Police name ‘main perpetrators of child sexual abuse’

British police data shows that 52% of alleged offenders in England and Wales are minors – a dire situation made worse by the “availability of violent pornography”. Boys are watching violent porn on their smartphones and then attacking girls, police say.

The number of sexual crimes against children has quadrupled, British police data shows, The Guardian writes. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) report said adult offending against children was generally more serious, but highlighted that officers were particularly alarmed by the rise in sexual offenses by under-17s.

In 2022, a total of 107,000 child sex offenses were reported to police in England and Wales, ranging from rape and, in a quarter of cases, the creation and distribution of indecent images.

In its report, the NPCC said 52% of alleged sex offenders in the UK were children, up from around one third a decade ago.

British police received reports of 14,800 rapes and sexual assaults against children aged 10 to 17 where the suspect was classified as a child, the vast majority of which were boys.

Ian Critchley, NPCC director of child protection, said: “This is predominantly a gendered crime with boys committing offenses against girls. I think this is compounded by the availability of violent pornography and the ease with which violent pornography is available to boys, and therefore the perception that this is normal behavior and this person may be behaving the way they see online, the most in a cruel way towards other peers too. Clearly, the availability of smartphones has just exploded, not only for children aged 11 to 16, but also for children under 10 years of age. Affordability has really made it worse, and I think that’s a discussion that really needs to be had in our society.”

A third of attacks occur within the family, the most common environment for abuse, and eight in 10 victims knew their attacker.

Police said it is estimated that only one in six offenses are reported to law enforcement.

Critchley notes that the clearance rate – when someone is charged or given a warning – was 12% when a child is physically assaulted, and 11% for offenses involving indecent images. Clearance rates for child-on-child assaults are 15% for sexual assault and 12% for rape.

Ian Critchley points out that AI-related crimes have already been reported to the police. These include “nudification,” where clothing is digitally removed from a photo of a person—usually a woman—to create the appearance of being naked.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has announced that it is expanding the capacity and awareness of its helpline for adults to report suspected child abuse. The charity last month said it takes 14 months for an accused in a child abuse case to appear in court after being charged, putting a greater burden on victims.

Wendy Hart, deputy director of child sexual abuse at the National Crime Agency, said it is estimated that around 830,000 adults in the UK pose a risk to children. “The seriousness of the offenses has increased, as have the challenges law enforcement agencies face in dealing with them,” she added. “We are now seeing hyper-realistic images and videos of abuse generated using artificial intelligence, for example, while the introduction of end-to-end encryption by technology platforms makes it much more difficult for us to protect children.”