en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotherham_child_sexual_exploitation_scandal
1 correction found
A 2020 report by CEOP indicated that in the records of defendants prosecuted for child sexual abuse offences, Asians were actually underrepresented among the child sexual abuse offenders in the country.
This is wrongly attributed to CEOP and the date is wrong. The 'underrepresented among prosecuted defendants' figure came from CPS data obtained by Full Fact in 2017/2018, while CEOP's published studies were from 2011 and 2013 and examined suspected grooming offenders, not prosecuted child-abuse defendants nationally.
Full reasoning
This sentence combines the wrong source, the wrong date, and the wrong type of data.
According to Full Fact's write-up of the evidence:
- the figures on defendants prosecuted in child sex abuse cases came from a Freedom of Information request to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS);
- those figures showed that, among roughly 6,200 defendants in 2015/16 prosecutions, 67% were white and 4% were Asian, with ethnicity missing for 24%;
- Full Fact says this update was added in October 2018, not 2020.
By contrast, the same Full Fact article explains that CEOP's relevant published work was from 2011 and 2013, and it concerned possible offenders reported for grooming/localised exploitation, not national records of prosecuted defendants. CEOP's 2011 report looked at over 1,200 possible offenders and said the data were too inconsistent to draw national conclusions; its 2013 study looked at around 300 offenders in a narrower sample. Full Fact also notes that the NCA (which CEOP is part of) said it had not published any more recent research on gangs and grooming.
So the article is inaccurate in attributing the 'Asian offenders were underrepresented among prosecuted child-abuse defendants' point to a '2020 report by CEOP'. That point came from CPS prosecution data discussed by Full Fact, not from a 2020 CEOP report.
3 sources
- What do we know about the ethnicity of people involved in sexual offences against children? - Full Fact
We then submitted a freedom of information request to the CPS... Of the 6,200 or so defendants in these prosecutions, 67% were white, 4% were Asian... Update 22 October 2018: We've updated this article to include new information received from the CPS through a Freedom of Information request submitted by Full Fact.
- What do we know about the ethnicity of people involved in sexual offences against children? - Full Fact
In 2011 CEOP published an analysis of possible offenders... Another study by CEOP from 2013 looked at data collected from 31 police forces... The National Crime Agency (which CEOP is part of) told us that it hadn't published any research into the specific issue of gangs and grooming more recently.
- Characteristics of group-based child sexual exploitation in the community: literature review (accessible version) - GOV.UK
The CSA Centre compared the ethnicity of convicted defendants... only 8.4% of convicted defendants were from BAME backgrounds, where ethnicity was known... CEOP analysed 2,379 people referred for alleged involvement in 'localised grooming'... When ethnicity was examined for the remaining 1,217 individuals, it was found that 30% were White and 28% were Asian.