By Martina Prpic with Melissa Eichhorn

Children are human beings with rights and dignity. Children's rights are human rights. Owing to their fragility and vulnerability, children also require specific protection, however, which involves providing them with an environment where they are safe from any situation that could potentially expose them to abuse. Violence against children, as defined in Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, can take many forms (physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect) and can take place in different settings, such as at home, at school, in institutions, online, etc. Most child abusers are familiar to their victims. The short- and long-term consequences of abuse in terms of human, economic and social costs can be severe and extremely harmful. The extent of violence against children in the EU is difficult to assess, but current estimates give cause for great concern. The nature of the problem depends on various factors, including the personality profiles of victims and perpetrators as well as their surroundings. Certain categories of children, such as those with disabilities, those living in special institutions or those who are unaccompanied migrants, are particularly vulnerable. However, violence is avoidable and preventable. Effective policies to address this problem require a multi-sectoral approach involving different stakeholders at various levels. At international level, the United Nations and the Council of Europe have taken a number of measures to safeguard the rights of children, and more specifically to protect them from violence. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is crucial in this effort. According to its Article 19, children are entitled to protection from all forms of violence, and Member States are required to take all appropriate measures to ensure this protection. In recent years, the EU has been stepping up its measures to protect children. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, child protection has been recognised as a specific EU goal. While Member States are primarily responsible for child protection systems, the EU also plays an important role, since it is required to promote initiatives to protect children's rights. Its actions directly influence the relevant laws and policies implemented by the Member States in this area. Various parties are involved in raising awareness about violence against children, the importance of effective EU support for national child protection initiatives and the mainstreaming of child protection. Through its numerous initiatives, such as the continuously renewed EU strategy on the rights of the child and the 2024 Commission recommendation on integrated child protection systems, the EU continues to emphasise its commitment to protecting children and supporting Member States' actions and the exchange of best practice.

Brussels: EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2024. 31p.

By Michael J. Rosenfeld

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (USMSPB) surveys document a decline of more than 50 percent between 1987 and 2016 in the percentage of women working for the federal government who have been sexually harassed (narrowly or broadly defined) in the prior two years. This decline has been underappreciated due to the infrequency of USMSPB surveys and the delayed release of the USMSPB report based on the 2016 survey. The decline in workplace sexual harassment of women has taken place across all federal agencies and at all workplace gender balances. While, in 1987, there was a strong positive correlation between male predominance in the workplace and women’s report of sexual harassment, this association was greatly diminished by 2016. The formerly substantial gender divide in attitudes toward sexual harassment was also mostly diminished by 2016. By extrapolating the USMSPB surveys of federal workers to the entire U.S. workforce, I estimate that 4.8 million U.S. women were harassed at work in 2016 (using a narrow definition of harassment) and 7.6 million U.S. women were harassed at work in 1987 when the female workforce was substantially smaller. More than 700 women were sexually harassed at work in the United States in 2016 for every sexual harassment complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The observed decline in sexual harassment has implications for theories about law and social change ”

Sociological Science 11: 934-964, 2024.

