Sex offenders of the elderly: Classification by motive, typology, and predictors of severity of crime

A sample of 77 convicted sex offenders of elderly victims was classified by severity of and motivation for the crime. The opportunistic and non-sadistic rapists committed the lowest level crimes of no penetration. Offenders classified as pervasive anger and vindictive had the highest severity of crime scores and committed the full range of crimes from no penetration to multiple rapes and murders. Although the sample and power were small for this study, the predicting factors by severity of crime were expressive aggression, mood state — anger, victim restrained, and offense planning. Continued study on gerontophilia is necessary to discern if this behavior constitutes a paraphilia.