Statutory rape in Malaysia: A comparison of characteristics between male adolescent and adult groups

Description

This dataset comprises responses from 77 adolescents and 35 adults who were situated in a carceral institution (juvenile detention center or prison) during the time of data collection. Forty-three of the adolescents and all adult respondents committed statutory rape (non-forcible and non-incestual), while the rest of the adolescents committed other offences (but they were in a romantic relationship, non-sexual, with an underage partner). All participants in this study were male, as only male individuals could be charged with statutory rape laws. The main hypothesis of this study pertained to the differences of characteristics (perceived relative power, perceived romantic love and aggression) between adolescent and adult perpetrators of statutory rape. At the same time, another hypothesis was formulated comparing between adolescents who had sex with an underage partner, using the same set of predictors, with other adolescents who were in a romantic relationship with an underage partner but did not engage in sex. Two control variables were included in the analyses – alcohol consumption and pornography consumption. These hypotheses were tested using binary logistic regressions. The main findings indicated support for the first model testing Hypothesis 1 that compared adolescent and adult perpetrators of statutory rape based on the set of predictors; however, the model that compared adolescents who had sex and adolescents who did not have sex (Hypothesis 2) was not supported. In the first model, the analysis showed that adolescent and adult perpetrators of statutory rape were significantly different in all predictors, except for the control variables. For Hypothesis 2, while the model was not supported, two of the individual predictors, perception of relative power and alcohol consumption were significantly different the two adolescent groups.

Steps to reproduce

The current dataset was limited to individuals in institutions. This was to cater to the cultures in countries like Malaysia that inhibit people’s willingness to talk about sex or admit to having sex. Therefore, recruiting individuals who were incarcerated for sexual crime addressed this issue, in addition to addressing an ethical dilemma pertaining to researcher’s legal responsibility in the event of obtaining an admission to sexual conduct with an underage partner from participants recruited publicly. In the current study, institutions housing perpetrators of statutory rape were identified and obtained permission from. Since the institutions had all the details of the occupying persons, their facilitation was requested to identify adolescents or adults who were incarcerated for sexual crime. Criteria of participation were as followed: 1) male, 2) detained for sexual crime, specifically under the Malaysian Penal Code, Section 375, 3) it did not involve intrafamilial sexual offence or involving forcible rape. Furthermore, the criteria of participation for the adolescents who had not engaged in sexual relationships with underage partners were: 1) male, 2) have been in a romantic relationship with an underage female, 3) have not had engaged in sexual relationships with underage females. The data collection process took place in the form of “interview-like” survey, as a number of participants were illiterate. To conduct interview-like survey, the researchers sat down with the participants individually, and had a “dialogue” with the latter comprising of informed consent session, briefing regarding the study, and reading out loud the items of each scale. Each instruction was read carefully and clearly using the native language of the participants. Privacy during data collection was requested from all institutions, usually situating the researcher and the participant in a room away from other individuals. The following data were collected: First, personal backgrounds, consisting of current age, type of offence, and parents’ marital status. Second, backgrounds of romantic/sexual relationships, consisting of ever had sex with an underage partner, ever been in a romantic relationship with an underage partner, age during sex, age of partner during sex, pornography consumption (alone), and pornography consumption (with partner). Three main scales representing three main predictors were as follow: perception of relative power (three items) that scored between 1 to 4 (a higher score indicates a higher perceived power), perception of romantic love (13 items) that scored between 0 to 8 (a higher score indicates a higher perception of romance), and aggression (12 items, consisting of four sub-dimensions) that scored between 0 to 4 (a higher score indicates a higher level of aggression). The aggression scale has four sub-dimensions, but the scale developer allows the use of total score of all items.

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