Understanding the Sexual Victimization of Children by Juveniles: Identifying Criminal Event Patterns

The purpose of this study is to explore the crime-commission process involved in the sexual victimization of children perpetrated by juveniles. Specifically, this study aims to explore the interconnectedness of pre-crime, crime, and post-crime phases with victimological characteristics using a criminal event perspective. The sample used in this study consists of 185 cases of child sexual abuses perpetrated by juveniles. The first step of this study uses latent class analysis to explore the relationship between each step of the crime-commission process. As a second step, additional variables were used to test the external validity of our model. Results suggest that there are three different criminal event patterns: familiar sexually non-intrusive, familiar sexually intrusive, and stranger sexually non-intrusive. Moreover, we found that specific victimological characteristics were associated with each of the patterns. Practical implications in terms of situational crime prevention and victim assistance are discussed.