The Sentencing Council began consultation on proposed guidance for courts on sexual offences, designed to give more focus to the impact on victims. It said that, as well as physical harm, the psychological and longer-term effects on the victim should be more fully reflected.
Source: Sexual Offences Guideline: Consultation, Sentencing Council
Links: Consultation document | Sentencing Council press release | Victim Support press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Dec
A study examined the effectiveness of different interventions designed to support women who wanted to leave prostitution. The vast majority of those who wanted to leave prostitution were able to do so relatively quickly when they received appropriate support. Having a criminal conviction was identified as a major barrier to exiting: 49 per cent of the women surveyed had criminal convictions for prostitution-related offences. Violence from buyers was frequently reported as a motivating factor for women to exit from prostitution: 61 per cent of women in the sample reported experiences of violence from buyers of sexual services.
Source: Julie Bindel, Laura Brown, Helen Easton, Roger Matthews, and Lisa Reynolds, Breaking Down the Barriers: A study of how women exit prostitution, Eaves/London South Bank University
Links: Report | Eaves press release | AVA press release
Date: 2012-Dec
A report by the children's watchdog for England examined the scale, scope, and prevalence of child sexual exploitation in gangs and groups. Over 2,400 children and young people were confirmed victims of child sexual exploitation in the 14 months to October 2011; and between April 2010 and March 2011 there were 16,500 children who were at high risk of child sexual exploitation. Young people described experiences of rape and violence of a relentless nature, often lasting years. Many suffered long-term physical, psychological, and emotional harm as a result of their experiences.
Source: Sue Berelowitz, Carlene Firmin, Gareth Edwards, and Sandra Gulyurtlu, 'I Thought I Was the Only One. The Only One in the World': The Office of the Children s Commissioner's Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation In Gangs and Groups – Interim Report, Office of the Children's Commissioner
Links: Report | OCC press release | ACPO press release | ADCS press release | Barnardos press release | Childrens Society press release | ENGAGE press release | EVAW press release | Family Lives press release | Labour Party press release | LGA press release | NWG press release | YoungMinds press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined the research evidence on the links between going missing and child sexual exploitation. Repeated missing incidents, however long in duration, indicated a high level of vulnerability to child sexual exploitation.
Source: Nicola Sharp, Still Hidden? Going missing as an indicator of child sexual exploitation, Missing People
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Nov
Researchers examined the scale and nature of child sexual exploitation in Scotland, including a review of United Kingdom literature.
Source: Isabelle Brodie and Jenny Pearce, Exploring the Scale and Nature of Child Sexual Exploitation in Scotland, Scottish Government
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Oct
An article examined the escalating shift in power from the centre to 'community' with specific regard to the local governance of street sex work. It considered what localism might mean for street sex workers as both vulnerable members of the community and also anti-social subjects. Street sex workers were susceptible to marginalization and social exclusion. To counter this, there needed to be greater attention to, and investment in, improving community cohesion and democracy for everyone within the localist agenda.
Source: Tracey Sagar and Jodie Croxall, 'New localism: implications for the governance of street sex work in England and Wales', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined whether low-risk sexual offenders needed treatment, and of what type and magnitude. It concluded that low-risk sexual offenders probably needed no more than 100 hours of offence-focused treatment given their very low reconviction rates. Low-risk sexual offenders should be kept separate from higher-risk offenders, and treatment should not interfere with other activities that would enable a non-offending lifestyle.
Source: Helen Wakeling, Ruth Mann, and Adam Carter, 'Do low-risk sexual offenders need treatment?', Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 51 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Aug
A study examined the impact of mandatory polygraph ('lie detector') testing for adult sexual offenders. The findings indicated that mandatory polygraph testing could be an effective tool in the management of adult sexual offenders and might help to elicit more clinically significant disclosures.
Source: Theresa Gannon, Jane Wood, Afroditi Pina, Eduardo Vasquez, and Iain Fraser, The Evaluation of the Mandatory Polygraph Pilot, Research Report 14/12, Ministry of Justice
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jul
A report said that new strategies were needed to protect young women and girls from exploitative sexual relationships (including prostitution). Many sexually exploited girls committed crime in order to try and escape the men who exploited them or as a cry for help.
