Update:
There's an excellent link that offers a report from The Quilliam Group.
Quote:Operation Sanctuary review finds adult abuse 'extensive'SOURCE:
'Vulnerable women are most likely being "extensively" abused across the UK and ministers need to
urgently review sex exploitation laws, a report says.
David Spicer.
David Spicer led a review in the wake of Operation Sanctuary which saw 18 people jailed for the sexual
abuse of young women groomed in Newcastle. He said exploitation was not being recognised in adults.
The operation identified about 700 victims in total across the Northumbria Police area, 108 in Newcastle.
The Home Office said it would "look carefully" at Mr Spicer's 33 recommendations, which also included a
need for research into the cultural background of abusers, many of whom in the case of Sanctuary,
Mr Spicer said, were from a "predominantly Asian or British Minority Ethnic culture or background".
Mr Spicer, who carried out the serious case review for the Newcastle Safeguarding Adults and Children Boards,
said it was clear "adults were being targeted, groomed and exploited" as well as children.
But he said authorities do not have the powers to intervene with adults to stop them "making bad choices"
or forming "inappropriate relationships". He said: "Vulnerability is not determined by age and it is likely that
extensive abuse of vulnerable adults is taking place across the country unrecognised."
Operation Sanctuary started in 2014 after a 21-year-old woman with a learning disability told police she had
been a victim of sexual exploitation over a long period. Further reports from two 19-year-old women "confirmed"
sexual exploitation was a much larger problem in Newcastle "than previously recognised".
Mr Spicer said the operation had proved successful but it was only when Northumbria Police and other agencies
like Newcastle City Council started looking for the issue they found it.
'Culture research needed'
He also said the government needs to research the "profiles, motivations and cultural and background influences
of perpetrators of sexual exploitation". In the Newcastle case, most of the men were British-born but all came from
Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Iraqi, Iranian or Turkish communities.
Think tank the Quillam Foundation, which focuses on counter-extremism, said 84% of the 264 offenders convicted
of grooming between 2005 and 2017 were of south Asian heritage. Mr Spicer said the perpetrator he spoke to
"displayed no regret" and "spoke in a derogatory manner about a lack of morals in British girls".
The report noted that there was no evidence that police and other agencies had been reluctant to investigate amid
"misplaced" concerns over political correctness or allegations of racism. Mr Spicer also said confidentiality systems
in sexual health services should be reviewed as a lack of information-sharing meant no-one spotted victims who
went to multiple clinics.
Medical professionals such as pharmacists should also be trained to spot signs of abuse, he said.
Mr Spicer was also critical of the ordeal of victims giving evidence in court saying several complained it caused
"lasting serious mental health problems".
As well as reviewing the way victims are treated during trials, Mr Spicer also said the terminology of charges should
be changed to avoid causing further distress.
This was after victims complained the charge of inciting prostitution labelled them as prostitutes...'
There's an excellent link that offers a report from The Quilliam Group.
Quote:'A new report by Quilliam International has found an alarming level of over-representation of (South) AsianSOURCE:
men in group-based child sexual exploitation crimes, otherwise known as ‘grooming gangs’.
In light of the recent spate of these grooming gang cases reported in the UK, Quilliam has conducted its own
research into this growing epidemic to determine whether this was a case of one-sided news coverage or
whether South Asian-ethnicity individuals were indeed over-represented in this specific crime profile.
Both authors, CEO Haras Rafiq and Researcher Muna Adil, are of British Pakistani heritage and, in light of
recent events, deemed it necessary for a strong voice from within the community to add a balanced and
evidence-based view to the discussion surrounding grooming gangs.
Haras Rafiq said:
“I’m from the heart of where one of the biggest high-profile cases has happened over the last few years,
and I’m saying it’s very important that we do talk about it because the problem won’t go away.
We didn’t want there to be a pattern of people from our ethnic demographic carrying out these attacks.
But unfortunately, we were proven wrong.”
Muna Adil said:
“There are elements from within the British Pakistani community that still subscribe to outdated and sexist views
of women embedded within their jaded interpretations of Islam. These backward views are passed down from
generation to generation until the lines between faith and culture dissolve, making it increasingly difficult to
criticise one without being seen as a critic of the other.”
The report consists of a comprehensive data analysis of grooming gang cases identified in the UK since 2005.
Ten case studies from 2010-2017 are also analysed in depth to help determine any similarities and identify any
patterns that exist across the cases.
The report recognises there to be a disproportionate representation of males with (South) ‘Asian’ heritage who
have been convicted in such cases, with this ethnicity male perpetrator/white female victim dynamic serving as
the prominent feature of these grooming gangs.
Most of these men are of Pakistani (Muslim) origin, and the majority of their victims are young, white girls.
The report suggests that the background of these men has influenced their actions.
The report found that 84% of ‘grooming gang’ offenders were (South) Asian, while they only make up 7% of total UK
population and that the majority of these offenders are of Pakistani origin with Muslim heritage. The report later goes
on to discuss and analyse these cultural and religious contexts in order to explain why this demographic features
so prominently in this specific crime.
The report concludes with a number of recommendations that we hope will begin the process of working towards
resolutions.
It is the hope of the authors that this report sparks much-needed dialogue that is nuanced and evidence-based,
and replaces the reactionary attitudes that currently plague the public sphere regarding any issues that directly
or indirectly involve minorities.
A Home Office spokesman said: "These are abhorrent crimes that have had a devastating impact on the lives
of the victims involved."...'
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.