OFFENDING HISTORIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOR - A 10-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF SEX OFFENDERS TRIED BY SHERIFF AND DISTRICT COURTS IN GRAMPIAN, SCOTLAND

From criminal complaint records all incidents of sexual misbehaviour r esulting in charges in three North East Scotland courts during 1981 an d 1982 were traced. Of the 80 alleged offenders, 75 were followed up f or 10 years using current criminal records. Offending behaviour ranged from obscene telephone calls to rape. Half the offenders made no phys ical contact with their victims. These ''hands-off' offenders were com pared with ''hands-on'' offenders and were found to show a higher prev alence of sexual convictions both before the index offence and in the follow-up period Those offenders who removed their victims clothes or had sexual intercourse with their victims were found to have the lowes t prevalence of sexual reoffending. Degree of intrusiveness was invers ely related to sexual recidivism in this sample and there was no evide nce of progression over time to more intrusive offending.