ANÁLISIS DE SENTENCIAS DE DELITOS CONTRA LA LIBERTAD SEXUAL CON AGRESORES MÚLTIPLES / [JUDICIAL SENTENCES ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL OFFENCES WITH MULTIPLE OFFENDERS]

Sexual assault has serious consequences for victims, especially those committed by multiple aggressors. In this paper, we carried out an archive study of criminal sentences, examining the criminological characteristics of the so-calling “herds” or groups of sexual aggressors. To this end, we analyse the content of a total of 54 criminal sentences that include 128 multiple male offenders prosecuted and whose victims are adult female. Among the results, some peculiarities of these illicit activities stand out, like the primacy of small groups (up to three sexual offenders), who committed significantly more crimes of aggression than abuse, mainly at night, with high use of strength, as well as the deception of the victim as the predominant commission modality, and mostly without a weapon or planning. Furthermore, there are characteristics that distinguish it from sexual violence in the case of a single aggressor, such as high conviction rate, the transfer of the victim and the use of vulnerability factors on the victim. The limitations of the study are discussed and some implications are raised for the design of policies for the prevention of sexual violence.