This article questions the validity of the fixated/regressed classification
scheme of child sex offenders used by the Royal Commission into the New South
Wales Police Service. Since the scheme is based on incar-cerated offender
profiles, it does not accord with empirical data derived from victim report
studies, and is contradicted by a number of other studies on the sexual
behaviour of child sex offenders. The article discusses how the classification
scheme appears to have been influential in the Royal Commission's decision to
focus its inquiry into paedophilia on the activities of homosexual, fixated
offenders. As a result of this focus, the Royal Commission engaged in very
little analysis of the extent of child sexual abuse within the family and abuse
concerning female children in general. The article concludes by questioning some
of the Royal Commission's recommendations for the future policing of child
sexual abuse within New South Wales.
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