By The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel

This report describes very shocking things about the lives, distress and pain of children who had horrific abuse perpetrated on them, by adults who should have cared for them and kept them safe. What is even more disturbing is that safeguarding agencies were unable to listen, hear and protect these children. This report, and the evidence on which it is based, stands as both an invitation and a challenge to government and professionals, to respect and recognise the voices and experiences of the children at the heart of this review, so that children in the future might receive the help and protection that should be their undeniable right. Forty years on from the publication of the Cleveland Report (1988), we must ask why the sexual abuse of children in the family environment provokes undoubted and profound professional unease, and in so doing, systematically silences and shuts out children from the protection and support they need. More recently the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) evidenced the countless ways in which organisations, professionals and government have too often denied and deflected attention from the realities of child sexual abuse. This was powerfully demonstrated in the courageous testimonies of adult survivors in IICSA’s Truth Project. Over the past 20 years or so, the light on the sexual abuse of children within families has gradually dimmed. We have witnessed a worrying evaporation of the skills and knowledge that professionals (leaders and practitioners) must have to work confidently and sensitively in this complex area of practice. This dilution of focus and expertise may be partly explained by the greater public and professional attention on the sexual abuse of children in institutions, by ‘famous’ people and on the sexual exploitation of children outside their home. This was undoubtedly urgently required, but it may also have drawn our eyes away from the more common experience for children, of sexual abuse in their families. Despite commonalities between different types of sexual abuse, the ‘othering’ and moral outrage that can accompany media attention on extra-familial sexual abuse has perhaps distracted attention from the more commonplace nature of familial abuse. In turning our attention away from the latter, we have undermined the confidence and capability of professionals to identify and respond to sexual abuse in families.

In over a third of the reviews, the people who harmed children (98% of whom were men) were known to pose a risk of sexual harm. The risk of harm was known (and often over many years) but ignored, denied or deflected. Therefore, it is often not a matter of professionals not knowing about the risk of abuse, but rather of a system that simply does not see, notice and comprehend this type of risk. The review highlights too that shame, fear and concern about betraying their families means that children struggle to tell others what is happening. A profound change is overdue in how professionals, in their different roles, engage with and talk to children about abuse. This involves wholesale change in training, supervision and leadership. These challenges are not about the failings of individuals or one agency to do their job. They are systemic and of a multi-agency nature. This is emphasised by the fact that in 2022/23 just 3.6% of children on child protection plans were there because of a primary concern about child sexual abuse (and tellingly this is at its lowest for a very long time). This may be because of institutionalised avoidance and disinclination to name sexual abuse as a concern, and also because safeguarding agencies are failing to notice when children are at risk of this form of harm. It may also reflect a system that too often is criminal justice led. A national strategic response, led by government, is needed. This will involve investment in better working together, not only between the trinity of safeguarding partners (local authorities, police and health) but also with schools and other education providers, with the criminal and family justice system (including probation), and with the third sector. The voices and testimonies of the children at the heart of this report make plain that we cannot turn our minds away from acknowledging the reality of sexual abuse for too many children. The child whose quote forms this review’s title reminds us of our responsibilities to notice what is happening to children. If we do not, then those perpetrating abuse will continue to wield their corrosive and abusive power in many children’s lives.

London: Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, 2024. 139p.

By Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

This publication was prepared as part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation’s (OSCE) Gender Issues Programme project “WIN for Women and Men: Strengthening Comprehensive Security through Innovating and Networking for Gender Equality”, in co-operation with the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This mapping is based on a combination of a desk review and interviews with key stakeholders in each of the five countries in Central Asia. The results of the mapping are presented first as regional trends and tendencies, followed by findings per country. Programs aimed at changing the violent behaviour of perpetrators are important elements in preventing gender-based violence and ending impunity. The aim of this document is to look into existing programs and trends and offer a set of recommendations for further engagement in Central Asia.

Vienna: OSCE, 2024. 27p.

By Cory Schnell

This study presents a new perspective on the influence of time and the reoccurrence of crime problems at micro-places. I examined 342,690 aggravated assault incidents reported to the Chicago Police Department from 2001 to 2020 using a longitudinal repeat and near-repeat research design combined with cumulative incidence graphs across different temporal windows. There are two distinct periods to observe the revictimization of violence at micro-places. There is immediate risk after an incident within a week followed by a longer period with lower risk across 2 to 4 years when crime often routinely circles back to the same locations. Future research should continue to refine understanding of cyclical patterns or the “life course” of crime at micro-places to enhance the efficacy of place-based crime prevention strategies.

