13. The Inquiry has carried out extensive work on the prevalence issue:
14. This material has now been analysed by the Inquiry and, for the first time, provides a clearer picture of: (i) the total number of reported incidents, including by category; (ii) the rate of incidents per year; (iii) the different types of abuse; and (iv) the alleged perpetrators, each of which can be broken down by type of institution.[3]
15. This analysis, together with the underlying material, was disclosed to the core participants and their observations sought. No core participants disagreed with the analysis.[4]
16. We are aware of the limitations on the data described above. However, despite those limitations, we can conclude that there has been even more sexual abuse of children than is disclosed by the evidence we have seen.
17. For the period between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2017, the Inquiry’s analysis shows:
18. We have identified a significant number of complaints of child sexual abuse in custody which have not otherwise come to light. For example, there is no published survey of children at Feltham in 2016, and the January 2017 survey[11] revealed no sexual abuse. However, the evidence provided to the Inquiry refers to five allegations in 2016, and a further allegation in January 2017 before the survey. Again, despite alleged incidents of sexual abuse being recorded elsewhere prior to January 2017, no child took the opportunity to refer to it in the survey. Similarly, in surveys undertaken between October 2012 and February 2017 at Medway, it was in only one year – 2014[12] – that any sexual abuse was reported and only by 2 percent of respondents, which equates to one child. This compares with 44 alleged incidents revealed in the Inquiry’s evidence during the same period of time. Finally, in the October 2016[13] survey of Rainsbrook STC, only one child reported having been sexually abused, whereas the Inquiry’s evidence has revealed 20 alleged incidents of sexual abuse in 2016 prior to the survey.[14]
19. In all of the surveys referred to in which respondents reported no sexual abuse, or where only one respondent reported such abuse, survey questionnaires were offered to the vast majority or all of the children within the institution at that time. While some children may choose not to return questionnaires and some may leave before the next survey is undertaken, it seems children who do complete the surveys are not taking up the opportunity to report sexual abuse that may have been recorded elsewhere.
20. There were more alleged incidents in 2016 and also 2017 than in any previous period. When the figures are broken down by institution type, on the data currently available, incidents in STCs account for most of the increase: in 2015, there were only 19 alleged incidents but this figure rose to 79 in 2016 and 110 in 2017. This increase is of more concern when the population size of the STC is taken into account; when incidents are expressed as a percentage of the average under-18 population for the year, the increase from 2015 to 2016 rises from 9.1 percent to 54.9 percent.[15]
21. Based on the information to the Inquiry, the types of abuse alleged for each case[16] of alleged child sexual abuse can be broken down as follows:
Type of institution | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type of abuse (main event) | YOI | STC | SCH* | SCH W | Other† | Unknown | Total |
Rape | 28 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 41 | |
Attempted rape | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
Sexual assault | 219 | 132 | 91 | 27 | 2 | 471 | |
Attempted sexual assault | 5 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 15 | ||
Exposure | 12 | 30 | 9 | 4 | 55 | ||
Sexual acts between detainees possibly consensual | 8 | 19 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 52 | |
Sexual/inappropriate relationship between staff and detainee | 15 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 34 | |
Threat of sexual abuse | 10 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 15 | ||
Other‡ | 96 | 59 | 44 | 10 | 2 | 211 | |
Insufficient detail | 45 | 32 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 93 | |
Total | 440 | 297 | 189 | 53 | 3 | 8 | 990§ |
* ‘SCH’ refers to SCHs holding children on both justice and welfare placements, whereas ‘SCH W’ refers to SCHs only holding children on welfare placements.
† The ‘Other’ column includes the three incidents of abuse which occurred outside a custodial institution, referred to above.
‡ This includes, for example, sexual comments, voyeurism, grooming behaviour and sexual gestures.
§ This refers to the 990 cases of abuses: see explanation for ‘case’.
22. Based on the information to the Inquiry, the perpetrators for each case of alleged child sexual abuse can be summarised as follows:
Type of institution | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Perpetrator | YOI | STC | SCH* | SCH W | Other† | Unknown | Total |
Detainee | 113 | 143 | 98 | 23 | 8 | 385 | |
Staff | 240 | 112 | 74 | 30 | 3 | 459 | |
Staff member and detainee together | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
Religious figure | 4 | 4 | |||||
Teacher | 34 | 5 | 5 | 44 | |||
Ex-teacher | 1 | 1 | |||||
Other type of perpetrator | 9 | 10 | 4 | 23 | |||
Not stated | 38 | 26 | 8 | 72 | |||
Total | 440 | 297 | 189 | 53 | 3 | 8 | 990‡ |
* ‘SCH’ refers to SCHs holding children on both justice and welfare placements, whereas ‘SCH W’ refers to SCHs only holding children on welfare placements.
† The ‘Other’ column includes the three incidents of abuse which occurred outside a custodial institution, referred to above.
‡ This refers to the 990 cases of abuses: see explanation for ‘case’.
23. Of the 990 cases, 385 (38.9 percent) related to other detainees and 461 in total (46.6 percent) involved a staff member acting alone or with a detainee.
24. There were 121 cases involving abuse allegedly perpetrated by detainees in SCHs (including those on welfare placements), 143 in STCs and only 113 in YOIs. This is despite the overall population of YOIs being several times higher than the populations of SCHs and STCs at any given time. It raises the question of whether the higher ratio of staff per detainee in the SCHs and STCs compared with YOIs may make it more likely that abuse between detainees is identified, recorded and reported to agencies by staff.
25. Some patterns have emerged in the circumstances of the reported abuse:
26. The figures which the Inquiry’s analysis gives for incidents in each category may be lower than the actual numbers. This is because the precise details of each allegation were not always apparent from the material provided, and so there may be further incidents falling within the above categories which have not been counted above.
27. Many allegations (where such information is available) were disclosed to someone within the institution by the alleged victim, a witness or fellow detainee. A small number of incidents (19) were not reported at the institution where the alleged abuse took place, but rather at another custodial institution by a witness or victim. Some were reported after release.
28. In 166 allegations, it was recorded that the alleged victim withdrew, retracted or was unwilling to pursue the allegation. Investigators described 49 allegations as malicious or similar. Many other complaints were found not to be substantiated for other reasons, though those reasons were not always clear.
29. The Inquiry has identified a number of limitations in relation to the data obtained from the published surveys:
30. The further data obtained by the Inquiry may also have limitations: