The next most important place of offense is the out-of-doors, either rural or urban. By outdoors we mean that the sex offense was committed by a pedestrian in the open air without the aid of a vehicle. If urban, it would be in a place such as a public street, an alley, park, or yard. If it is in a rural setting, it might well take place along a country road, in a field, orchard, woods, or farmhouse yard. Outside locations vary widely in kind, but have in common a degree of public accessibility and sometimes a high element of privacy. These locations loom largest in the peeping and exhibition offenses, with almost 95 per cent of the peeping and 57 per cent of the exhibition cases occurring outside. The force offenses are also high in this respect, those against the minors being the most frequent (43 per cent) and those against adult females next (38 per cent). The offenses against female children take place in the open in about a fourth of the cases. Homosexual offenses occurred outside in about a fifth to a fourth of the cases, with little difference being shown in the three age groupings. The heterosexual-nonforce offenses against children were about the same (23 per cent), but they tapered off to less than half of that in the offenses involving minor and adult female partners. Obviously, younger children are more likely to be found playing in streets, yards, and parks than are older girls. The outside location was a negligible factor in the incest groups.
More of the outdoor offenses were urban than rural in location. This is undoubtedly in part an artifact of the sample selection, but it also reflects the less likelihood of walkers roaming far from their home bases. This is especially marked in the categories of heterosexual offenses against children and the aggression offenses against adults. Here the urban-rural ratio turns out to be more than 2 to 1.
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