The scale of sexual harm
building a picture
Sexual crimes and the harm they inflict, affect children and adults here in the UK and across the globe, with girls and women being disproportionality affected. To help understand the scale of this we have prepared the following information. Please note that this data is not comparative year on year but helps to build a picture of the context relating to sexual offending and its harm:
Number of individuals in the United Kingdom who have died and who have Covid-19 on their death certificate. [1]
Estimated figures (combined) for number of victims of sexual assault and attempts, rape and attempts, assault by penetration and attempts, indecent exposure and unwanted touching, since the age of 16 years among women and girls aged 16-74. [2]
Estimated figures (combined) for number of victims of sexual assault and attempts, rape and attempts, assault by penetration and attempts, indecent exposure and unwanted touching, since the age of 16 years among men and boys aged 16-74. [3]
Increase in the number of men and boys accessing Ministry of Justice funded rape support services in (2014-18). [4]
Number of rapes reported to the police in the UK last year (2020-2021). [5]
Number of children in the United Kingdom who may have been sexually abused. [6]
Number of unique images recorded in The Child Abuse Image Database (2015-19). [7]
of the top 50 accessible rape porn sites found through an online search engine which advertise rape content of under 18 year-olds. [12]
Percentage of rape and sexual assault offences which are committed by offender who are known to the complainant. [8]
Percentage of child sexual abusers who are female based on police reports (2018/19). [9]
Young girls put under pressure to provide sexual images of themselves when asked in a recent survey. [11]
Percentage of rapes which took place in the victim or perpetrators home. [10]
Percentage of rape cases charged / summonsed in England and Wales (for the year ending March 2020). [13]
Number of prosecutions for making false allegations of rape over a 17-month period. [14]
We know sexual harm is vastly under-reported. For example, data from the British Crime Survey tells us that only around 16% of people over 16 years of age who had experienced sexual assault by penetration, made a report to the police.
The fact is that nobody knows the actual number of children and adults in the UK who are experiencing, or who have experienced, sexual harm because of the crimes committed against them.
references
[1] Figure quoted at the time of writing this document (Feb 2022)
[4] Policy paper: Male victims position paper (Updated 21 July 2021) – gov.uk
[5] https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/1710/statistics-briefing-child-sexual-abuse.pdf
[6] Office of National Statistics – Child sexual abuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2019
[7] Cps.gov.uk/publication/key-facts-about-how-CPS-prosecutes-allegations-rape
[8] Child sexual abuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2019
[9] ONS – years ending March 2017 and March 2020 combined
[10] Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges – Ofsted report published 10 June 2021
[11] Information sourced from endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/campaign/media-sexism-pornography – based on research by Rape Crisis South London
[12] Table 2:2 on the Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2019-2020 Home Office publication
[13] Cps.gov.uk/publication/key-facts-about-how-CPS-prosecutes-allegations-rape (2013 report)
[14] Year ending March 2020 British Crime Survey for England and Wales
