Sexual offenders sometimes disclose information about other offenders, but this is not routine and usually happens only under specific pressures or incentives. Most prioritize secrecy, self‑protection, and loyalty to co‑offenders, so spontaneous reporting of peers is uncommon outside structured supervision, treatment, or investigative contexts.[crimejusticejournal +3]
What “disclosure” usually refers to
When looking at research, disclosure is usually about offenders revealing:
• Previously unknown victims and offenses (their own), especially under polygraph‑assisted interviews or intensive supervision.[soc-cj.iastate +1]
• Deviant interests, paraphilias, and offense patterns used to tailor treatment and risk management.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih +1]
In one federal sample, 69% of sexual offenders disclosed additional sexual contact victims not on their official record when asked in a structured setting, especially when polygraph was used.[journals.plos +1]
Do they name co‑offenders or other predators?
Sex offenders can and do sometimes disclose:
• Co‑offenders in multi‑offender or networked abuse (e.g., live‑streamed child abuse involving facilitators and multiple adults).[aic +1]
• Other abusers within family or community abuse systems, especially when interviewed in depth or in treatment groups where norms support full disclosure.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih +1]
However:
• Prison ethnography and discourse studies indicate strong secrecy norms among incarcerated sex offenders, partly to manage stigma and perceived threats from other prisoners; this secrecy extends to limiting what is said about others.[crimejusticejournal]
• Cooperation or “naming names” is more likely when there are clear incentives (reduced charges, plea agreements, safety, or therapeutic expectations) and when authorities use tools like polygraph that increase perceived detection risk.[uscourts +1]
Factors that increase disclosure about others
Situations where an offender is more likely to disclose other offenders include:
• Structured community supervision with collaborative teams (probation, treatment providers, victim services) that actively probe associations, networks, and risky contacts.[uscourts]
• Specialized investigations into organized or online exploitation (e.g., child abuse material rings, facilitators of live‑streaming), where digital evidence already points to others and disclosure is a bargaining chip.[unodc +1]
• Intensive treatment programs where accountability and full sexual history disclosure (sometimes polygraph‑verified) are explicit expectations.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih +1]
Overall pattern
• Most sex offenders do not voluntarily report other predators in the absence of external pressure, due to self‑interest, fear of retaliation, and shared secrecy norms.[crimejusticejournal +1]
• When pressure is high (investigation, plea bargaining, polygraph, structured treatment), many will disclose more fully, sometimes including details that implicate other offenders or facilitators in their networks.[soc-cj.iastate +2]
If you need this narrowed to a particular context (incarcerated vs community supervision, online vs contact offenders, or child vs adult victims), that can be broken down more specifically.