Clinical pathway for children and young people who have disclosed sexual abuse: consultation

2. Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse

It is difficult to estimate the prevalence of child sexual abuse in Scotland, for a number of reasons. Children may not disclose abuse until many years later. Patterns of recording and responding to abuse have changed over time. Studies undertaken have used varying definitions and methods, making comparisons difficult between countries and over time.

The prevalence of reported abuse is higher in self-reported surveys than in reports by health, police or social work services.

The Crime Survey for England & Wales (2016) reported that 10.5% of women and 2.6% of men had experienced any form of abuse; 3.4% of women and 0.6% of men had experience of penetrative offences.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey asks people about experiences they have had since the age of 16 so there are not comparable figures available for Scotland.

The scoping report published in 2019 by the CSA Centre of Expertise summarises the variations in prevalence data for England and Wales and suggests that some 15% of girls / young women and 5% of boys / young men experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 16, including abuse by adults and peers.

The table below shows the number of sexual offences against children recorded by Police Scotland for the years 2013-14 to 2017-18. There is an increasing trend of police recordings over the past 5 years, but the reasons for that trend cannot be identified with certainty. It is important to note that these figures cover all types of sexual offences against children under 16 years of age, including those reported years later.

Table 1: Number of Sexual offences against children recorded by the Police

The table below shows the number of people proceeded against for sexual crimes relating to children. These figures are based on the year in which the case was concluded, which differs from Table 1 as the statistics provided within table 1 count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland.

Table 2: Number of people proceeded against for sexual crimes relating to children

It is important to note:

• These figures are based only on those crimes / charges where the age of the victim is specified in the legislation
• Cases are counted in the year that the case was concluded rather than when the crime was (allegedly) committed
• Convictions / proceedings data doesn’t include any sexual crimes against children where the age of the victim was not specified in the legislation used to prosecute the offender.
• A person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim in the same proceeding, and there is the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.