The appalling extent of child abuse

Earlier this year the Office for National Statistics (‘ONS’) published its first ‘compendium’ of statistics for child abuse in England and Wales for the year ending March 2019. As it contains some truly appalling figures I thought I should take a closer look.

Better understanding

As the ONS states the statistics bring together a range of different data sources from across government and the voluntary sector “with the aim of providing a better understanding of child abuse than is possible from looking at individual data sources.” The statistics were produced by the ONS working in collaboration with the Department for Education the National Association for People Abused in Childhood the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Welsh Government.

I will set out in full the five main points:

1. The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that one in five (20.7%) adults aged 18 to 74 years experienced at least one form of child abuse whether emotional abuse physical abuse sexual abuse or witnessing domestic violence or abuse before the age of 16 years (that’s...

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