Sexual violence is one of the worst and most sensitive forms of violence a person may experience. This paper investigates sexual offenses through criminology and victimology. At the beginning of this research, explanations and definitions of sexual crimes under the Croatian Criminal Law are presented to ensure the further understanding. The main body of the paper describes the characteristics of perpetrators and victims of sexual offenses. The different types and characteristics of perpetrators are outlined, followed by the explanation of the factors that lead to this kind of violence. Due to this being a sensitive area, perpetrators are distinguished according to two factors: frequency of sexually violent crimes and whether these were towards children. As perpetrators are mostly male, female offenders are also distinguished. It is shown that most offenders commit their first offense in their youth, and for this reason the ‘adolescent’ is described in the paper as a perpetrator of sexual offenses. Furthermore, the explanation of psychological and physical characteristics of victims of sexual offenses is presented, before and after the trauma. For this reason, both adult and children victims of sexual offenses are taken into account. Moreover, it highlights and explains the problem of not reporting criminal offenses. In order to ensure better understanding of perpetrators’ and victims’ perception, the work is largely devoted to the vast literature of different authors. At the end of this research, the statistical data on crimes against sexual freedom, sexual abuse and exploitation of the child in 2018 in the Republic of Croatia are presented according to the data from the Ministry of Interior Affairs.