while crimes perpetrated by adult acquaintances dramatically increase.
Offenses committed by strangers also have different patterns for juvenile and adult perpetrators.
They constitute 24 percent of the offenders in violent crimes against juveniles, only slightly higher than their proportion of offenders in crimes against adults. Females constitute 36 percent of offenders in violent crimes against children younger than age 1 and a minority of the offenders committing sex offenses against juvenile male victims.