Young People Who Sexually Abuse Seminar

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The needs and Effective Treatment of Young People
who sexually abuse Current Evidence
Sue Bailey University of Central Lancashire

• Young People Who Sexually Abuse Seminar
• 24th April 2007

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This paper draws upon

• International research papers.
• A conference on 17th October 2003 hosted by the
  Department of Health and the Home Office.
• Background paper produced for the conference.
• Expert comments on this paper.

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Background

• Lack of knowledge on normal sexual development
  and childhood sexuality.
• Difficult to define sexually harmful behaviours
  committed by young people

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• Research focus is on serious sexual crimes rather
  than sexually problematic behaviours
• Young people who display sexually abusive
  behaviours are not a homogenous group both in
  terms of their offending patterns and their
  psychosocial needs.

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• Sexual crimes account for 0.6 of young people
  that result in some sort of disposal (Youth
  Justice Board, 2005)
• figures of the prevalence of sexually abusive
  behaviour will under-estimate the problem due to
  under-reporting of abusive behaviours and
  experiences.

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Associated problems in young sexual offenders

• Learning difficulties
• These young people are also more likely to be
  caught due to repetitive nature of offending
  behaviour.

• Multiple concurrent psychosocial needs
• Conduct disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder
  and educational needs.

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Risk Factors

• Cycle of abuse
• Although not all abused young people will go on
  to abuse

• Static and dynamic risk factors
• including high impulsivity and emotional
  loneliness and low self-esteem and assertiveness.

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Treatment Approaches

• Primary, secondary and tertiary treatment
  approaches needs to be considered.
• Reducing risk and build resilience
• engage parents in prevention and not label or
  stigmatise young people.

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Comprehensive Health Assessment

• Elicit individual circumstances
• Indicate areas for intervention
• Several types of intervention are required
• Abuse-specific, holistic and multi-modal

• Clarity of outcome required
• The key is effective co-ordination and
  communication between services

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Resilience Based Approaches

• Promote competence and healthy functioning
• Support positive developmental growth
• Enhance protective factors
• Through holistic intervention

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Evidence for the effectiveness of service
provision

• There is a lack of randomised controlled trials
• It is not possible to conduct prospective studies
• Retrospective longitudinal studies needed
• Measure recidivism and if psychosocial needs are
  met

• Issue of drop out rates
• Ensure programmes address individual needs

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Summary

• Sexual abuse by young people is a serious issue
• But majority do not continue sexual offending in
  adulthood

• Majority of research comes from Youth Justice
  System
• Many abusive behaviours are not reported

• Need to acknowledge, treat and research
  behaviours before they are regarded as criminal

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Summary

• Need for a robust assessment tool
• Assess risk and protective factors to inform
  interventions

• Interventions need to be
• Individually tailored to child and family
• Holistic
• Intensive and long term
• Based on detailed, holistic assessments

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Issues of concern

• Diversity of interventions available
• Regional and national co-ordination of services
• Could be aided by secure national database and
  professional network

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Recommendations

• Develop effective regional strategies for
  assessment and treatment
• Support young people in their communities
• Encourage multi-agency working and co-ordination
  of care

• Develop a common assessment tool
• Ensure collective responsibility to identify and
  deliver appropriate services
• Systematically evaluate research projects
• Identify and build upon good practice.