Major Theories of Sexual Offending

THEORIES OF SEXUAL OFFENDING
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Theories of Sexual Offending
Introduction
Sexual offence or crime has been a major global concern over a long period of time. As the sexual crime rates continue to soar in different parts of the world, so does the need to understand the causative agents and corresponding interventions needed to stop the act or at least reduce its prevalence. Basically, sexual offense has got numerous causative factors that continue to exist among individuals. Lack of knowledge of these factors is one of the major reasons behind the increasing rate of sexual crime in the world. Ignorance has been of the factors that have been attributed to the continued rise in cases of sexual offense (Sexual Offending). Studies conducted out i9n different parts of the world reveal that children are the most vulnerable to sexual offending. Besides, they happen to be the victims of these circumstances in most of the cases that have been reported about sexual abuse. Despite various measures adopted, including harsh legal penalties, sexual offending seems to be the order of the day in most parts of the world.
Nevertheless, scholars, psychologists, researchers and other parties interested in this matter, have come up with numerous ways of explaining the contributory factors of sexual violence (Ward & Polascheck, 2006). This has been theorized to an extent that different models have been developed to help understand the complexity of sexual offending and corresponding effective ways of preventing the acts. These models include single factor models and multi-factor models. However, a close look at the theories reveals the fact that they complement each other and most of the time appears in combination. In respect to this, this paper intends to discuss the major theories of sexual offending. This will be done by analyzing both causative and treatment theories that have been developed. To arrive at the conclusions case analysis and the use of illustrations will be used in respect to the topic of discussion.
The Addiction Theory/Model
According to Ward & Polascheck, (2006) addiction is defined as a habit or practice that damages life depending on what an individual is addicted to. The addiction model of sexual offending has a number of elements in it. This include; the existence of substitute sources of sexual satisfaction (such as pornography, sex on the internet and prostitutes), lenience of sexual anti-social behavior, a tendency of the society preoccupying itself with the deification of sex and sex itself and obsessive sexual behaviors (Theories of Sexual Offending). Just like addiction to drugs or alcohol for that matter, sexual offenders always want to repeat the behavior every now and then. This is specifically because engaging in sex always alters moods and gives pleasure to the offender just like drugs. Sexual offenders are characterized by mental obsession that always includes sexual fantasies, repeating the behavior every now and then and having neurotic behaviors (McGuire, 1995).
Addicts of sexual offending are victims of loss of self control and will always want to justify their actions while minimizing the blame. Notably, these behaviors...