ABSTRACT

The precise number of paedophile sex offenders in the UK is not known (National Criminal Intelligence Service 2003). In 2004, there were 24,572 registered sex offenders in England and Wales – an increase of 12 per cent from the previous year. This means that there are 46 registered sex offenders for every 100,000 of the population (The Daily Telegraph 2004). Many of these had offended against adults and not children. Furthermore, the register only dates back to 1997. Given that the minimum period of registration is five years (and can be indefinite), the register is likely to accumulate numbers. However, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2004), there are 230,000 people in the United Kingdom involved in paedophile activity. The basis of this estimate is unclear, given that it is also claimed that only 3,400 paedophiles were serving sentences in 2004, with a further 18,000 registered under the Sex Offenders Act 1997. The number of victims is equally uncertain. Between 1980 and 2001 about 70,000 crimes of gross indecency with a child and unlawful sexual intercourse with a female child were reported (National Crime Intelligence Service 2003). If these were all carried out by different offenders then this amounts to 3,500 offenders or so a year. The extent to which this represents the tip of the iceberg is also hard to quantify. Of course, adults are known to report sexual victimization as a child at relatively high frequencies – a figure of 20 per cent or greater would not be particularly unusual for samples of women (Howitt 1992a). The figures vary enormously according to methodologies employed. Furthermore, definitions of abuse used in some studies may refer to behaviours which are not necessarily crimes under the law.