- 669,000 men and women had suffered ‘sexual assault or rape by penetration’ during their childhood – 56 per cent of cases perpetrated by either family, friends or known others.
- A further nine per cent suffered psychological / emotional abuse and seven per cent suffered physical abuse.
- Three out of four did not report the abuse at the time due to humiliation, embarrassment or fearing they would not be believed.
The government sought to put a positive gloss on these truly shocking figures by claiming that: “More and more perpetrators of child sexual abuse were being brought to justice”. While that may be true, it by no means represents the full picture of the pain, trauma and suffering that lie behind these bare statistics.
CCPAS works closely with both the victims and survivors of abuse and with those who abuse, most visibly through our free 24-hour helpline, but also through our training and specialist work. CCPAS has seen an unprecedented rise in individuals and organisations accessing our services. This news about the extent of childhood abuse revealed by the National Crime Survey comes as no surprise, but it should still force us to think about what this large number of people has had to endure. They may be relieved that their experiences are not, perhaps, as unusual as they may have thought (especially at the time of the abuse). At the same time, they may also feel increasingly angry about how prevalent this insipid and vile behaviour is.
These statistics also illustrate that a significant proportion of abuse (56 per cent) takes place within the family, friends and known-others network of the victims. However, while this is not a new revelation, the survey also shows that 44 per cent of (sexual) abuse occurs outside those ‘known’ circles. This is a complex area, therefore, with seemingly contradictory figures and opinions being bandied about. We must, therefore, resist the urge to pigeon-hole or label offences and offenders in simplistic terms. Just as there is no single typology of offender, there can also be no room for complacency or ignorance about the boundary-less nature of abuse in our society. It is a prevalent evil, however we seek to quantify and describe it. We must fight it through educating and informing, equipping and inspiring, empowering and influencing. In every appropriate way, let us play our part in creating safer communities for those who may be vulnerable. For more information about CCPAS, go to ccpas.co.uk or call 0845 120 4550.
Justin Humphreys is executive director (safeguarding), CCPAS