Security Journal (2024) 37:1483–1508

By Aliya Saied-Tessier

Every day, judges and magistrates make decisions in family courts that have substantial bearing on children’s lives, including where a child should live, who they should spend time with and who should have parental responsibility for them. The main consideration of every decision is the welfare of the child (s.1 Children Act 1989). Yet the family justice system has been described as ‘operating in the dark’ (Curtiss 2019, 25 June)1 without the necessary data to demonstrate that professionals, and the decisions they make, actually help children involved in proceedings.

This paper sets out the significance of data within the context of the family justice system, current limitations, and opportunities and recommendations for improvement. It covers all parts of the family justice system, from children’s social care involvement to family courts, including both public and private law proceedings.

Key points

• The family justice system has been described as ‘operating in the dark’, with fundamental data problems including a fragmented system of data owners and users, and significant data gaps.

• While professionals are working to improve data and its supporting infrastructure (and there are examples of positive innovations such as data linking e.g. Administrative Data Research (ADR) UK’s Data First family court dataset), it remains the case that the family justice system lags far behind other public services in terms of data availability and quality.

• A coherent plan involving all data owners and users in the system could seek to build on data improvement work, fill data gaps, publish more aggregate data, increase safe data linking, and raise standards of data literacy and use.

• The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is best placed to oversee a data improvement plan and coordinate the rest of the system, building on the data mapping exercise undertaken by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).

London: Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. 2024. 25p.

By Terry Ng-Knight, Nandita Upadhyay and Kostas Papaioannou

The evaluation of the first three transparency pilot sites, undertaken by NatCen, was published in July. The report explores the availability and accessibility of data within the family justice system in England and Wales. The findings show there are data gaps, inconsistent data collection and limited accessibility with recommendations to develop a full data strategy for the Family Justice system.

London: The National Centre for Social Research (NatCan): 2024. 28p.

By Lisa Featherstone -  Cassandra Byrnes .· Jenny Maturi -  Kiara Minto · Renée Mickelburgh - Paige Donaghy  

This open access book examines the ways that consent operates in contemporary culture, suggesting it is a useful starting point to respectful relationships. This work, however, seeks to delve deeper, into the more complicated aspects of sexual consent. It examines the ways meaningful consent is difficult, if not impossible, in relationships that involve intimate partner violence or family violence. It considers the way vulnerable communities need access to information on consent. It highlights the difficulties of consent and reproductive rights, including the use (and abuse) of contraception and abortion. Finally, it considers the ways that young women are reshaping narratives of sexual assault and consent, as active agents both online and offline. Though this work considers victimisation, it also pays careful attention to the ways vulnerable groups take up their rights and understand and practice consent in meaningful ways.

Cham: Springer Nature, 2024. 138p.

By Heather Wolbers, Timothy Cubitt, Michael John Cahill, Matthew Ball, John Hancock, Sarah Napier and Roderic Broadhurst

This study examined 17 threads on a darknet forum for undetected online and contact child sexual offenders (CSOs) to identify key drivers and deterrents of offending and to inform intervention approaches. CSOs on the forum normalised sexual contact with children while minimising or denying the resulting harm and shifting the responsibility for offending. These cognitive drivers of offending were coupled with access to technology and close engagement with online communities supportive of child sexual abuse. Acknowledgement of the harm to children, feelings of guilt and shame, and concern about being caught by law enforcement or detected by family and friends acted as deterrents to continued offending.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 703. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2024. 16p

By Elizabeth Repko, Derrick Collins

Ridesourcing and taxi services help meet the transportation needs of many people in the U.S. Advocacy groups and other stakeholders have raised questions about the safety of these services. Sami’s Law, enacted in January 2023, provides for GAO to conduct a study on background check requirements for prospective ridesourcing and taxi drivers, and safety steps taken by ridesourcing and taxi companies. This report describes background checks of prospective ridesourcing and taxi drivers and safety features for drivers and passengers, among other objectives. GAO searched state statutes and regulations to identify states with statewide background check requirements for prospective ridesourcing and taxi drivers. GAO reviewed documents and interviewed officials from five federal agencies, six selected states, and four selected localities. GAO also interviewed representatives from five selected ridesourcing and five taxi companies. GAO selected states and localities based on their oversight of ridesourcing and taxi services, and selected ridesourcing and taxi companies to obtain variation in size and location, among other things. GAO also conducted nongeneralizable intercept surveys to examine if passengers were aware of and used selected safety features. An intercept survey is an in-person data collection method conducted in a public place (such as an airport), where a specific targeted population is asked a series of questions.

