The Definition of Sexual Abuse
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1) a: The infliction of sexual contact upon a person by forcible compulsion.
b: The engaging in sexual contact with a person who is below a specified age or who is incapable of giving consent because of age or mental or physical incapacity. - 2) The crime of engaging in or inflicting sexual abuse.
While many people have been convicted of sexual offenses, some psychologists believe there are plenty of innocent men and women in prison, who are wrongly convicted of sex offenses.
As it happens, nearly 235,000 convicted sex offenders are under the care, custody, or control of corrections agencies on an average day. Nearly 60% are under conditional supervision in the community.
According to the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, convicted rape and sexual assault offenders serving time in State prisons report that two-thirds of their victims were under the age of 18, and 58% of those--or nearly 4 in 10 imprisoned violent sex offenders--said their victims were aged 12 or younger.
In 90% of the rapes of children less than 12 years
old, the child knew the offender, according to police-recorded incident
data.
