Child Molestors A Behavioral Analysis

It will be used in this publication to refer to illegal use of children in prostitution under the standards developed by statute, case law, and law-enforcement-agency protocols. Information provided in this manual may not remain current or accurate, so recipients should use this manual only as a starting point for their own independent research and analysis. This publication presents information on child molestation, pedophilia, and child pornography as an aid to law enforcement personnel investigating cases of child sexual exploitation.

Dedication This publication is dedicated to child victims of sexual exploitation and the organization that allowed me to devote most of my 30-year career as a Special Agent to fighting crimes against children. Sexual-exploitation cases involving acquaintance molesters present many investigative challenges, but they also present the opportunity to obtain a great deal of corroborative evidence, get solid convictions, and prevent continued victimization. Produced by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in cooperation with the FBI Academy, Child Molesters is an investigative tool for law-enforcement officers and child-protection professionals handling cases of children who are sexually exploited.

This discussion will focus primarily on the behavioral aspects of the sexual exploitation of children perpetrated by adult offenders who have an acquaintance relationship (i.e., not strangers or family members) with their child victims. This booklet provides a behavioral analysis of child molesters. The terms child molesters and pedophiles are defined and distinctions are drawn between the two.

For investigative purposes, one of the authors (KL) developed and has previously published a motivation-based typology of child molesters titled Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis published by NCMEC (see Lanning, 2010 for a more complete discussion). Abstract The four primary characteristics of child molesters are their long-term and persistent behavior patterns, preference for children as sexual objects, well-developed techniques in finding victims, and sexual fantasies focusing on children.