Abstract

Sexual criminality is a well-known problem but the problem of youth sex offender is poorly documented, especially in Belgium. Created in 2001, the team Groupados, from the SOS Enfants centre, is a specialised team which takes in charge this type of youngsters. In order to know better this population, the team had created a data collection form. Between 2006 and 2008, an action research was done, on request of the Ministery of Youth Assistance, in close collaboration with the Health Psychology unit and the Department of Biostatistics of the ULB School of Public Health. One of the main objectives is to study the characteristics of youngsters taken in charge by Groupados; and another is to improve the efficiency of the tool (from paper version to data entry program). The purpose of this paper is to present the major results of the analyses of the data collected in 2005 and 2006 (n=82). Half of the youngsters have abused more than one victim and in a third of the cases, victims are boys. Violence is also used in two thirds of abuse cases. The major facts are touching and penetration. In conclusion, systematic data collection and analysis have allowed a better knowledge of the populations characteristics and conducted the team to venture hypotheses about history of sexual abuse.