A preliminary typology of young sex offenders

Data concerning all young (15–20 years, n=56) sex offenders (YSOs) subjected to forensic psychiatric investigation in Sweden during 1988–1995 were used in an attempt to construct and validate an introductory YSO typology based solely on offence characteristics. A 5-cluster solution received optimal support from cluster analysis of 15 offence-related variables. A few historical and clinical characteristics varied across clusters. Survival analyses revealed that the clusters differed with respect to sexual but not to violent or general reconviction rates