Professionals’ Understandings of and Attitudes to the Prevention of Sexual Abuse: An International Exploratory Study

Abstract

Sexual abuse is a global issue and, therefore, responding to and preventing sexual abuse are global challenges. Although we have examples of and evidence for sexual abuse prevention initiatives internationally, these tend to come from a small, select group of countries (i.e., United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Australia) and not from a broader global pool. This article will present the qualitative data from an online study ( n = 82), covering 17 countries, on professionals’ (i.e., people working in the arena of sexual offending from a clinical, criminal justice, policy, research, and/or practice perspective) perceptions sexual abuse prevention in theory, practice, and policy. The article identifies three main themes: (a) professionals’ understandings of the prevention of sexual abuse, (b) public understanding of sexual abuse prevention, and (c) governmental attitudes towards, and support of, sexual abuse prevention programs. The article highlights that, although there are similar understandings of sexual abuse prevention internationally, practice is characterised by national differences in the funding of, provision of, and public/policy perceptions of prevention as well as its impact on offending.

Incorporating Quaternary Prevention: Understanding the Full Scope of Public Health Practices in Sexual Abuse Prevention

“…In recent years there has been a growing recognition that sexual offending, like all forms of crime, is a community, developmental, and life course issue (Brown, 2017;Kemshall, 2017a;McCartan et al, 2015;McCartan, Uzieblo et al, 2021 behavior is viewed as a product of someone's experiences, mental health, wellbeing, individual differences, and personality (Farrington, 2019;McCartan, 2020). The EpiCrim approach also reinforces current practice developments such as the bio-psycho-social model of rehabilitation, desistance supportive interventions, and trauma informed practice (see: Bradley, 2017;Pringer & Wagner, 2020), and aligns to current research into crime causation and desistance (Farrington, 2019;McCartan, 2020;McCartan & Kemshall, 2020).…”

“…The perils of over-criminalization have been identified in overly punitive responses (Kelly, 2018;The Crime Report, 2020), particularly for persons whose life chances, rehabilitation, and community re-integration are potentially undermined by criminal justice responses (e.g., stigmatization or exclusion). The collateral consequences of penal and criminal justice approaches, particularly to people convicted of a sexual offence, but also to other offenders, are well documented (see McCartan, 2020, andMcCartan, Uzieblo et al, 2021). These include responses aimed at either risk reduction or prevention (e.g., registration and disclosure of information relating to people convicted of a sexual offence, Harris, 2017;Kemshall, 2019;McCartan, Harris et al, 2021;Tewksbury & Zgoba, 2010).…”

“…In recent years there has been a growing recognition that sexual offending, like all forms of crime, is a community, developmental, and life course issue ( Brown, 2017 ; Kemshall, 2017a ; McCartan et al, 2015 ; McCartan, Uzieblo et al, 2021 ). Examining sexual offending from a life course perspective issue means that this behavior is viewed as a product of someone’s experiences, mental health, well-being, individual differences, and personality ( Farrington, 2019 ; McCartan, 2020 ).…”

“…However, current responses to sexual offending across the globe are largely focused on the individual, and the inter-relationship of the individual to families and networks ( McCartan, Uzieblo et al., 2021 ). This has resulted in the person who has committed the offence often being the sole subject of our response, rather than taking a more holistic approach that incorporates society as well as the individual.…”

The Integration of People Convicted of a Sexual Offence Into the Community and Their (Risk) Management

“…Sexual abuse and sexual offending are high level socio-political, policy, media, and community issues [1][2][3] which transverse all levels of society and are present across all countries [4][5][6][7][8][9]. Since the 1970s [10,11], arguably the major starting point for research into sexual abuse, we have seen the emergence of several narratives linked to sexual abuse and how best to respond to it [1, 12••].…”