An integrated theory of sexual reoffending

Abstract

Over the last two decades, there have been a number of important theoretical developments in the area of sexual offending. While some theoreticians have focused on the identification of specific causal factors, others have presented integrated models which include a range of variables. The common goal among these theoretical explorations is to increase our understanding of the various factors that drive sexual offending so that interventions can be optimised. However, theory development to date has largely focused on sexual offending, in general, while the area of recidivism has been largely neglected. Thus, this article seeks to bring together two disparate bodies of literature, namely, theories of sexual offending and risk factors for recidivism with the aim of identifying a common ground which will ultimately lead to development of a theory of sexual reoffending.