INCEST OFFENDERS VS. MINORS: CRIMINALITY
Like all incest offenders, few of these men had records of juvenile offenses, and few of the offenses were serious enough to merit incarceration for six months or more. Moreover, they are one of the three groups (including the incest offenders vs. adults) whose members had no juvenile sex-offense records.
They became involved with the courts very slowly as is typical of incest offenders: by age twenty only 20 per cent had been convicted (most other groups range from 30 to 80 per cent in this respect), and by age thirty 43 per cent (only the incest offenders vs. adults exceed them). Some of this belated involvement with the law stems from the nature of their specific sex offenses: not many men of thirty or less have daughters aged twelve to fifteen. This is evident also in the incidence figures for convictions resulting in sentences of a year or more; very few had such convictions on their record until they reached the necessary age. The median age of first conviction for any offense was 35 years, the median for the first incest offense vs. minors was 38 years. Both ages are the second oldest recorded, being exceeded by only the incest offenders vs. adults.
Slightly over half of the convictions were for sex offenses. About the same proportion of men had been convicted solely for sex offenses. This is comparatively a large figure and one shared by the incest offenders vs. adults. The general noncriminality of these offenders is evident also in the per capita conviction calculations. Total per capita convictions were 2.6, the second (to the incest offender vs. adults) smallest number to be found among our comparative groups. The per capita sex-offense convictions were 1.4, the third smallest.
Like other incest offenders, their nonsexual offenses emphasize crimes vs. order and minimize crimes vs. property. The crimes vs. order are a miscellany that defies description; one can only say that they do not clearly constitute crimes against persons or property nor are they in the realm of drunk-vagrant offenses. Examples of crimes vs. order will be given in the chapter on criminality.
The sexual crimes, other than the specific offense of incest vs. minors, are rather few and were equally divided between heterosexual offenses and heterosexual aggressions (28 per cent each). A smaller number of offenses were similarly divided between incest with younger and older daughters (17 per cent each). A few exhibition offenses (11 per cent) complete the picture.
As one might deduce from the foregoing, the incest offenders vs. minors are not recidivistic in comparison to most other groups. Some 42 per cent had but one conviction—a good record for a group with the second highest age (nearly forty-one) at the time of our interview.
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