om five to five hundred thousand to one million per year and from five to thirty-five million persons who will experience a sexual encounter with an adult during childhood" (Swift, 1999, p.6). National statistics, though helpful, are unnecessary for one to grasp the vast extent of the problem. There seems to be consensus, however by practitioners, that the offender is overwhelmingly male, that he is almost always a family relative or friend of the victim and the victim's family, that actual incidents are grossly underreported and the offender behavior crosses all social, economic, and racial lines. The offenders seek specific traits in their potential victims, each taking advantage of a child's innocence based on trust and their desire to be loved. These characteristics that sexual offenders often seek in their victims are poor self-image coupled with low self esteem, a feeling that no one cares for them, a persistent need for acceptance and approval, a tendency to be loners and to isolate, being handicapped (physically, mentally, or emotionally), sexual naiveté, fear of adults and authority figures, being institutionalized ("Caretaker Abuse"), and a history of abuse of any kind (Prendergast, 1996, p.26-27). Each of these aspects completes a child whether they include negative or positive traits. The destroying of a child's innocence is a traumatic experience concluding of instances of repetitive and chronic over stimulation, alternating with emotional deprivation that is deliberately brought on by the sexual offender. The term does not define a clinical entity; it applies more to patho
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