Typologies of women who have sexually offended: exploring psychosocial, developmental and motivational characteristics.

Typologies classify persons based on characteristics and motivation of offending and inform clinical treatment, and management of, people who commit acts of sexual harm. Research examining typologies of women who have sexually offended (WWSO) is limited. We address this gap by examining court sentencing decisions for WWSO against children and adults in New Zealand, Australia and Canada (N = 62) to formulate typologies. We consider a broad range of individual and developmental factors, including offender background and psychosocial factors (e.g. experience of sexual abuse, adverse childhood experiences and mental health difficulties) to further describe this heterogenous population. Four typologies of WWSO emerged: 'Anti-social' motivated by revenge, malice or material gain; 'Seeking Love' motivated by seeking intimacy and love; 'Seeking Sexual Gratification' motivated to fulfil their own sexual desires; and 'Seeking to Please Others' motivated to please others or win others' affection. These typologies have clinical implications for identifying key assessment and treatment targets for WWSO.