Sexual abuse of children in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Questionnaires were circulated to 1,599 family doctors, police surgeons, paediatricians, and child psychiatrists to determine the frequency and nature of child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom. At least three per 1,000 children are currently being recognized as sexually abused sometime during their childhood. The majority of cases reported involved actual or attempted intercourse, and 74% of the perpetrators were known to the child. Family disturbance was noted in 56% of the cases. The most common outcome (43%) was criminal prosecution of the perpetrator. Area Review Committees had no clear policy for the management of sexual abuse. Before it is possible to protect children and to develop therapeutic services for the family, it will be necessary to acknowledge that sexual abuse is part of the child abuse spectrum.