Examining the Risks and Difficulties Related to Noncompleted and Completed Sexual Offences Against Adult Women: Insights on Decision Making for Crime Prevention

Using a sample of 145 men convicted for sexually assaulting a woman, we examined perceived risks and difficulties in the context of noncompleted and completed sexual offences against women to help further understand the decision-making process of individuals who commit those crimes and offer complementary insights from a prevention point of view. The participants were 29 years old on average. We looked at the individual's accounts of their offending. First and foremost, the dominating response in regards to high ratings of difficulties in noncompleted offences was woman resistance. Second, intoxication was reported by participants to justify both high risk and the absence of risk during their offending. Third, participants who perceived no risk and completed a sexual offence against a woman further indicated, in almost half the cases, that they thought (or assumed) the woman had given her consent initially. Fourth, very few participants referred to environmental conditions when assessing the risks and difficulties of committing an offence. Lastly, the results are discussed in light of considerations for crime prevention.