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Abstract: 

Most sex offenders are male and most research on sex offenders has studied male offenders. But while comprising less than 5% of known sex offenders, female offenders are a significant focus of enforcement and current research. This article summarizes the most important studies on female offenders published to date, including Vandiver and Kercher, Sandler and Freeman, T.E. Gannon et al., and Cortoni and Gannon, and focuses on what we now know about offender typologies, predictive risk factors, motivation, treatment regimes, recidivism, maladaptive coping, evaluation, and matching levels of service with risk assessment.

Keywords: female sex offender typologies; Sandler and Freeman; Vandiver and Kercher; T.A. Gannon; preoffense period; dynamic risk factors; childhood abuse

Affiliations:  1: American Board of Forensic Psychology; 2: clinical and forensic psychologist.