ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996                  TAG: 9603050012
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press

MOST SEX OFFENDERS PICK CHILDREN AS THEIR VICTIMS

Two-thirds of sex offenders in state prisons attacked children, and a third of these victims were offspring or stepchildren of their attackers, the Justice Department reported Sunday.

In a report based on the largest survey ever of state prison inmates, the department said children under age 18 bear the brunt of sex offenses and that child molesting remains a crime most often perpetrated by relatives and acquaintances rather than strangers.

The department's Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated that state prisons held 43,552 inmates in 1991 who raped or sexually assaulted children under 18. That represents 65.5 percent of the estimated 66,482 inmates convicted of raping or sexually assaulting victims of all ages.

The Justice Department study found that more than half the child victims of rape or sexual assault were age 12 or younger. Among all child victims of violence, three-fourths were female.

A third of child molesters had attacked their own child or stepchild. Another half of the molesters were a friend, acquaintance or more-distant relative of their victim.

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