NCJ Number
150891
Date Published
1993
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Changed public and institutional attitudes toward sex offenses, offenders, and treatment in the United Kingdom reflect less acceptance of sex crimes and more willingness to report sexual abuse.
Abstract
Widespread changes have occurred in the way police, social workers, and courts deal with sexual abuse allegations, and these changes have made the public more willing to come forward and report sexual abuse. Allegations of rape and child sexual abuse, in particular, have increased. Substantially more sex offenses are being reported to the police; the number of notifiable sex offenses was 37.4 percent higher in 1990 than in 1980. Despite the increase in reported sex offenses, the number of sex offenders found guilty of indictable offenses in Magistrate and Crown Courts remained fairly static over the 1980-1990 period. Several studies and surveys have been conducted that focus on the family backgrounds of serial rapists, the experience and training of staff who work with adult and adolescent sex offenders, sex offender treatment programs, sadistic sex offenders, the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy for sex offenders, and sexually abusive calls to telephone counseling services. The need for sufficient resources to conduct effective sex offender treatment programs is stressed. 6 references and 1 table