Who are sexual offenders? A survey of pre-trial psychiatric reports.

Sexual offending is a serious and growing problem in our society. The aim of the study was to investigate the main characteristics of people charged with sexual offences who presented before the criminal courts. The survey was conducted retrospectively between August 2001 and August 2006 on pre-trial court reports stored in a computer database shared by forensic psychiatrists using The Grange consulting rooms in West Yorkshire.