U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Why They Did It - Stories of Eight Convicted Child Molesters

NCJ Number
104218
Author(s)
S J O'Brien
Date Published
1986
Length
202 pages
Annotation
This book contains detailed interviews with eight men convicted of child molesting who volunteered to tell the author about their background, childhood, family relationships, education, profession, and rationales for molestation.
Abstract
The men, who are now living in a prison community, answer questions about their molesting activities and their own molestation. Specific areas covered include the age when they first molested a child and how they chose victims. The men discuss their disclosure, arrest, and incarceration process, charges, length of sentence, and adjustments to prison life. Each tries to present reasons for his behavior, discusses plans for the future, and offers advice for parents to prevent children from becoming victims. The interviews are accompanied by an offender profile, discussion questions, and the author's analysis. A summary notes that there was no one common rationale for molestation among the men, although three that had been molested as children felt enough deep-seated anger to seek revenge by molesting others. Another issue explored is whether certain types of children are at greater risk of being molested than others. 13 references.