SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN - STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF CURRENT CRIMINOLOGY

In traditional perpetrator-orientated criminology, sexual abuse of chi ldren was seen as a rare offense committed by strangers. In this view, it was more likely to happen in the child's imagination. The presumed cause of the actually committed offense was the abnormal personality of the offender: The psychical and social injury of the victim was tho ught to be rather small. Since the mid-1970s, this view has changed on account of empirical studies on victimization. In modern society-and victim-orientated criminology-sexual abuse of children within their so cial environments is no longer an unusual occurrence. It results from the disturbed interaction between offender; victim, and society, The p sychical and social injury of the victim if very extensive in its shor t-, medium-, and long-term effects.