The NSPCC’s Report on Child Abuse: A Criminal Defence Perspective
The NSPCC’s How Safe Are Your Children Report, published on 17th June 2015, provides a record of the number of children in the UK reporting abuse or neglect over 2013-2014. It was written because it is thought that only by recording these numbers can it be accurately assessed whether the current measures employed to protect children and prevent maltreatment are working.
Here we provide an overview of the Report’s findings, particularly those concerning allegations of child sexual abuse, and what they mean from a criminal defence perspective.
The Report’s Findings – A Rise in Child Sexual Offence Allegations
Although the Report finds that neglect remains the most commonly recorded offence committed against children, its main emphasis is on sexual offences. It states that police are recording an average of 85 sexual assaults on children each day after the number of reports more than tripled over 2013-2014. A total of 31,238 allegations of sexual offences against children, including rape, assault and grooming offences were made to police forces in England and Wales.
The NSPCC have said that, until now, the total had largely remained steady and the 38% rise is the biggest increase they have seen in six years. More than three-quarters of the reported abuse cases were against girls (24,457) and 5,292 were against boys. The majority of reports were made by children aged 12 to 16, although more than one in three (8,282) were younger than 11. 2,895 of those were aged five and under including 94 babies.
The NSPCC admits it is difficult to assess whether there has been an actual increase in the number of cases of child abuse or whether the increase in statistics results from a combination of:
- Greater awareness of the offences leading to more reporting;
- Increased use of the internet; and,
- More thorough police recording methods.
A Greater Awareness of Offences, But More Unfounded Allegations
The rise in awareness of child abuse offences amongst reporters is thought to be a result of the media’s coverage on wide-scale historical sexual abuse cases in recent years. The investigation Operation Yewtree uncovered the crimes of Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris, with Harris being convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse against children. Following the media storm surrounding these cases, there has been an increase in the number of reports of similar offences made to the police.
The increase in reports is thought to be linked to an increase in confidence amongst those making the allegations that they will be believed. A further similar increase may occur in future as police have revealed another 1,400 prominent men such as politicians, celebrities and those linked with institutions are being investigated over historical abuse allegations as part of Operation Hydrant. However, members of the public should not run away with the idea that that all high profile cases will result in successful prosecutions.
Indeed, the opposite was plainly seen in the recent judgment of Re: P & Q: Children: Child Care Proceedings: Fact Finding [2015] EWFC 26 (Fam). A mother and her new partner had forced the children to wrongly accuse their biological father and up to 80 others, including the children’s former head teacher, social workers, police officers and parents at the children’s former school, of sexually abusing them as part of a Satanic Cult.
The “lurid allegations of the most serious kind” included selling the children for sex to others in the Cult and shipping in babies whom the Cult would murder before drinking their blood and wearing their bones. In the High Court, Mrs Justice Pauffley exonerated the father and the others alleged to have been involved, stating that the claims were “fabricated”, “baseless” and “utter nonsense”, and those who sought to perpetuate them were “evil and/or foolish”.
Use of the Internet and Easier Access to Indecent Images
The internet has undoubtedly increased in popularity over the years and new uses for it have been devised over time. Since 1999, peer-to-peer file sharing has become a popular way for multiple users to share material as it allows users to access files using a P2P software program that searches for other connected computers on a P2P network and locates the desired content.
However, it has also been a way through which unsuspecting users have been sent files containing indecent images, including those involving children, which they have unintentionally accessed or downloaded. The increased use of the Dark Net – a private space in the internet that allows for anonymous file sharing amongst those with the expertise to access it – has led to similar problems. Some users who have not actively sought files containing indecent images have nonetheless received them. For such individuals, there are defences available. Click on these links for more information on internet-related offences including; the accessing, downloading and sharing of indecent images of children including through the use of peer-to-peer systems and the Dark net.
Police Recording Methods
It is difficult to determine whether police recording methods have improved due to the large amount of discretion the police have. It is likely that just as the media has pushed child abuse to the forefront of the public’s minds, so too has it put the police on a higher state of alert and this has affected their recording.
The Home Office Counting Rules provide police with discretion on whether to record crimes or not. Crimes are recorded against individuals if, on the balance of probabilities, a) the Police decide that the circumstances reported amounts to a crime based upon their knowledge of the law and the Counting Rules and b) there is no credible evidence to the contrary available at the time of the report being made. In relation to the balance of probabilities test, the National Crime Recording Standard states that, the “victim” or a person acting on their behalf needs only to have a belief that a crime has occurred before its recording is justified.
Inaccurate Use of the Term “Victim”
The readiness to categorise complainants as “victims” is mirrored in the NSPCC’s Report, which uses the term throughout to refer to the individuals making the allegations or the individuals on whose behalf the allegations have been made. The reality is that, just because a crime has been reported, does not mean it has actually occurred. A report is the first stage in the criminal justice process and it comes before any investigation has taken place, any witnesses have been questioned, any physical evidence has been collected and analysed, any trial has been set and any real facts have been established.
Every person accused of a crime has the right to a fair trial and is “innocent until proven guilty”. It is therefore wrong to presuppose that, at the reporting stage, the complainants are “victims” as this accompanies an inference of guilt on the part of those the allegations have been levied at. The fact is that, over the past four years, there has been a 60% increase in child sexual abuse reports to police but a 9% drop in arrests for child sex abuse, as well as falling prosecutions and convictions for child abuse offences.
This proves that not all reports are worthy of prompting an arrest or justifying prosecution and not all cases, if they reach the courts, can be proven beyond all reasonable doubt. Before such allegations are made, it should be remembered that wrongly accusing individuals of such offences can threaten their livelihood, family life, reputation, and their physical and mental wellbeing. It is therefore important that, if you have been accused of these offences, you instruct an expert criminal defence solicitor.
Contact Tuckers
If you are concerned that you may be implicated in an allegation of child abuse, contact our specialist casework team. We can handle every aspect of your defence. Our offices are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information, please contact our leading criminal defence team head Jim Meyer by emailing meyerj@tuckerssolicitors.com or calling 0797 322 6586.