Prevention

The prevention of child sexual abuse strongly concerns many of the public, professionals and politicians. Adult survivors, in particular, feel that more priority should be given to protecting today’s children from suffering as they did.

The Scottish Government has a duty to fulfil recommendation 26 of Lady Cosgrove's report under the National Strategy.

The recommendation states that only a relatively small percentage of those who have committed a sexual offence are likely to serve a custodial sentence. The Cosgrove Report says the need to protect children and communities is paramount and its aim has been to produce recommendations for a strategic approach to the prevention of sex offending.

Therefore consideration should be given to identifying and securing funding for risk assessment and personal change programmes for:

• Individuals who have admitted sexually offending behaviour but without providing sufficient information to secure a conviction.
• Individuals who admit concerns that they may be at risk of sexual offending, and convicted sex offenders who remain at risk but are not subject to statutory supervision who require ongoing intervention to reduce the risk they pose to the public.
• Early identification of and intervention and support to young people demonstrating sexually inappropriate or offending behaviours.

In professional and academic discussion, "prevention of CSA" has often rather narrowly focused on:

• Schools programmes, which try to help children protect themselves from abuse.
• Programmes with convicted perpetrators, which try to reduce their re-offending.

But there are many other forms of prevention, and many ways to achieve it. Making the public more informed, aware and observant, making a priority of detecting offenders, supporting safe parenting, funding safe childcare, reducing risks in our physical environment – these are among many examples of preventing sexual abuse.

The phrases below are often used to describe different types of prevention:

"Primary Prevention" aims to stop abuse happening in the first place. It’s often directed at wider populations, communities or whole groups such as parents, teachers or children. For instance schools safety programmes, the challenging of sexist attitudes about rape, and the vetting of child carers are attempts at primary prevention. So are area-based public awareness programmes – still more common in the USA than the UK.

"Secondary Prevention" isn’t always used consistently. Sometimes, it means ways of reducing further abuse after it has taken place (see tertiary prevention). Sometimes, it means targeting groups believed to be at higher risk of abuse – offering them extra support or extra monitoring. However, until now this has more often been done in relation to risks of child physical abuse, poor care or neglect than risks of CSA. For instance support/monitoring services in families with parental substance misuse, with mental illness or learning disability.

"Tertiary prevention" refers to measures which aim to stop abuse recurring, and to reduce damaging effects of abuse in individuals or families. Some examples might be programmes directed at young people or adults who have abused others; intensive family therapy or mental health interventions; or legal measures which aim to give abused partners or children protection from contact with a perpetrator.

In practice though, these categories often overlap. Thus a schools prevention programme can encourage abused children to come forward for help. Detecting perpetrators can halt current abuse and also prevent them abusing new children. An adult survivor, who receives a support service, may feel new strength to report someone who is still a danger to children. And so on.

You can read more about prevention issues and prevention projects in the Research and Library sections.