Figures obtained under the Freedom of
Information Act from police forces in England by Barnardo’s show some large
percentage rises in allegations of child sexual abuse committed by children.
The BBC’s headline proclaims: “Child on
child sex offences 'may be next scandal'”. The Daily Mail trumpets - “Claims of child sex offences committed by other children
almost doubles in just four years with more than 9,000 reported in 2016”.
There is no area of public policy where a moral panic is less acceptable.
Logic and verifiable evidence are required
here, not myths, half-truths, ‘alt-facts’ and knee-jerk conclusions. The risks
of getting this issue wrong are two-fold: some children who need to be
protected will not be and, alternatively, some children will be wrongly
criminalised. Neither is an acceptable outcome.
In my view, the Barnardo’s figures need to
be treated with caution, while not being dismissed. The huge differences in the
percentage rise between different police forces is an important signal that the
figures may be more about how alleged abuse is reported and recorded than about
what is actually happening to children and young people. While some police
forces are reporting percentage rises of more than 300% over the period 2013-16
(Warwickshire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Surrey) the national rate of increase
is reported as being only 78%, suggesting that many forces may have quite low
rates of increase.
Whatever happens nobody should jump to any
quick conclusions on the basis of these figures alone. There needs to be
further investigation before any policy or practice changes are proposed. There
are some children who engage in sexually harmful behaviour, but the very last
thing we need, to adapt Stanley Cohen’s own words, is a situation in which some innocent children emerge “to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests”.
