The Home Secretary has today published a paper on the
characteristics of group-based child sexual exploitation
offending making clear that more will be done by government, law
enforcement and partners to better safeguard children and tackle
perpetrators.
The findings provide safeguarding partners with an overview of
the current evidence in relation to group-based offending.
The paper sets out the limited available evidence on the
characteristics of offenders including how they operate,
ethnicity, age, offender networks, as well as the context in
which these crimes are often committed, along with implications
for frontline responses and for policy development.
An External Reference Group, consisting of independent experts on
child sexual exploitation, reviewed and informed this work.
Members included Labour MP for Rotherham , Conservative MP for Wakefield , survivor and campaigner Sammy Woodhouse, and
, National
Police Chiefs Council lead on child protection.
Home Secretary said:
Victims and survivors of group-based child sexual exploitation
have told me how they were let down by the state in the name of
political correctness. What happened to these children remains
one of the biggest stains on our country’s conscience.
This paper demonstrates how difficult it has been to draw
conclusions about the characteristics of offenders. That is why
the government’s forthcoming Tackling Child Sexual Abuse
Strategy will commit to improving our understanding of child
sexual abuse - including around ethnicity.
This will enable us to better understand any community and
cultural factors relevant to tackling offending – helping us to
safeguard children from abuse, deliver justice for victims and
survivors, and restore the public’s confidence in the criminal
justice system’s ability to confront this issue.
Sammy Woodhouse said:
It was extremely important for me to be a part of the External
Reference Group as I was subjected to exploitation and abuse as
a child and failed by authorities. Unfortunately this is
something that is still happening today and will continue to
happen in the future.
As a country we still do not understand abuse and exploitation,
and the government is not doing enough to prevent and tackle
it, so I welcome the publication of this paper. I want
perpetrators to be held to account for their criminal activity
regardless of race or religion because unfortunately they
haven’t, and it still remains a subject that we cannot openly
discuss. No one should be exempt.
The paper summarises studies which suggest individuals
committing group-based child sexual exploitation are
predominantly, but not exclusively, male and often under the age
of 30.
Some studies have indicated an over-representation of Asian and
Black offenders. However, it is difficult to draw conclusions
about the ethnicity of offenders as existing research is limited
and data collection is poor.
The lack of robust data on ethnicity and other factors is
disappointing, however community and cultural factors are clearly
relevant to understanding and tackling offending, and an approach
to deterring, disrupting, and preventing offending tailored to
the communities in which it occurs is needed.
Therefore, a commitment to improve the collection and analysis of
data on child sexual abuse, including in relation to
characteristics of offenders such as ethnicity and other factors,
will be included in the forthcoming Tackling Child Sexual Abuse
Strategy to ensure the factors and context of offending are
understood and confronted.
Studies indicate that motivations differ between offenders, but
that a sexual interest in children is not always the predominant
motive. Financial gain and a desire for sexual gratification are
common motives, and misogyny and disregard for women and girls
may further enable the abuse.
Offenders can come from a range of social backgrounds – some have
been stable middle-class professionals, some of whom were
married, whilst others have had more chaotic lifestyles.
Materials used in the paper included published academic research,
official statistics and published work by organisations working
in the child sexual exploitation area, as well as a series of
interviews with police officers and safeguarding officers
involved in investigating this type of offending.
Insight gained from this paper will be used to improve guidance
to local agencies in identifying and disrupting this form of
offending, and work with police to tackle organised exploitation
by using improved analysis and sharing of data.
The government will soon publish the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse
Strategy, which will outline a whole system response to tackling
all forms of child sexual abuse, including group-based offending.
This paper will play an important role in the Strategy and its
implementation, informing current and future work the government
will undertake to tackle, prevent and disrupt this crime.
The full paper is available here.