GAO-24-107093 2024. 89p.

By Samantha Bricknell, Hannah Miles

This study uses 34 years of data from the National Homicide Monitoring Program to describe the prevalence and characteristics of homicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, finding Indigenous women experienced a homicide victimisation rate up to seven times the national average.

These data complement the findings from the currently small number of studies about the homicide of Indigenous women and contribute long-term data with which to measure national targets to reduce rates of victimisation and eliminate the circumstances that initiate lethal violence.

Key findings

• Between 1 July 1989 and 30 June 2023, 476 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women were victims of homicide.

• 96% of the 473 homicide incidents involving an Indigenous woman were cleared by police.

• 97% of victims from cleared incidents were killed by someone they knew.

• 72% of Indigenous women were killed by a current or former male intimate partner, with smaller proportions killed by another family member or a friend or acquaintance (13% each).

• 92% percent of the male intimate partner offenders were also Indigenous.

• The homicide of Indigenous women mostly occurred in a private residence, although over a third took place in a community setting, specifically an open area or streetscape. This pattern differs from homicide generally, which less commonly occur in public locations.

• Around half of the homicides were immediately preceded by some form of domestic conflict or enmity.

Statistical Bulletin 46 Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2024. 17p.

By Maggie Dent

In Much of The Research and reporting on sexual abuse in schools, attention has focussed on teachers as the perpetrators. More recently, attention has turned to the rising tide of harmful sexual behaviours with students sexually harassing and abusing teachers and their fellow students. However, teacher-targeted sexual harassment is often overlooked or underinvestigated. Teacher-targeted sexual harassment has been documented sporadically for decades (Coulter, 1995; Jones, 1989; Robinson, 2000). However, a growing body of contemporary research, media reports and firsthand accounts suggest that the behaviour is intensifying, and it is mainly carried out by male students (Adams, 2021; Hiatt, 2022; Variyan and Wilkinson, 2022; Wescott & Roberts, 2023; Sparrow, 2024; Ketchell, 2024). It is difficult to ascertain the true extent of teacher-targeted sexual harassment. There is a general underreporting of incidents (NASUWT, 2019; Robinson, 2000). Studies that do explicitly explore teacher-targeted sexual harassment tend to group sexual harassment with other forms of harmful behaviour, including bullying and physical violence. This disguises the magnitude of the issue (for example, see Astor et al., 2023; Li et al., 2023; Santor et al., 2021). The Sexual Harassment of Teachers in Schools Survey was initiated to bridge this gap in the research. The idea for the survey grew out of conversations between Collective Shout Campaign Strategy Team members and author and educator Maggie Dent. These discussions were sparked by shared concerns over anecdotal accounts from teachers that suggested an intensification of sexual harassment and sexualised behaviours exhibited by students in Australian classrooms. Designed collaboratively by Maggie Dent and the Collective Shout team, the survey was distributed widely through networks, social media posts, email campaigns, and news outlets. The survey went live in November 2022, and responses were collected until the survey closed in June 2023. The purpose of the survey was to gain a general indication of the pervasiveness of sexual harassment by students, the kinds of behaviours displayed, and how sexual harassment is being dealt with by schools. The survey aimed to catalyse serious discussions on the necessary measures to address this growing problem. It was envisaged that responses might be useful in guiding schools to improve policies and processes for the prevention of and response to sexual harassment in schools. A total of 1,012 teachers responded to our survey. What they have to say is compelling. Survey respondents reinforce what has been identified in research and reported by mainstream media. Their invaluable suggestions based on their expertise and direct experience inform the recommendations we provide in this Report.   

