When a youth sexually offends, most of the reactions and repercussions that follow are understandably negative. However, there is limited research about mixed reactions involving remorse and responsibility on the part of the adolescent who offended and their relatives. Based on qualitative interviews with 16 caregivers among 10 families in Canada, this article presents the parents’ perspectives on the various processes, benefits, challenges, and outcomes related to expressions of remorse and experiences of responsibility among youth who sexually offended, their victims, and their parents. This study sheds particular light on how adolescent perpetrators of sexual harm and especially their caregivers do feel deeply remorseful and responsible for the impacts of sexual offending behavior, which is contrary to public scrutiny that negatively projects responsibility onto youth offenders and their parents. Thus, our findings emphasize the constructive and considerate ways in which remorse is felt and responsibility is assumed; and by extension, they point to the importance of restorative practices in efforts toward reconciliation and accountability.

当一名青少年性侵犯时，随之而来的大部分反应和影响都是负面的，这是可以理解的。然而，关于冒犯青少年及其亲属的悔恨和责任的混合反应的研究有限。基于对加拿大 10 个家庭的 16 名看护者的定性访谈，本文介绍了父母对性侵犯的青少年、他们的受害者和他们的父母。这项研究特别阐明了性伤害的青少年犯罪者，尤其是他们的照顾者如何对性犯罪行为的影响感到深深的悔恨和责任，这与将责任消极地投射到青少年罪犯及其父母身上的公众监督相悖。因此，我们的研究结果强调了感到悔恨和承担责任的建设性和体贴的方式；进而，它们指出了恢复性做法在努力实现和解和追究责任方面的重要性。