In the report, Bristol Medical School researchers sought to understand the factors preventing children from receiving care while investigating how to improve access to services, of which, historically legal processes have restricted, based on the view that discussing case details may damage the quality of evidence.
It is estimated that as many as 15% of girls and 5% of boys will experience child sex abuse (CSA) before the age of 16. Many of these cases will never make it into the criminal justice system. The majority of which do not tell anyone about the abuse at the time, and even fewer see their case reach court – in the year ending March 2020, only 12% of CSA offence investigations resulted in a decision to charge the offender.
The report entitled ‘Keeping Secrets’ is available on the Blue Star project website.