Taylors Lakes, Victoria: Collective Shout, 2024. 56p.

By Shamus Khan, Joss Greene, Claude Ann Mellins, and Jennifer S. Hirsch

In this review, we provide an overview of the literature on sexual assault. First, we define sexual assault, noting its multiple dimensions and the consequences for operationalization—including reviewing strategies for such operationalization. Second, we outline different approaches to sexual assault, critically assessing those frameworks that rely upon a model of sociopathy; instead, we propose focusing on more sociological and ecological understandings that push beyond the single dimension of gender and the framework of gender and power. Third, we outline the range of data sources that have been used to generate insights into sexual assault. Fourth, we provide the core research findings of the field, which at times are contradictory, mapping them to our ecological model of individual, relational, organizational, and cultural levels. We then review the evidence around those interventions that have been successful in addressing sexual assault (and those that have been unsuccessful) before concluding with suggestions for further research directions.

Annual Review of Criminology, Vol. 3 (2020), pp. 139–163

By The  CSA -  Centre The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse

In 2021, the CSA Centre was commissioned by the London Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) to design and deliver a holistic package of support to improve the identification and response to child sexual abuse in three London boroughs: Barking & Dagenham, Ealing, and Hackney). The CSA Centre–LSCP programme consisted of three main strands of work, delivered virtually because of the restrictions imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic: 1. An in-depth training programme on child sexual abuse, delivered over a five-month period to train 60 social workers from the three boroughs as Child Sexual Abuse Practice Leads. 2. A one-day course on intra-familial child sexual abuse for multi-agency professionals across the three boroughs, delivered twice in each borough with a total of 256 professionals attending. 3. Individual support to help each of the boroughs improve their data collection in relation to child sexual abuse. Feedback from participants in either type of training revealed that it had increased their knowledge of child sexual abuse and their understanding of responsibilities and actions to support and protect children. In addition, most of those taking part in the Practice Leads Programme felt it had equipped them to take on their role as Child Sexual Abuse Practice Leads, although some still felt they needed more support before they would feel confident in this role. Furthermore, the vast majority of those who provided feedback after attending the one-day course on intra-familial child sexual abuse felt they would be able to apply their learning to their practice and many gave examples of how they would do this. On the whole, the support with data improvement was less effective, mainly owing to a lack of ownership of the work and difficulties maintaining contact with relevant stakeholders locally. In addition, Hackney Council was subject to a serious data breach, involving a cyber-attack on their data systems which left them unable to participate fully in this element of the programme. Nonetheless, Barking & Dagenham completed a multi-agency data audit, and used the results to explore the development of a multi-agency dataset on child sexual abuse. In Ealing, staff reported that the support had enabled them to scrutinise the data currently collected in their local authority, and had encouraged them to ask questions concerning governance; in Hackney, the CSA Centre’s data improvement tool was used to identify how child sexual abuse data collection could be improved in a new children’s services data system which is being developed. While there is little data available to evidence the overall impact of delivering this holistic package of support across the three boroughs, work is ongoing to develop the role of the Practice Leads who, in some areas, are now offering regular case consultation to support colleagues within children’s social care in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse. As a result, senior leadership have highlighted the benefits of having a group of staff who can provide expert advice on complex cases, as well as the financial savings to be made from the reduced need for external expert advice. Key learning from the CSA Centre–LSCP programme includes the importance of: • identifying lead people at different levels in the local authority to support programme set-up and implementation; to allow sufficient time for set up and planning; to consider offering a bespoke package of support; and to run a Theory of Change session with senior leads and relevant parties at the start of the programme, in order to engage their support and buy-in • considering how best to structure the delivery of the Practice Leads Programme, in terms of its delivery (e.g. online versus face-to-face) and remit (e.g. social work teams or multi-agency programme), and how to ensure that Child Sexual Abuse Practice Leads have sufficient capacity and support to fulfil their new roles once the programme has finished • offering the one-day multi-agency training course virtually, as this enables large numbers of people to attend, and looking at how the course can be rolled out to spread the learning across a broader pool of professionals • ensuring that sufficient capacity is available to support in-depth work on data recording and analysis, and that senior managers appreciate the value of having more accurate data on child sexual abuse cases. The programme has also generated learning for the CSA Centre in taking forward this kind of initiative elsewhere, and we are currently piloting a different regional approach in delivering our Practice Leads programme across nine local authorities in the Cheshire & Merseyside Social Work Teaching Partnership. We will be producing a learning report from this work, and sharing it in 2023.   

