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By Simon Hackett, Helen Masson and Sarah Phillips (December 2003)
Mapping and exploring services for young people who have sexually abused others (PDF, 772KB)
The overall aim of this study was to investigate recent developments in the UK and Republic of Ireland in services for young people who have demonstrated sexually abusive behaviours, including their organisational, theoretical and policy bases, and to explore the experiences of young people and their families receiving such services.
It has been recognised that sexual abuse perpetrated by young people constitutes a significant proportion of all sexual abuse committed in the UK and Republic of Ireland (ROI). For example, the most recently available criminal statistics indicate that 17% of all cautions and convictions for sexual offences in England and Wales in the year 2001 related to young people under the age of 18 (Home Office, 2002). Nevertheless, services designed to respond to such groups of young people are in their relative infancy, with previous research highlighting the problematic nature of their piecemeal development (Masson, 1997 and 1998).
There has been little overall sense of the range of services being offered in the UK to different populations of young people with sexually abusive behaviours across both the child welfare and criminal justice systems. Whilst something of a ‘treatment’ orthodoxy has developed more broadly in the adult sex offender field (Hackett, 2000), there have been few previous concerted attempts to understand the development and current landscape of services in the adolescent field. In addition, there has been little, if any, published research into the experiences and views of young people and their families who receive such services. There is, therefore, an urgent need for research to address these gaps in the current knowledge base.
In order to meet the overall goal set out above, the current study has gathered data on the nature of service provision, policy and practice relating to young people with sexually abusive and harmful behaviours across the five nations of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (ROI). In this way, the current study has sought to form the most comprehensive review of the field undertaken, to date, in the UK and ROI.
After an initial analysis of the available literature, the following five-stage research process was used to meet the objectives of the research study:
The findings from each of these five research elements are reported within separate chapters in this overall report, together with a fuller description of the methodology used in each case.
The research has been undertaken by Simon Hackett of the University of Durham and Dr Helen Masson of the University of Huddersfield over a two year period ending in October 2003. In order to be able to meet the objectives of the research, Sarah Phillips was employed as Research Associate for the project and was based at the University of Durham. Although Simon was Principal Investigator, all three members of the research team worked closely together on all aspects of the study including preparation, the development of research tools and questionnaires, data analysis and the preparation of reports.
The project team was greatly assisted by a project advisory group made up of senior representatives from the funding bodies, experts from the field across the various nations and independent academic researchers. The project advisory group met on 3 occasions, one of these via a tele-conference. Members of the group advised on the development of the research tools and methodology and were given regular progress reports. Members of the advisory group are listed in Appendix 1.
Hackett, S., Masson, H. & Phillips, S. (2003) Mapping and exploring services for young people who have sexually abused others (PDF, 772KB) . Durham: University of Durham.
Hackett, S. (2000) Sexual abuse, diversity and the challenge of anti-oppressive practice. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 5(1): 4-20.
Home Office (2002) Criminal statistics for England and Wales 2001. London: The Stationery Office.
Masson, H. (1997/1998) Issues in relation to young sexual abusers: a survey of practitioners' views. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 3(2): 101-118.
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