Shifting the Paradigm Webinar Series: Motivations of perpetrators of child sexual abuse

Four decades ago, seminal child sexual abuse scholar Finkelhor (1984) claimed that “[t]here
is nothing in the field of child sexual abuse more perplexing than the question, ‘Why would
someone molest a child’?” (p. 33). This comment retains its resonance forty years later. This
presentation will address this question by providing an overview of the motivations of child
sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrators. After establishing the differences between causes of CSA
perpetration and motivations, it will canvas the existing evidence base, with a focus on how
perpetrators themselves understand their own behaviour. This presentation will be of particular
relevance to those who work with sexual offenders in treatment and/or correctional capacities.

Presenter/Dr Kelly Richards, Professor of criminology
in the School of Justice at Queensland University of
Technology.

Dr Kelly Richards is Professor of criminology in the School of Justice at
Queensland University of Technology. She holds a PhD from Western
Sydney University and is an accomplished criminological researcher,
having previously held a senior research position at the Australian Institute
of Criminology. Kelly’s research focuses on better understanding and responding to
both victim/survivors and perpetrators of sexual violence. She has led numerous funded
research grants and published widely on this and other related topics. In 2010 she was
awarded the ACT Government Office for Women Audrey Fagan Churchill Fellowship,
and in 2020 she was named a Senior Fulbright Scholar. She is currently an Australian
Research Council Future Fellow researching child sexual abuse perpetrator motivations.

Link: Webinar Registration – Zoom