Barkingside Ilford:  The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre), 2022.   19p.

By CARLY GARCIA

As the world regains normalcy following a global pandemic, intercountry adoption has taken a hit. Intercountry adoption within the United States reached its peak in 2004, with 22,988 children placed with families. Since 2004, the United States has seen a drastic decrease in intercountry adoption rates. In 2020, only 1,622 international adoptions took place in the United States; slightly increasing in 2021, with 1,785 children adopted. There are multiple causes for the decline in adoptions. For example, origin countries, such as Russia and Guatemala, have terminated their international adoption programs with the United States. More recently, the leading cause of this decrease is the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries, including China, placed adoptions on hold as the coronavirus took over the world. In contrast, other countries such as Colombia and Bulgaria, relaxed their visitation rules to allow international adoptions to continue.

The current intercountry adoption laws and treaties protect children’s rights and prevent illicit adoption practices. The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (“Hague Convention”) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (“UNCRC”) established safeguards to ensure that intercountry adoptions occur in the “best interest of the child.” However, protection for adoptive parents and birth parents is left to the laws of the country in which they reside. For example, in the United States, the federal statute governing intercountry adoption is the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (“IAA”). Unfortunately, despite the multiple treaties and statutes implemented to prevent illicit adoption practices, fraud still occurs

California Western International Law Journal, Vol. 53, No. 2 [2023], Art. 11

By Malore Dusenbery, Josh Fording, Jennifer Yahner, Jeanette Hussemann, Robbie Dembo

Victims of crime can experience serious harms and face significant costs with long-term implications for their economic security and safety. From 2022 to 2024, the Urban Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago conducted a National Study of Victim Compensation Program Trends, Challenges, and Successes, which included evaluations of four state crime victim compensation programs. This brief presents our evaluation of New York State’s victim compensation program to understand its utilization and professionals’ and victim claimants’ perspectives on its ability to meet victims’ needs. We conclude that the New York compensation program serves a vital role helping victims address the financial burden of crime with many strengths and recent improvements. Although participants identified some gaps in coverage, the program is overall comprehensive, with no limits on medical costs and increases to property and funeral coverage. And despite challenges making changes to compensation coverage, professionals appreciate that the program has been able to evolve eligibility and benefits based on victims’ needs, which we hope they continue to do for new communities (e.g., migrants) and emerging costs (e.g., informal economy wages). The program has made great efforts to be accessible, with multiple ways to submit a newly shortened application, frequent training and outreach to victim assistance providers and other programs, and a statewide awareness campaign and needs assessment in 2023. The program also recently enacted several major changes to improve the accessibility and equity of the program, particularly eliminating the requirement to report to law enforcement and changing the policy on contributory conduct for homicide claims. Professionals in the compensation program and the community offered recommendations for improving New York’s compensation program regarding awareness and accessibility, compensation coverage, and program funding and staffing. The most common suggestion was to do more public information campaigns and advertising to increase people’s awareness of the program before they become victims. The program could also conduct training and education alongside providers and educate programs in underserved communities beyond victim assistance programs, including schools, hospitals, YMCAs, social services, and family service providers. Additional staff are needed to efficiently process claims, respond to claimant outreach, and help claimants understand the appeals process. Spanish-speaking staff in particular could help reduce the number of Latino claimants who want but do not get help. Potential solutions to increase staff recruitment and retention include increasing salaries, providing more resources on vicarious trauma, and opening up more career paths for staff who start in the compensation program. Many of these findings and recommendations align with those emerging nationally in conversations about how to improve victim compensation programs. We are grateful that programs such as New York’s remain open to evaluation and eager to understand how to continue increasing awareness and accessibility of the program across the state and within underserved communities, maximizing coverage, and improving their efficiency and effectiveness so they may best serve all victims in need.

