Child Abuse Review: Child sexual exploitation, victimisation and vulnerability

Abstract: Issues concerning the sexual exploitation of children and young people remain the subject of considerable political, media, public and professional concern.

This special issue begins with Jenny Pearce’s paper which draws on data from a research study examining how national UK guidance on Safeguarding Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation has been implemented by local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs).

The need for further clarity around the issue of ‘internal child sex trafficking’ is picked up in the second paper by Helen Brayley and Ella Cockbain in an elegant exposition of the ongoing debates around whether Britons can be considered victims of internal trafficking.

Jane Dodsworth’s paper on a qualitative research study examining women’s involvement in sex work in the UK draws on data from young women who became involved in sexual exploitation under the age of 18 ‘or, what some of them saw as, selling or swapping sex for non-monetary ‘payment”.

The paper by Lisa Bunting looks at a broader aspect of abuse and victimisation in a very useful analysis of recorded crime committed against children.

The final paper by Autumn Roesch-Marsh examines how gender impacts on social work discourses and risk assessment practices with young people in secure accommodation in Scotland.