Sexual aggressors, characterization of a Portuguese sample

Abstract

The sexual crime is a current issue and it is a real and serious problem in our society. Sexual aggressors tend to be people who perform normal professional duties of which no one is suspicious. Incidentally, whoever has knowledge of the crime is the victim and the perpetrator, who makes sure that no one is nearby for to engage in sexual intercourse. This study aims to characterize a sample of sexual aggressors from the north of Portugal to verify if sexual aggressors present a diagnosed mental disorder and if the profile found in sexual aggressors is in accordance with the classification found the literature, as well as to know the relationship of proximity between the victim and the aggressor. This is a quantitative and qualitative study that was carried out with a sample of 48 sexual aggressors in total, in which 46 are of the masculine gender and only two of the feminine gender between 19 and 76 years of age, being the sexual aggressors often family members, close friends or even neighbors. For this purpose, a consultation of the processes of the sexual crimes was carried out in the Court in the north of Portugal. The results of this study corroborate with some of other studies conducted characterizing these aggressors as the age, profession, marital status, proximity relationship and whether the victim is known. This study contributed to the increase of more information about these aggressors, thus allowing, that sentences can be directed to the rehabilitation of offenders, rehabilitation, that this more adjusted to each individual profile, in order to reduce recidivism.