Washington, DC: Urban Institute 2024. 24p.

By Jesse Cale, Thomas Holt, Benoit Leclerc, Sara Singh and Jacqueline Drew

This review synthesises empirical studies from the past decade investigating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) production and distribution to gain insight into crime commission processes involved in these crimes. The findings highlight overlaps in risk factors for child sexual abuse and CSAM production and distribution, and possible unique risk factors specific to the latter. A substantial amount of CSAM is produced in family contexts, and there are different motivations and strategies for producing CSAM. Taken together, the findings provide important foundational information about the variety of crime commission processes involved in CSAM production and distribution, helping the development of effective prevention and intervention strategies for this increasingly prolific type of crime.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 617. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2021. 22p.

By Marie Henshaw, Chelsea Arnold, Rajan Darjee, James RP Ogloff and Jonathan A Cloug

Recent research suggests that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offenders have distinct characteristics and intervention needs when compared to contact sexual offenders. As such, many sexual offender treatment programs may not be suitable for CSAM offenders without a history of contact offences. This paper describes the development of the CEM-COPE (Coping with Child Exploitation Material Use) Program. We discuss CSAM offender characteristics, recidivism rates and treatment considerations, before outlining the rationale, specifications and underpinnings of the CEM-COPE Program. Challenges in this research area and considerations for future research are also addressed.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 607. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2020. 14p.

By Ania Moroz and Tamar Dinisman

“Looking back now, I wouldn’t have gone to the police, because it is one of the hardest things you can ever do in your whole life. I can’t even sum up in words what it does to you mentally and physically. You can be the world’s strongest person ever in the world, but going to court can break you. It’s awful.” Victim-survivor It is estimated that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 18 men have been subjected to some form of sexual violence since the age of 16 and that 1 in 6 children have been sexually abused.1 The majority of victim-survivors will not report the offence to the police. Of those who do report it, a very low proportion will receive a charge and have their case go to court. The number of victim-survivors of sexual violence who give evidence in trial is not openly available. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data shows that in the year ending June 2023, 11,506 defendants were proceeded against for sexual offences2 and, in 2022–23, 3,004 defendants were charged with rape-related offences.3 This report focuses on the experience of sexual violence victim-survivors where the defendant has been charged and their case has gone through the court process. It focuses on the three main stages of this experience – before, during and after giving evidence – and highlights the main challenges victim-survivors face at each stage. This report also makes recommendations for changes in policy and practice to address these challenges. To meet the aims of the research, a multimethod approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, was used. These include: 12 semi-structured interviews with victim survivors; focus groups and interviews with Victim Support sexual violence practitioners; and Victim Support sexual violence cases analysis.

Cardiff: Victim Support, 2024. 63p.  

By Lina Jakob, Caroline Anderson

This summary presents findings from research that estimates that childhood maltreatment causes up to 40 percent of common mental health disorders and highlights the need to address the underlying drivers of child maltreatment. A University of Sydney study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that childhood maltreatment causes up to 40 per cent of common, life-long mental health conditions. It is the first research in Australia to estimate the proportion of mental health conditions directly caused by childhood maltreatment, independent from other influences such as genetics and social environments. 

State of New South Wales 2024.