Abstract
Child-on-child sexual abuse in South Africa has been recognised only recently as a significant social problem, reflected in the dearth of research on the topic. There is also a lack of evidence in South Africa on the extent of abuse and issues that relate to youth sex offending (Ehlers & Wood, 2001; Mbambo, 2002). It is difficult to establish the extent of either child-on-child or child-on-adult sex offending in South Africa, because not all of these cases are reported or recorded (Stout, 2003). It is estimated, however, that 42% of sexual offences reported to Childline, a national help-line providing crisis intervention services, are committed by other children (Vanzant, 2004) and the latest statistics available from the Department of Correctional Services (2007) show that on 31 January 2007 a total of 288 children were in prison for crimes of a sexual nature. It was reported in the Pretoria News that in South Africa a daily average of 82 children were charged for indecently assaulting or raping other children (Maughan, 2006:1). There is also a dearth of empirical international research and literature on the origins of child-on-child sexual abuse (Lightfoot & Evans, 2000).
Highlights
Child-on-child sexual abuse in South Africa has been recognised only recently as a significant social problem, reflected in the dearth of research on the topic
Prevalence statistics may underestimate the scale of the problem, the phenomenon of child sexual abuse was increasingly identified as a widespread international problem in the early 1990s (Finkelhor, 1994; Mayes, Currie, Macleod, Gillies & Warden, 1992)
Since so little data were available, international researchers were motivated to embark upon more rigorous investigations (Hoghughi, Bhate & Graham, 1997) and concluded that, most of these studies relied on limited samples, it was clear that “sexual abuse of children by other children or adolescents constitutes a significant proportion of sexual offending against children” (Grant, Indermaur, Thornton & Stevens, 2009:1)
Summary
Child-on-child sexual abuse in South Africa has been recognised only recently as a significant social problem, reflected in the dearth of research on the topic. It is difficult to establish the extent of either child-on-child or child-on-adult sex offending in South Africa, because not all of these cases are reported or recorded (Stout, 2003) It is estimated, that 42% of sexual offences reported to Childline, a national help-line providing crisis intervention services, are committed by other children (Vanzant, 2004) and the latest statistics available from the Department of Correctional Services (2007) show that on 31 January 2007 a total of 288 children were in prison for crimes of a sexual nature. There appeared to be a gap in the research on child-on-child sexual abuse as well as a paucity of theory and practice knowledge, in relation to the assessment needed for purposeful intervention which could prevent or minimise re-offending
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