The lived childhood experiences of incarcerated male sex offenders

Abstract

This study was motivated by the high rates and public outcry of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa, particularly sexual violence. There have been policies and interventions by the government and other stakeholders to curb the rate of GBV in South Africa. The interventions mainly focus on protecting the victims of GBV, particularly women and children. However, the rates of GBV, predominantly sex offences, continue to increase. The perpetrators of GBV and sexual violence are mostly not included in the interventions and policies. Research also focuses on the victims of sexual violence and not the perpetrators, which is problematic as it does not provide a clear understanding of sexual violence in South Africa, resulting in the same and redundant strategies to curb sexual violence. Developmental psychological theories highlight that various childhood factors and experiences influence behaviour in adulthood. Males are identified as perpetrators and are incarcerated for sexual offences in South Africa. However, there is limited research on sex offenders and the influences of childhood experiences on sex offences amongst males. This research, therefore, aimed to understand the lived childhood experiences of incarcerated male sex offenders in South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative approach and was guided by the phenomenological and multiple case study approach to understand the lived childhood experiences of sex offenders. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 10 participants from the Mangaung and Grootvlei correctional centres. A semi-structured interview was used to collect data. The interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study found that lived childhood experiences play a role in the perpetration of sexual offences later in life. The findings also found that sex offenders experience negative experiences more than positive experiences during childhood, influencing the perpetration of sexual offences.