Pericles,

"522 sex crimes before being apprehended? On average? That must mean that there are those who get away with it over a thousand times. Surely there aren't enough hours in the day? And what about those who get away with it completely? Isn't there a danger they will run out of boys?"

I can't vouch for the research, but I buy it. These are the references:
"British (Bentovim 1991), American (Abel, Becker, Mittelman, Cunningham-Rathner,Rouleau & Murphy 1989) and Australian researchers (Briggs et al 1994) showed that the average male child sex offender begins offending in adolescence... Abel et al (1987) researching with 561 offenders found that they had committed an average of 520 crimes against children at an average age of 31.5 years."

So they're looking at offenders who have been offending for, on average, over fifteen years.

"I don't mean to be obtuse, but as it stands this is looking like pure sensationalism."

Why do you think so? I am interested in the topic because I knew someone who was sexually abused by a trusted male (I think we're defining abuse as forced anal or oral sex) and his experience tallies with those in the report. I found it quite credible - I've certainly read before that some children fail to report abuse because, in the beginning, they enjoy it.

In what other ways did you find the report sensational?

It also helps if we finally do something about pornography.
Its a huge problem but not so big that we cant dominate it. A major criminologist (just arived from a far away world) said some years ago that there was no evidence that pornography was connected to sex crime.
If cops were to do their crime reports and were to fill in a section that showed that the sex offender had pornography in his house when it was searched, we might get a clearer picture of what the poison is doing to the minds of people. Cops know... so do governments. They dont say hardly anything because money is being made from the foul material.

Dear Vanilla,

The enormity of the problem indicates the need for wide public education and a change in attitudes.

I can't begin to imagine the impact on a child who is repeatedly assaulted by the same person they know and trust. Yet because they are so confused, scared and ashamed by this person they don't tell anyone. Sometimes the abuse continues over years and the child carries their shame alone in silence.

The silence of victims and the ignorance of adults whose role should be to protect children are the allies of sexual abusers.

Child sexual abuse should be:

1) A public health issue with a focus on education to change attitudes.

2) We should have "packaged prevention programs" such as the excellent
programs currently available in the U.S.

3) Adults should be given the knowledge about child behaviour which helps them recognise and react responsibly to possible child sexual abuse.

4) Government agencies should fully accept the fact that this abuse can be prevented by more active action. There should be further education and a mandated reporter in schools who is legally responsible to report abuse.

Thanks for your response Foxy.

What US education packages have you heard about? I thought that was one of the most interesting insights in that report. The education package that tried to talk about abuse without talking about sex appeared to have zero value. Kids need to know *specifically* what's is unacceptable, otherwise "it's normal to suck me off" (sorry to be so graphic, but thems the facts) becomes, well, normal.

The problem for the kid I knew (he's since died) is that he didn't go to school - he'd dropped out by thirteen years old. The cleverest school-based program won't protect the bottom rung. Plus, as the report points out, girls seem to respond better to education programs.

Very difficult.

Unfortunately it is to late to halt the epidemic. Even in the the Briggs report it speaks of paedophiles who 'routinely offer cigarettes, cannabis, alcohol and pornography to lower resistance,'. You have the pervert industry denying any link to child abuse and those who support the industry also in denial. The links between child abuse and priests is fair game while the link between homosexuality and child abuse is a no go zone for pc reasons. The infiltration of the porn industry into many if not most homes and our acceptance of it has opened a door that can't be shut. Without a great outcry by many people nothing has and will be done.

Dear Vanilla,

What educational US programs have I heard about?

Just to name a few:

1) Marianne James, Senior Research Officer, Australian Institute of Criminology wrote a paper entitled, "Child Abuse Prevention: a perspective on parent enhancement programs from the United States."
It appeared in "Issues in Child Abuse Prevention," No. 3, Dec. 1994.
And this should be available from the Australian Institute of Family Studies/National Child Protection Clearinghouse.

2) I believe that there's to be a Conference in San Diego, California.
The 22nd Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment - 28th January - 1st Feb. 2008. Which will include
programs from the University of Colorado, the Family Support Center in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, The Webster Avenue Family Resource Center (New York)and many others.

I hope this helps.