By the Numbers:
A Statistical Portrait of Sex Offenses

Continued from page two

Perception: Most sex offenders are adults.

Facts: Adults commit almost all sexual assaults on other adults. But a large proportion of abusers — especially those who target younger children — are themselves juveniles.

Adults were the offenders in 79 percent of all sexual assaults and 96 percent or more of assaults on other adults, according to police reports from Vermont in 2004. In New Hampshire, adults committed two-thirds of all assaults and 100 percent of assaults on other adults.

However, people 17 years old and younger committed around 40 percent of all sexual assaults on New Hampshire and Vermont children aged 12 and under in 2004 (the latest year for which figures are available).

National figures show a similarly large number of young abusers. According to an analysis of data from the mid-1990s, sex offenders — regardless of the victim's age — were more likely to be 14 years old than any other age.

Page four: Are most victims of sexual assaults children?