Co-offender dynamics and relational distance: Predicting arrest in child physical and sexual abuse incidents

This study examines how co-offender dynamics and relational distance affect arrest outcomes among known child abuse incidents. Using 2018 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data, logistic regression models estimated the independent and joint effects of co-offending and parental relationships to victims on the odds of arrest following reported physical and sexual violence against children, controlling for relevant incident characteristics. Co-offending, relative to solo offending, increases the odds of arrest for sexual abuse but lowers these odds for physical abuse. Furthermore, the involvement of a parent perpetrator independently increases the odds of arrest in physical abuse incidents but does not significantly impact arrest in sexual abuse incidents. For both types of abuse, victim-offender relationships do not moderate the relationship between co-offending and arrest. The findings suggest that co-offenders with presumably close ties to each other and their victims (i.e., perpetrators of dual-parent child abuse) do not significantly differ from other offenders in terms of arrest.