Reported sexual offences against children rise to 86 a day

The number of sexual offences against children recorded by the police has increased by more than a third over the last year to 86 per day, reports The Guardian. The figures were gleaned from Freedom of Information requests made to all 43 police forces in England and Wales by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

More than three quarters of the reported cases were against girls, and most victims were between 12 and 16 years old. More than a quarter were under the age of 11.

Jon Brown, Senior Policy Officer at the NSPCC, said it was unclear whether the increase was due to an actual rise in abuse or increased confidence in reporting it in the wake of widespread acknowledgement of the scale of abuse by Jimmy savile and other high profile figures.   

Simon Bailey, Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary and the national police lead on child abuse, said that these figures are only the tip of the iceberg since they only show abuse that is reported to the police.

Last year our Research Associate Helen Mills wrote an aticle about generationFIVE, an initiative to end child abuse in five generations, which you can read here.