Child sexual abuse: key child protection statistics : NSPCC inform

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Sexual abuse

Key child protection statistics (December 2007)

1% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse ¹ by a parent or carer, and a further 3% by another relative during childhood.
Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.85.
11% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse ¹ during childhood by people known but unrelated to them.
Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.86.
5% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse ¹ during childhood by an adult stranger or someone they had just met.
Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.86.
In total, 16% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse ¹ during childhood. 11% of this was contact abuse and 6% was non-contact.
Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.85.
Overall, 11% of boys aged under 16 and 21% of girls aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse ¹ during childhood.
Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.85.
The majority of children who experienced sexual abuse ¹ had more than one sexually abusive experience; only indecent exposure was likely to be a single incident.
Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.89.
Three-quarters (72%) of sexually abused children did not tell anyone about the abuse at the time. 27% told someone later. Around a third (31%) still had not told anyone about their experience(s) by early adulthood.
Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.83.
More than one third (36%) of all rapes recorded by the police are committed against children under 16 years of age.
Walker, A., Kershaw, C. and Nicholas, S. (2006) Crime in England and Wales 2005/06 (PDF). Home Office Statistical Bulletin (July 2006 / 12/06).
A study which examined police data on rapes committed against children found that children under the age of 12 were the most likely of all those aged 16 and under to have reported being raped by someone they knew well ² . Children under the age of 12 were least likely to have been raped by a stranger ³ . Children between 13 and 15 years of age were the most likely to have reported being raped by an ‘acquaintance’ ⁴ .
Harris, J. and Grace, S. (1999) A question of evidence? Investigating and prosecuting rape in the 1990s (PDF) Home Office Research Study 196. Home Office. p.7.
Latest available figures show that in 2002 in England and Wales 45% of all rapes and attempted rapes that resulted in conviction were committed against children under 16 ⁵ .
Kelly, L., Lovett, J. and Regan, L. (2005) A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases (PDF) Home Office Research Study 293. London: Home Office.
Latest available figures show that in 2002 in England and Wales 1,288 individuals were prosecuted for the rape or attempted rape of a child under 16. 292 (23% of those prosecuted) received a conviction.
Kelly, L., Lovett, J. and Regan, L. (2005) A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases (PDF) Home Office Research Study 293. London: Home Office. p.26.
For the children who experienced sexual abuse in the family, the most common perpetrator was a brother or stepbrother:
- 38% of penetrative/oral acts of sexual abuse in the family were by a brother/stepbrother
- 23% were perpetrated by a father
- 14% were perpetrated by an uncle
- 13% were perpetrated by a stepfather
- 8% were perpetrated by a cousin
- 6% were perpetrated by a grandfather
- 4% were perpetrated by a mother ⁶ .
  
  For other forms of sexual abuse (attempted penetrative/oral acts, touching, voyeurism/pornography and exposure) brothers were also the most frequently cited perpetrator.
  
  Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.80.

For the children who experienced sexual abuse outside of the family, the most common perpetrator was a boyfriend or girlfriend.
- 70% of penetrative/oral acts of sexual abuse outside of the family were by a boyfriend/girlfriend
- 17% were perpetrated by 'someone I recently met' ⁷
- 10% were perpetrated by a fellow student/pupil
- 6% were perpetrated by a friend of their parents
- 6% were perpetrated by a friend of their brother/sister.
  
  Very few children (less than 1%) experienced abuse by professionals in a position of trust, for example a teacher, religious leader or care/social worker.
  
  Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.81.

Sexual abuse - calls to ChildLine during 2007/2008

From: NSPCC press release 09 February 2009 - Children counselled for sexual abuse by ChildLine reaches new high .

ChildLine counselled more children for sexual abuse last year than at any other time in its 22 year history. They included 465 children aged seven or under and nearly 6000 of these calls related to rape.
In 2007/08 13,237 children were counselled for sexual abuse by ChildLine, the 24 hour confidential helpline for children and young people. This is up from 8,637 in 2004/05 - a 53 per cent increase over three years. During the same three year period, the overall number of children counselled also rose but by only 26 per cent.
The increase meant that ChildLine counselled on average one child aged seven and under a day for sexual abuse during 2007/08. Most children counselled for sexual abuse - 61 per cent (6,681) - were aged twelve to fifteen years.
Of the 13,237 children counselled for sexual abuse by ChildLine in 2007/08 the vast majority were abused by someone they knew:
- 59% said they had been sexually abused by a family member
- 29% said they had been sexually abused by someone else known to them
- 4% said they had been sexually abused by a stranger
- 8457 were girls (64%)
- 4780 were boys (36%)
Of the 13,237 children and young people aged 18yrs and under who called ChildLine about sexual abuse in 2007/08 (please note that some children counselled were recorded under more than one category):
- for 3,249 (33 per cent) the abuse was categorised as sexual touching
- for 649 (7 per cent) the abuse was categorised as sexual harassment
- for 522 (5 per cent) the abuse was categorised as indecency
- for 156 (2 per cent) the abuse was categorised as organised abuse
- for 5925 (60 per cent) the abuse was categorised as rape
- for 244 (2.5 per cent) the abuse was categorised as incest
- for 3,442 (26 per cent) of calls no specific data was available.

