Crime and punishment: Members of the public have an important role to play in preventing child sexual abuse and managing child sex offenders in the community, researchers said yesterday at the BA Festival of Science in Norwich.
Prof Hazel Kemshall and Jason Wood of De Montfort University have been investigating a "radically different voluntary initiative" to managing child sexual abuse. This approach sees child sexual abuse as a preventable public health issue, much like raising awareness of the dangers of smoking.
The Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland report published in 2002 indicated that as many as one in four children and adolescents in the State will experience sexual abuse before the age of 17. Unfortunately, Ireland has a low rate of convictions for child sexual abuse. Deirdre Fitzpatrick, advocacy director for the Irish One in Four organisation, confirmed that only three in 1,000 reported cases of child sexual abuse ended up in court. "In Ireland, only those convicted are placed on the sex offenders' register," she said. As a result, many individuals who may be abusing children are still living within the community.
Prof Kemshall emphasised that in the majority of cases, the perpetrator is known to the child and living within the community. Thus there is an urgent need to reconsider our views of sex offenders as monsters.
Responding to these findings, Ms Fitzpatrick said: "We would welcome a public health campaign that raised awareness of child sexual abuse and removed stereotypes of offenders." The primary goals of the public health approach are to raise awareness of child sexual abuse and empower members of the public to identify and report potentially deviant behaviour, therefore preventing sexual abuse from occurring in the first place. "This message puts the onus of responsibility for reporting abuse on adults, rather than on vulnerable children," Ms Fitzpatrick said.
In addition, community support services need to be put in place so that offenders may be successfully reintegrated into society, thus reducing the risk of reoffending.
With help, many offenders can choose to stop their behaviour. However, the more entrenched the behaviour is, the more difficult it is to change. "It is important to catch people early, to stop deviant behaviour from becoming entrenched," she warned.
Prof Kemshall said she "didn't really agree" with the introduction of a "Megan's Law" in the UK, a view echoed by the One in Four organisation. Such a law would make publicly available the names of registered sex offenders.
Prof Kemshall noted that although there was conflicting evidence concerning the introduction of the law in the US, there was a real concern that such a law would "drive offenders underground and lead to acts of aggression against offenders".
Instead, she said "the question should not be whether or not we have a Megan's Law, but rather how we can improve the management of child sex offenders so that the public have confidence".