A series of classifications describing the character of the relationship between the offender and the other person involved was drawn up on the basis of whether the other person was a stranger, an acquaintance, a friend, or a relative of the offender. In the stranger category were included both prostitute pickups and police officers, who while acting as decoys became the potential targets of homosexual offenses. An acquaintance was defined as someone known usually by sight, as, for example, a neighborhood child. A first or “blind” date was also so classed. The term friend was interpreted to span a wide age differential, but in each case a social relationship of some kind was assumed to exist. Under the heading of relatives were included wives, both legal and common-law. Table 146 shows the percentages of each such relationship by offense types. The three incest groups are omitted since these were offenses committed exclusively with daughters or stepdaughters.

The degree to which strangers were selected as partners or became victims is the first matter of interest. Peeping and exhibition lead the list with well over 90 per cent of the females being previously unknown to the offender. A stranger is clearly the preferred choice in these two offenses. The three offense groups involving force rank next highest, each showing about two thirds of the cases as victimizing females who were strangers. About three fifths of the homosexual offenses vs. adults involved strangers, and in this group fall the many enticement cases using police officers as decoys. An additional number of these homosexual offenses stemmed from general surveillance of public toilets, where an attempt to find a homosexual partner usually results in a contact with a stranger. The figures for the remaining offense types diminish to a point at which about a third or fewer of the persons approached were strangers to the offender. The offenses vs. adult and minor females were lowest, with strangers representing only about a fifth and a sixth of the cases respectively. This is in contrast to the corresponding homosexual offenses which much more frequently were against strangers.

Turning attention to objects known in varying degrees to the offender, we find that in eight out of the 11 categories casual acquaintances ranked far below friends as objects of the sexual offense. A second point clearly shown in the tables is that relatives also played a comparatively small part in the picture, incest cases excepted, of course. The other exception to the minimal role of relatives is in the homosexual offenses vs. children. Almost 10 per cent of these 102 offenses with known data were committed against boys who were related to the offenders. Aggression offenses vs. children show a heightened percentage at this point (8 per cent), but this represents only two cases in this small sample.

The remaining large category, that of friends of the offender, is an important one, especially in heterosexual offenses vs. adult women and minor girls. Here three fourths and two thirds of the cases concerned females classed as friends. Thus it can be seen that nonforce sex offenses with females past the age of twelve primarily involved persons well known to the offender. This was true to a lesser degree of the homosexual offenses vs. minors and children, about half of which were with friends. A considerable proportion of the offenses against younger girls also were directed toward friends (41 per cent). The other groups drop down to the point at which the involvement of a friend ranges from 2 per cent to 31 per cent (homosexual offenses with adult males). The three aggression groups cluster around 15 per cent, showing that a consistent remnant of these offenses is directed at persons well known to the offender. Probably they represent only a small segment of the true picture of sexual force behavior per se, since it is self-evident that aggression against a friend has to be more severe and drastic, before it is reported as criminal behavior, than force used by a person unknown or barely known to a female. Offsetting this is the factor of easier identification and, hence, evidence against a molester known to the victim, which would tend to increase the ease of his apprehension and conviction.

To summarize, it can be said that in the present sample:

Strangers are selected more often than others as victims of aggression offenses, and very typically in homosexual offenses vs. adults, as well as in peeping and exhibition offenses.

Friends predominate in heterosexual offenses vs. minors or adults, and also are fairly evident in homosexual offenses involving children or minors.

Mere acquaintances or relatives play a minor part as objects of offenses.

The homosexual offenses with males of twelve or over reflect somewhat more promiscuity than the heterosexual offenses in comparable age-of-object brackets, as shown in the greater degree to which strangers appear as partners in the offenses.

The cases in general heap at two points on the relationship spectrum, that of friends and of strangers, showing a strong bimodal distribution.

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