Sexual abuse - calls to ChildLine during 2005/2006

From:Childline (2005/2006) – unpublished data

9,279 children calling ChildLine in 2005/2006 gave sexual abuse as their main problem (of which 6,763 were girls and 2,516 were boys i.e. 3 girls to every 1 boy). 2,716 children gave sexual abuse as an additional problem (of which 2,295 were girls and 421 were boys). Therefore in 2005/2006 a total of 11,995 children calling ChildLine spoke about sexual abuse in their call. This was 8% of all callers to ChildLine.
Of children who called ChildLine about sexual abuse in 2005/2006 ⁸ :
- 4,997 (54%) said that someone in their family was responsible for the abuse
- 2,941 (32%) said that the person responsible for the abuse was known to them but was not someone in their family
- 525 (6%) said that the person responsible for the abuse was a stranger
- 816 (9%) did not disclose who was responsible for the abuse or said that they did not know who was responsible.
Of those children who called ChildLine about sexual abuse ⁸ :
- for 2,012 (29%) the abuse was categorised as sexual touching
- for 584 (9%) the abuse was categorised as sexual harasssment
- for 266 (4%) the abuse was categorised as indecency
- for 125 (2%) the abuse was categorised as organised abuse
- for 4,297 (63%) the abuse was categorised as rape
- for 2,436 (26%) of calls no data is available.
25% of children counselled by ChildLine about sexual abuse in 2005/2006 went on to talk about family relationship problems. 12% went on to talk about physical abuse. 10% of girls counselled about sexual abuse went on to talk about pregnancy. 41% mentioned no additional concerns ⁸ .
The ages of children calling ChildLine where sexual abuse was given as a main problem during 2005/2006 were as follows ⁸ :
- age unknown
  16% (1,447)
- 5-11 years
  17% (1,344)
- 12-15 years
  64% (4,982)
- 16-18 years
  19% (1,506).
In total, 69 referrals were made about children who called ChildLine about sexual abuse during 2005/2006. This was 6% of all referrals made during this period. Of these referrals, 35 were made to social services, 27 were made to the police and 7 were made to other agencies.
19% of children who called ChildLine about sexual abuse in 2005/2006 had not spoken to anyone about it before calling ChildLine.
Of children who called ChildLine about sexual abuse in 2005/2006 ⁹ :
- 10% said that the abuse had started recently
- 21% said that the abuse had taken place for less than a week before they called ChildLine
- 14% said that the abuse had been happening for between a week and a month before they called ChildLine
- 24% said that the abuse had been happening for between one month and one year before they called ChildLine
- 12% said that the abuse had been happening for between one year and five years before they called ChildLine
- 6% said that the abuse had been happening for over 5 years before they called ChildLine.
Of the children who rang ChildLine in 2005/2006 who reported being sexually abused by their fathers, in 9% of cases the abuse had been happening for a week or less.

Footnotes

1. The study defined sexual abuse as acts against the respondent’s wishes when aged under 16, or acts perpetrated by someone 5 or more years older when the child was aged 12 or under. Sexual acts were categorised as ‘contact’ (physical contact with genital, anal or other normally private areas of the body; and other physical contact such as sexual hugging and kissing) and ‘non-contact’ (exposure of genitals or other private areas of the body, voyeurism, exposing children to, or using them to make, pornography or to watch sexual acts). The study only included acts experienced by children aged up to 16.

2. ‘Someone they knew well’ typically refers to a friend or family member.

3. ‘Stranger’ cases comprise those where the suspect had had no contact with the victim prior to the attack.

4. ‘Acquaintance’ cases were those where the victim and suspect were casually known to one another, e.g. the victim had accepted a lift from the suspect, or they had met at a party.

5. These percentages are calculated from data in Table 3.2 of A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases. Home Office Research Study 293, p.26.

6. Please note the number of children who were sexually abused by a family member was very small, so these percentages should be used with caution.

7. Cawson et al. (2000) note that in many instances these perpetrators would have been age peers met socially.

8. Percentages apply to those records where this information was given.

9. At the point that these children called ChildLine the abuse was still ongoing.

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