Ferry sexual assault victims to the court
Females were more than six times as likely as males to be the victims of sexual assault known to law enforcement agencies.
What you need to know:
- Females were more than six times as likely as males to be the victims of sexual assault known to law enforcement agencies.
- Specifically, 86 per cent of sexual assault victims were female, with the relative proportion increasing with age.
Sexual assault on young children is a major social concern to the public and law enforcers. Parents worry about such attacks when their children are out of sight. Law enforcement, child protection services and legislators work to reduce the incidence of these crimes, which include forcible sex, rape, sodomy, sexual assault with objects and forcible fondling.
However, while a few highly publicised incidents are engraved in the public’s consciousness, there is little empirically based information on these crimes. Females were more than six times as likely as males to be the victims of sexual assault known to law enforcement agencies.
Specifically, 86 per cent of sexual assault victims were female, with the relative proportion increasing with age. Sixty-nine per cent of victims under six were female, compared with 73 per cent of victims under 12 and 82 per cent of all juvenile (under 18) victims. The female proportion of sexual assault victims hit 90 per cent.
Juveniles under 12 made about half of the victims of forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object and forcible fondling. An eighth of victims of forcible rape reported to the authorities. Adults were the offenders in 60 per cent of the sexual assaults of youth under age 12.
Rarely were the offenders of young juvenile victims strangers; they were in just three per cent of sexual assaults against victims under six and five per cent of the sexual assault victimisations of youth aged six to 11. Sexual assaults of children under six were the least likely of such crimes to result in arrest or be cleared.
Child sexual abuse can have wide-ranging and serious consequences, sometimes lifelong. It is high time the government set aside funds to cater for sexual assault victims’ transport to attend court, so that the offenders do not go scot-free. Many parents whose children were sexually assaulted choose between providing for the family needs or taking the child to court, leading to half of the culprits going scot free.
Ms Onjoro is the director, Careers Organisation. [email protected]
