Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Restaurants get off to a quick start thanks to game-changing policies
High service charges on event ticket refunds call for further regulation
Sunday
- Subscribe
Related News
UK data show child abuse is widespread
Source: Agencies |
January 20, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE recorded 50 child sex offences in England and Wales every day last year, meaning children were victims of sex crimes on more than 20,000 occasions, according to research by a charity.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said the figures showed that in nearly one in four cases victims were under 10 and more than 800 incidents involved children aged 4 and under.
The NSPCC's director of public policy Phillip Noyes said the statistic painted a grim picture but warned they were only a snapshot and that many cases of abuse never came to light.
"These shocking figures reveal just how young many of the reported victims of sex abuse are, with even 1-year-olds being at risk, although the highest numbers of offences were against children in their early teens," he said.
"Clearly, very young children who are sexually abused can't speak out and it's currently very difficult to get a clear understanding of how many child sex-abuse victims there are."
The 2008 figures, obtained from 42 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales using the Freedom of Information Act, showed there were 20,758 cases where victims of sex crimes such as rape and gross indecency were recorded as being under 18.
Victims were 10 and younger in 4,984 offences and in 163 incidents, they were aged just 1 or 2. The number of offences involving girls was six times higher than those recorded against boys.
The NSPCC said the government needed to change the way it collected and published official data saying the Home Office mixed adult and children's statistics and so failed to give a clear picture of the extent of the abuse.
"If we are able to get these details every year it will start to build a more accurate picture of what is happening and we can make more concerted efforts to protect children," Noyes said.
The British Home Office said it was committed to bringing more sex offenders to justice and had spent 11.25 million pounds (US$16.29 million) in the past five years on support services for child and adult victims.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said the figures showed that in nearly one in four cases victims were under 10 and more than 800 incidents involved children aged 4 and under.
The NSPCC's director of public policy Phillip Noyes said the statistic painted a grim picture but warned they were only a snapshot and that many cases of abuse never came to light.
"These shocking figures reveal just how young many of the reported victims of sex abuse are, with even 1-year-olds being at risk, although the highest numbers of offences were against children in their early teens," he said.
"Clearly, very young children who are sexually abused can't speak out and it's currently very difficult to get a clear understanding of how many child sex-abuse victims there are."
The 2008 figures, obtained from 42 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales using the Freedom of Information Act, showed there were 20,758 cases where victims of sex crimes such as rape and gross indecency were recorded as being under 18.
Victims were 10 and younger in 4,984 offences and in 163 incidents, they were aged just 1 or 2. The number of offences involving girls was six times higher than those recorded against boys.
The NSPCC said the government needed to change the way it collected and published official data saying the Home Office mixed adult and children's statistics and so failed to give a clear picture of the extent of the abuse.
"If we are able to get these details every year it will start to build a more accurate picture of what is happening and we can make more concerted efforts to protect children," Noyes said.
The British Home Office said it was committed to bringing more sex offenders to justice and had spent 11.25 million pounds (US$16.29 million) in the past five years on support services for child and adult victims.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
