Child sexual abuse in Europe

Book abstract:

This work gives a pan-European view of child sexual abuse which, despite the heightened awareness and efforts to combat it, is nevertheless a major problem facing young people today. The authors examine the failure of existing policies and programmes and offer alternative strategies to prevent sexual abuse from occurring. They urge all countries to join in cross-national policies and procedures and underline the need for countries to recognise how much can be learnt from each other.

The book is organised over three parts. The first part provides an overview of child sexual abuse in Europe and goes on to address sexual exploitation in the pan-European community. Part two is comprised of four case studies on individual countries - Romania, Germany, Poland and England - and provides comparison of case procedures and the legal processes. The third part explores key issues in responding to child sexual abuse. It addresses such issues as therapeutic help for victims and their families, and the legal obstacles to rehabilitation in three other European countries - Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands. The conclusion plants some signposts as to the way forward and emphasises the increasing role of therapeutic measures for both victims and perpetrators, but bemoans the widespread lack of resources and trained people in this area.

The work will interest parents, social workers, policy researchers and practitioners engaged in the field of children's rights.

Corinne May-Chahal is Professor of Applied Social Science at Lancaster University.

Maria Herczog is a senior researcher at the National Institute for Criminology and also at the National Institute for Family and Social Policy in Hungary.

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