Awareness of the offense and perception of the victim among juvenile sex offenders

The present work presents data on research into adolescents who committed sex offenses, carried out in the Apulia Region of southern Italy and focused in particular on the perpetrators' perception of the peculiar profile of the criminal act committed. Three University sections of the School of Medicine, Bari University, took part in this research: Criminology and Forensic Psychopathology, Psychiatry and Juvenile Neuropsichiatry, working in collaboration with the Department for Juvenile Justice and the Community, and the Center for Juvenile Justice in Apulia. In total, 31 subjects were included in the study, all Juvenile Sex Offenders. A detailed questionnaire was employed to obtain all the relevant information of criminological concern. Among most of the minors considered, a very poor awareness emerged of the peculiar type of offense committed, and of its consequences on the victims and the social context. This finding highlights an evident contradiction and confusion between legislative provisions in the area of sex offenses and rape, and the perspectives of juveniles and adolescents. There is an evident need for legislative norms to adopt registers that are more accessible to the complex juvenile world, that cannot be assimilated to the adult world.