Despite stereotypes of rapists as strangers in a dark alley, approximately 73% of adult victims and 93% of child victims of sexual assault know their offender. Most offenders are male. Even in sexual assaults where men are the victims, the offender is usually another man (RAINN).
There are no clear characteristics to identify sex offenders. Most sex offenders identify themselves as being heterosexual. They can be of any age, race, economic class, religion or marital status. Approximately 90% of offenders sexually assault someone who is of the same race.
Most sex offenders will continue to commit sexual offenses until they are caught. In cases that involve sexual abuse of children, the offenders are often people the child knows and trusts. Most offenders in child sexual abuse cases are male.
According to the 2009 WV-IBRS: 1,336 offenders were reported to have committed sex offenses.
- 312 arrests were made.
- 93% of the offenders were males, while 6% were females.
- The majority of the offenders were white (85.2%), 11.8% were black, 3% were other or unknown.
- The most common age of offenders was 20 and the average age was 31.
- Juveniles accounted for 29.4% of sex offenders for this reporting period.