In Figures - You Are Not Alone

Life after 'the knock' can feel like being forced to ride rollercoasters that weren’t safety approved, without a seatbelt and a shark basin underneath. If you are anything like me, being armed with the facts helps with the anxiety of the world seeming to cave in.

Sexual Offenders Register

According to a Freedom of Information Request, as of March 2021, there were 96,000 people recorded on ViSOR as current Registered Sexual Offenders in England and Wales.

Scotland provides updated numbers quarterly and the number exceeds 4,500 individuals as of July 2023. In Northern Ireland, 1,600 individuals were registered as of September 2021.

In total, we are looking at a number of more than 100,000 people across the UK. The actual total is likely much higher by now, if we assume that historical trends still prevail.

In March 2019, the number of registered sex offenders (RSOs) in England and Wales amounted to just over 60,000. (In 2009, the number was 30,000.) Therefore, between 2019 and 2021, the number has increased by more than 50%.

Prosecution of Offences Relating to Indecent Images of Children (IIOC)

In England and Wales, across the two charges "Taking, permitting to be taken or making, distributing or publishing indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children" and "Possession of indecent photograph of a child", between 2007 and 2017, 23,246 individuals were charged and 20,770 were sentenced. For the same charges, between 2012 and 2022, 30,541 persons were charged and 28,325 were sentenced. The increase of the ten-year average amounts to 31% after just 5 years.

This tracks with statements Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the National Police Chiefs' Council child protection lead, made in early 2017: that roughly 400 - 450 individuals, almost exclusively men, are arrested every month, totalling about 5,000 people annually.

Rising Numbers of Reports of Offences Relating to IIOC

NSPCC sent Freedom of Information requests to all police forces in the UK to enquire about the number of recorded offences in 2021. 43 out of 45 police forces responded and provided a total number just shy of 31,000.

Assuming that the distribution of charges is similar across all police forces, the actual total may be closer to 32,500 charges when we account for the two police forces who did not provide information. Nearly 10,000 of these reported offences relate to social media sites.

All 45 forces provided useable data for 2016, during which time 18,500 offences were registered. We are seeing an increase of 75% over 5 years.

As the discrepancy between the number of reported offences and prosecutions shows, most offences relating to IIOC are committed by individuals with the intent and technical sophistication of covering their tracks.

Conclusion

There is a societal perception that those on the register are the bad apples, the monsters walking among the innocent, the most dangerous preying on those who are vulnerable. Meanwhile, the majority of IIOC complaints do not result in formal charges and the number of offences is increasing drastically year-on-year, giving the impression that the real danger lurks in the shadows. There are real monsters and a real danger facing children - and not exclusively children - but tearing ourselves apart because a person close to us was caught, is not going to make the world or the internet a safer place. Being placed in this awful position, we have the immense misfortune to have been awakened to the reality that the threats are systemic. If only the world was as straight forward as the vigilantes think it is!

The blunt tools available to police and the court system do not appear to be resolving the actual societal problems or tackling the underlying causes holding up systems of abuse and exploitation. As individuals and as society, there is so much more we need to confront. Maybe at some point, when enough time has passed for our own wounds to have scarred over and toughened, we can take on some of that message to actually make a difference in the safeguarding of children.

For now, we are not alone, thanks to wonderful places like this community. Those of us facing vitriol and pressure have the chance to learn from each other and support one another. Our shared fate is tragic and yet hopefully, something good will come out of it in the end.