Child Sexual Abuse
Media Representation and Government Reactions

Increasing concern on the part of the government, criminal justice agencies, the media and public, regarding child sexual abuse has been prompted by a series of events including, cases involving the abduction, sexual abuse and murder of young children. This work evaluates the development of policy and legislative measures to control sex offenders.

"Child Sexual Abuse" critically evaluates the development of policy and legislative measures to control sex offenders. The last fifteen years has seen increasing concern on the part of the government, criminal justice agencies, the media and the public, regarding child sexual abuse. This concern has been prompted by a series of events including cases inviting media attention and involving the abduction, sexual abuse and murder of young children. The response to this wave of child sexual abuse revelation has been to introduce increasingly punitive legislation regarding the punishment and control of sex offenders (sex offenders are the only group of offenders in British legal history to have their own act), both in custody and in the community. But this response, it is argued here, has developed in a reactionary way to media and public anxiety regarding the punishment and control of sex offenders (who have abused children)and the perceived threat of such offenders in the community.

Defining Child Sexual Abuse
Child Protection: The Crisis In Public Confidence- from Cleveland To Waterhouse
The Role Of The Media: Public Anxiety
High Profile
The Legislative Framework (1953- 2004)
The Criminal Justice Response: Controlling Sex Offenders
Public Appeasement.