The recent news [1] that children under the age of 18 may be responsible for more than half of all reported child abuse cases is an urgent call to action. The report states: “Senior officers say this abuse includes “exploratory behaviour” under-18s may not realise is illegal, and rape.” Children often do not know what is legal and understandably think that behaviour that everyone is doing is “normal” and therefore cannot be illegal. Yet education, both in schools and in the public domain, has not caught up with the reality of the law, which has been developed in recent years to be far reaching with the legitimate aim of protecting children from harm.
These headlines are not surprising. The prevalence of harmful and/or criminal sexual behaviour among children was a major theme of my doctoral research over a decade ago. Data published in 2021 about children’s online behaviour in England and Wales found that 10% of 13–15-year-olds reported having received a sexual message and girls were significantly more likely to have done so than boys(ONS, 2021).[2] As long ago as 2012, a study on sexting showed that there was a high prevalence of sexting to the extent that it had become normal and even ‘mundane’ for most children by the age of 14 (Phippen, 2012). [3] The report also concluded that girls would generally create pictures of themselves as a result of a request from a boy whereas boys would self generate unprompted in most cases. Phippen also found that, although young people tended not to seek adult support for fear of reprimand, they were willing to discuss these issues and want to learn about them in school but don’t get the opportunity.
Children are unlikely to think about whether or not this behaviour is lawful, especially if everyone is doing it, and they have not been clearly taught about what exactly is unlawful and why.
The potential consequences of being convicted and labelled as a sex offender a child, which may include being placed on the sex offenders’ register and being barred from certain work as adults, can be devastating.
Comprehensive legal information about the legal consequences of harmful sexual behaviour is available, for example, in an excellent legal toolkit on sexting from the Youth Justice Legal Cetnre [4]. However, more focus needs to be given to rolling out this information to young poeple and their carers.
Mandatory education on sex and relationships now covers telling students that certain behaviours are unlawful.[5] However, there is clearly a need for this aspect of the curriculum to be emphasised in the classroom so children are left in no doubt about what is an offence and the consequences.
It is important that children, and society at large, are made aware of the harms and consequences of their behaviours if they are to be prevented and we are to create a positive, respectful and safe culture around sex and relationships.
References:
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67925490
[4] https://yjlc.uk/resources/legal-guides-and-toolkits/sexting