ABSTRACT
In this chapter I want to consider where our knowledge of sexual exploitation comes from and how this determines our understanding of who is affected. I want to explore some of the ethical considerations faced by researchers who are developing research with and on sexually exploited children and young people, questioning whether ‘ethically sound’ research is able to access the broad spectrum of young people who are most in need. Drawing on a qualitative research study of sexually exploited children and young people I look at both the scope and the limitations of undertaking research in this field. There are two main questions that are often asked when people enquire into
sexual exploitation. ‘How many sexually exploited children and young people are there in the UK?’ and ‘can you give me an example, a profile of a “typical” young person?’ These two questions are understandable. There is a desire to know the scale of the problem, to be able to say that a certain number are affected and to have a human face to a story so that the ‘general public’ understands. This gives people someone that they can connect and empathise with. While the request for data leads to questions about young people’s participation in policy debates (questions that are explored later in Chapter 7), the request for a young person’s story touches on the practical need for a sound quantitative database on sexual exploitation. This would be useful for practitioners and researchers as it would give evi-
dence for the need for developments in resources, policy and practice. However, it has not been possible to provide ‘numbers’ as we do not have a reliable quantitative database in the UK. There are many reasons for this:
Although the National Working Group has established an overarching definition of sexual exploitation, safeguarding boards may not have had the opportunity to incorporate this into their practice. They may work to different definitions of sexual exploitation, some perceiving it to be young people involved in prostitution, others seeing it singularly as a form of child sexual abuse (see Chapter 5 for the full definition). Although it includes this common definition of sexual exploitation, the
DCSF guidance (2009) does not advise that data on sexual exploitation be recorded separately by the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB). This means that the type of information available to us will vary between local authorities. Data on sexually exploited children and young people would usually be absorbed into that pertaining to children in need of protection and children with protection plans. As noted in Chapter 2, since the publication of the first government guidance on safeguarding children involved in prostitution (DH 2000), local authorities were advised to establish a subcommittee to the LSCB (then the area child protection committee), but were not required to monitor data. The redrafted guidance also advises LSCBs to establish a subcommittee on sexual exploitation but again does not set a requirement for the submission of data. Prior to the original Safeguarding Children Involved in Prostitution (SCIP)
guidance (DH 2000), sexually exploited children and young people were recorded through police data under convictions relating to prostitution. This did give us some insight, albeit a limited insight, into the numbers of young people who were visible and identified as ‘selling sex’ on the street. Data from police cautions and convictions of young people for offences relating to prostitution between 1989 and 1995 show a total of 2,380 cautions and 1,730 convictions for offences relating to prostitution of children under the age of 18 years (Aitchinson and O’Brien 1997). Information since 2000 would only be available if local safeguarding boards
maintained a database of cases of sexually exploited children and young people that they worked with. In the review of the implementation of the 2000 guidance Swann and Balding (2002) noted that 76% of the 111 area child protection committees (ACPCs) in England were aware of children involved in prostitution in their area. A targeted 50 ACPCs (now LSCBs) identified 545 girls and young women and 57 boys and young men involved in prostitution, leading them to conclude that an average of 19 girls and young women and three boys and young men would be abused through prostitution in any given local authority at any one time (Swann and Balding 2002). Harper and Scott reviewed 31 London boroughs in 2004 and found 507 cases where the sexual exploitation of under 18s was identified. Using statistical techniques to estimate the total number of young people thought to be at risk in London at any one time, they predicted an average of 32 per borough and a total of 1,002 in London altogether (Harper and Scott 2005).
