MLA Citation

11.10.14

MLA Citation

In the British town of Rotherham, child sex abuse has quite a history. There are currently 300,000 inhabitants of this town and out of those 300,000, there have been 1,400 reported cases of children being sexually abused. This is over a period of 16 years, but there has been widespread child sex abuse, and most cases started appearing in 1997. However, even outside of this town, there are hundreds of additional cases of inappropriate behavior and abuse towards children. The abuse varies from sexual to a whole other degree of evil; being doused in petrol with the threat of being set alight. There are children all over Britain who are and were previously abused by predators of all ages and community figures. Still, before the cases in Rotherham, there were over 100 cases of sexual abuse connected to widely known and respected government officials. These cases had disappeared from home offices, leading to thorough investigations on what might have happened to them and recovering the names of them. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is not yet sure on the nature of the crime. In addition to those investigations, police have arrested about 660 suspected pedophiles during a six-month covert operation to find people accessing indecent images of children online.

A lot of the cases show signs of the abused being “groomed” by their abusers. Grooming is when an offender begins to establish a friendly relationship with their victim and get close to them over a period of usually a few years. In this stage, they introduce the children to alcohol and drugs, as well as beginning sexual experiences. In most cases, the child trusts the person “grooming” them, and doesn't see them as a figure doing something wrong. The majority of the victims in Rotherham are young girls, yet there have been reports of young boys as well; but those tend to be “under-reported.” There has also been a pattern seen in the sexual abuse. It has been identified as that a plethora of the victims were white female children; and the abusers, of Asian descent.

Because of all of this going on under the Rotherham Borough Council and the Rotherham Police, certain individuals have resigned and are also trying to be driven to resignation. The council's leader, Roger Stone, had immediately resigned when an independent report commissioned by the Rotherham Council, and the unsent police and crime commissioner, Shawn Wright, is being called for resignation by The Labor Party.

Child sex abuse is absolutely disgusting and horrifying. Rather, any abuse to a child is simply mortifying. Children are innocent souls and they shouldn't be violated by grown adults. In addition, the “art” of grooming is especially mortifying as children begin to trust, and in some cases love, these perpetrators. There are millions cases of children being harassed in their daily lives, all over the world; not only in Britain. The people who do this should definitely all be caught – even though that is not likely – and rightly prosecuted. 

Resources:

"Britain Arrests 660 Suspected Paedophiles during Operation." ABC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.

"Review Fails to Find Missing Files on UK Child Sex Abuse." ABC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.

Werth, Christopher. "Reports on Child Sex Abuse Toils Britain." Los Angeles Times 1 Sept. 2014: n. pag. Print.