Child Sexual Abuse and Co-offending in the UK: An Empirical Examination of Characteristics, Crime Commission Processes, and Network Structures

The core purpose of this thesis is to advance understanding of child sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrated in co-offending contexts in the UK. Subsumed within this overarching objective are three key research aims, pursued using a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and datasets, and presented in three independent but connected research papers. The first aim is to provide a descriptive overview of sexual offences prosecuted in England and Wales through the examination of Crown Court data spanning between 2013 and 2019. A specific focus is directed towards cases of CSA and co-offending, and a review of the offence and offender characteristics is presented. Using the same dataset, a second aim is pursued; to examine victim age and co-offending status as both independent and joint categorisation systems to distinguish between heterogeneous collections of sexual offences and offenders. To achieve this, descriptive and inferential statistical techniques are applied to draw comparisons between categorised cases of sexual offending. This analysis reveals that significant differences can be observed across a variety of variables for each of the subtypes formed by all three categorisation systems. These variables include the age, sex, ethnicity, and prosecution histories of offenders; age and ethnic composition of co-offending groups/duos; and the nature of the offences committed. This is presented in Paper 1 (Chapter 4). The third aim is to examine the nature of organised networks engaged in the perpetration of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and their crime commission processes. This is explored using two strategies. In the first strategy, police investigation files and structured police interviews relating to five cases of network-based CSE are used to reconstruct and explore the structures and mechanisms underlying offender and victim networks. This is accomplished using social network analysis and inferential statistical techniques. The analysis reveals that most offending networks are lacking in cohesion, centres of power, and structural sophistication; specialised roles in network activity can be identified and matched to both offenders and victims; and different roles show distinct structural profiles in the networks. This is presented in Paper 2 (Chapter 5). In the second strategy, qualitative thematic analysis techniques are used to examine the reflections of criminal justice practitioners on network-based CSE cases. In this analysis crucial themes are identified regarding: (1) the nature of the offending networks – this includes their structure, organisation, motivations, relationships, and role allocation; and (2) the stages and patterns involved in their crime commission processes. Insights and observations relating to these themes are explored. This is presented in Paper 3 (Chapter 6). Implications for the investigation, intervention, and prevention of offending are discussed throughout.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Dixon, Sophie

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Campana, paolo
• Gelsthorpe, loraine

• Criminology
• Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)
• Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
• Co-offending
• Networks

Licence

• https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/bacf7b04-e2f9-49f6-bac3-cc41334f6f31/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.110674

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/371511