More than 227,000 cases of child abuse in England and Wales were recorded by police in the year ending March 2019, but an official study revealed Thursday the majority of cases remain hidden and don’t enter the criminal justice system.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said around one in 25, which is 4 percent, of the identified cases of child abuse offences resulted in a criminal charge or court summons. Crimes ranged from child rape or sexual offences, illegal images of children to child neglect or assault. The ONS report also showed the number of suspects referred by the police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a charging decision fell by 22 percent in the last year. “While not all cases continue through the criminal justice system, almost 4 in 5 of child abuse-flagged CPS prosecutions were successful in securing a conviction in the year ending March 2019,” the ONS said.
Almost half of child abuse offences recorded by the police do not proceed further through the criminal justice system because of evidential difficulties. This includes worries that the process would be too distressing, or a fear of being judged, or offences might have been committed by someone close to victims and they may not have wished the police to take action against them.
The ONS said this reflects the challenges involved in investigating child abuse offences. “We see similar trends in figures for sexual offences. Of course, both crimes are particularly sensitive in nature and some have occurred a long time in the past making them more challenging to investigate,” said Meghan Elkin, head of the ONS Center for Crime and Justice.