Reports of child abuse related to accusations of witchcraft are on the rise in London, with 27 allegations made to the Metropolitan Police in the past year and 148 cases since 2004. Yet the people charged…
Can the judicial process be more sensitive?
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Anyone involved in the criminal justice system will agree that one of the most challenging tasks an advocate can ever face is to prosecute or defend an individual or group accused of sexual offences. The…
One in five Australians believe violence can be excused if the offender later regrets it.
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The latest National Community Attitudes Survey on Violence against Women (NCAS), released today, shows that most measures of community understanding and attitudes on violence against women have not improved…
Scientists can be victims of sexual abuse from their peers just as in any institution.
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The life sciences have come under fire recently with a study published in PLOS ONE that investigated the level of sexual harassment and sexual assault of trainees in academic fieldwork environments. The…
Rotherham’s reputation will now precede it.
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Rotherham Metropolitan Council has released its independent report on the handling of child sexual exploitation cases in the borough between 1997 and 2013. The author of the report, Professor Alexis Jay…
Men and boys’ vulnerability to exploitation is just beginning to be understood.
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Sexual abuse of children has been in the news in recent months; the coverage of a devastating report on the abuse of at least 1,400 children in Rotherham over a number of years, in the face of official…
The recent introduction of unisex dormitories in the Norwegian army was associated with a decline in incidences of sexual assault.
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Earlier this year, Norwegian sociologists Ulla-Britt Lilleaas and Dag Ellingsen released a report on their country’s armed forces entitled The Army: The Vanguard, Rear Guard and Battlefield of Equality…
So it begins: two inquiries, both with the blessing of home secretary Theresa May, have been charged with getting to the bottom of how horrific allegations of child abuse by the elite and powerful were…
The home secretary, Theresa May, has announced a major independent inquiry into claims that for decades, accusations and evidence of child abuse were dismissed, ignored and mishandled by many of Britain’s…
Rolf Harris - he entertained for generations, but now what to think of him?
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When entertainer Rolf Harris was convicted of 12 cases of indecent assault there was first shock from his many fans in Australia and overseas, then a sense of disbelief that a man who won the hearts of…
After a lengthy trial, a jury has found entertainer and TV presenter Rolf Harris guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault. On July 4 2014, he was sentenced to a custodial sentence of five years and nine…
A cottage in Glencoe once owned by Jimmy Savile.
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The latest report on Jimmy Savile’s crimes in 28 NHS hospitals over the course of several decades have added more unspeakable allegations to the BBC DJ’s already unparalleled list of abuses. Among them…
People need to be able to talk about their urges to commit child sexual abuse.
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With the media once again full of stories of a celebrity facing accusations of committing historical child sexual abuse, it is important that we keep sight of the risks young people face today and of realistic…
Harsh immigration policy makes it hard to stop abuse of migrant children.
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Over the past few years, policy-makers, academics and practitioners have paid more and more attention to children who are trafficked into and within the UK. But while children are trafficked for various…
Is it a moral and legal imperative to give Woody Allen the ‘benefit of the doubt’ in allegations he sexually abused his then-stepdaughter?
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Last week, Woody Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow published an open letter in The New York Times accusing him of child sexual abuse. These allegations were first aired in the early 1990s in the context…
Too easy to jump to conclusions.
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These days it is heresy to suggest some teenagers may sometimes exaggerate – but when it comes to accusations of sexual abuse or misconduct, teachers who are falsely accused have little hope of salvaging…
There’s more to fighting sexual abuse than prisons.
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We are in a time when the focus on allegations of sexual abuse is intense. Accurate and comprehensive statistics on the prevalence of sexual abuse remain elusive, but the figures that do exist indicate…
Sexually abused adolescent girls with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experience better health outcomes from prolonged…
With global attention and the Indian public so invested in the Dehli rape case, the rights of the accused to a fair trial are in jeopardy.
AAP/Anindito Mukherjee
Sometimes, a matter of domestic law - a murder, a kidnapping, a rape - can be so horrifying that it is keenly felt, and keenly watched, around the world. This was the case with the gang rape of a 23-year-old…