Child Sexual Abuse

Most analysis of the public policy crisis of CSA focusses on perpetrators, the detection of their actions and the prevention of further criminality. This book goes beyond this to examine the contexts which lay beyond perpetrator motives and action.

Autorentext

David Pilgrim has spent his career divided between working as a clinical psychologist in the British NHS and researching mental health policy. Now semi-retired, he is Honorary Professor of Health and Social Policy at the University of Liverpool and Visiting Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southampton, UK.

Klappentext

Child sexual abuse is a major public policy challenge. Many child protection measures were beginning to reduce its occurrence. However, that progress was impeded by online grooming, the downloading of indecent images of children and even their abuse online in real time. This now places major demands on national and international policing. The book brings together groundbreaking case studies from a wide range of settings. As well as family members and those near the home, offenders can also be found in religious, sporting and childcare settings.

This extensive picture is drawn deliberately in order to highlight a split in the academic analysis of child sexual abuse. The mainstream or orthodox view, defended by the author, is that child sexual abuse is an under-reported crime. However, a minority view, presented but criticised, is that it is a moral panic created by public hysteria, child protection experts and campaigning politicians. By the end of the book, this division of academic opinion and its implications for public policy are explored in detail.

The book is essential reading for anyone interested in preventing child sexual abuse and the dilemmas of responding to both victims and perpetrators. It will be of particular use to practitioners in social work, the police and in the mental health professions.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1. Sleazy politicians and celebrities; Chapter 2. Conspiracies and conspiracy theories; Chapter 3. There's no place like home?; Chapter 4. The religious betrayal of children; Chapter 5. The Trojan Horse: working with children; Chapter 6. Street life and the sexual exploitation of children; Chapter 7. Lessons from down under; Chapter 8. Is child sexual abuse a moral panic?; Chapter 9. Political defenders of 'intergenerational sex'; Chapter 10. Protecting children from sexual victimisation; Index