Nearly half of perpetrators of group child sexual abuse are children, data shows

Nearly fractional of abusers progressive successful radical intersexual exploitation of children are themselves aged betwixt 10 and 17, constabulary information has suggested.

A nationalist taskforce recovered that 48% of 4,768 perpetrators recorded successful constabulary figures successful 2023 were aged 10 to 17.

Another 430 were aged nether 10, though the property of transgression work successful the UK is 10.

Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs, who is the UK pb for kid protection, said officers are seeing “volatile” and “aggressive” behaviour.

She said: “Policing is not successful the wont of criminalising children erstwhile they are exploring things astir enactment and sexuality.

The benignant of offending that we're seeing successful this property radical is acold much important successful presumption of aggravating factors and volatility, versus kids conscionable being exploratory astir intersexual activity

Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs

“Some of the things that we are seeing present are astir entree to online accusation and radical seeing a precise antithetic grade of intersexual enactment online.

“The benignant of offending that we’re seeing successful this property radical is acold much important successful presumption of aggravating factors and volatility, versus kids conscionable being exploratory astir intersexual activity.

“The offending we’re seeing is importantly much volatile and aggravating and aggressive.”

Children tin prevarication astir their property to entree pornography online and prevention measures should beryllium strengthened to halt this, she said.

“It’s not excessively hard arsenic a kid to spell connected to antithetic sites, and besides pretending their property is importantly older than it is, and past get entree to a batch of accusation that doesn’t person immoderate safeguards astir it,” Ms Riggs added.

Richard Fewkes, manager of the National Police Chiefs’ Council kid intersexual exploitation taskforce, said what immoderate children person seen online has “normalised” harmful behaviour.

Data was gathered from 44 constabulary forces successful England and Wales.

A full of 4,228 crimes linked to radical intersexual exploitation of children were recorded.

The astir commonly recorded offence was rape of a kid (1,702 oregon 40%), past intersexual battle (1,200 oregon 28%), past intersexual enactment involving a kid (1,094 oregon 26%), with the remaining 232, oregon 6%, classed arsenic other.

Around three-quarters of victims were pistillate and astir three-quarters of perpetrators were male.