Source: Jo Phoenix, Out of Place: The policing and criminalisation of sexually exploited girls and young women, Howard League for Penal Reform
Links: HLPR press release
Date: 2012-Jul
A report outlined the elements of an effective local response to child sexual exploitation. It suggested how local authorities and other stakeholders could tackle abuse, and the advantages of partnership working and information sharing. It said that children's care homes were particularly attractive to abusers.
Source: Caroline Paskell, Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation: Helping local authorities to develop effective responses, Barnardo's
Links: Report | Barnardos press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jun
A new book examined the growth of work with sex offenders, in particular child sex offenders. It questioned assumptions about the range and types of such offenders, and what effective responses to these might be.
Source: Jo Brayford, Francis Cowe, and John Deering (eds.), Sex Offenders: Punish, Help, Change or Control? Theory, policy and practice explored, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the use of restorative justice in cases of sexual violence. It considered the results of an exploratory study of a restorative justice conference involving an adult survivor of child rape and other sexual abuse. The results, although necessarily tentative, provided good ground to consider afresh the possibilities of restorative justice in cases of sexual violence. For those victim-survivors who wished to pursue this option, restorative justice might offer the potential to secure some measure of justice.
Source: Clare McGlynn, Nicole Westmarland, and Nikki Godden, '"I just wanted him to hear me": sexual violence and the possibilities of restorative justice', Journal of Law and Society, Volume 39 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A report presented the findings of interviews with adults who had sexually abused children or young people while working in organizational positions of trust. It identified individual and organizational factors that had facilitated the abuse, and presented practice and policy recommendations to improve prevention.
Source: Marcus Erooga, Debra Allnock, and Paula Telford, Towards Safer Organisations II: Using the perspectives of convicted sex offenders to inform organisational safeguarding of children, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Links: Report
Date: 2012-May
A new book examined online child sexual abuse, and the relationships between online grooming behaviours, risk assessment, police practices, and the actual danger of subsequent abuse in the physical world.
Source: Elena Martellozzo, Online Child Sexual Abuse: Grooming, policing and child protection in a multi-media world, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Mar
A Labour Party commission published an interim report on women's safety. It called on the coalition government to conduct an urgent audit of the services available to women victims of violence, in order to identify any deterioration in services and any gaps in provision.
Source: Commission on Women s Safety, Everywoman Safe Everywhere: First interim report, Labour Party
Links: Report | Labour Party press release
Date: 2012-Mar
The coalition government published an updated action plan on the issue of violence against women and girls. At the same time it announced that two new specific criminal offences of 'stalking' would be introduced in England and Wales.
Source: Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls: Taking Action – The next chapter, Home Office
Links: Action plan | Hansard | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | Labour Party press release
Date: 2012-Mar
A study for an official advisory body examined victim/survivor and public attitudes to sentencing for sexual offences.
Source: Carol McNaughton Nicholls, Martin Mitchell, Ian Simpson, Stephen Webster, and Marianne Hester, Attitudes to Sentencing Sexual Offences, Sentencing Council
Links: Report | NatCen press release | Rape Crisis press release | Womensgrid report
Date: 2012-Mar
A report examined the transition from prison for those with a conviction for a sexual offence. It considered three resettlement issues – housing, employment, and community reintegration – and explored the dilemmas that arose for the professionals involved.
Source: Helen Mills and Roger Grimshaw, A Life Sentence Really? The resettlement of ex-prisoners with a conviction for a sexual offence and the role of a housing support charity in this process, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (King's College London)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Mar
A report by an all-party group of MPs and peers said that a new law was needed to make 'stalking' a specific criminal offence in England and Wales.
Source: Independent Parliamentary Inquiry into Stalking Law Reform: Main Findings and Recommendations, Justice Unions Parliamentary Group
Links: Report | Labour Party press release | Napo press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Feb
A joint inspectorate report said that the criminal justice system had made progress in recent years in relation to the needs of rape victims: but improvements needed to be made to the way in which the police gathered and analyzed intelligence material to identify perpetrators of rape, and more could be done to ensure that prosecutions were robust.
Source: Forging the Links: Rape investigation and prosecution, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate/HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
Links: Report | HMIC/HMCPSI press release | ACPO press release | Rape Crisis press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Feb