The sexual victimization of children

Child sexual abuse

“…Australia does not have national statistics on child abuse or child sexual abuse (Carter, Burston, Floyd & Stewart, 1988;Darby, 1989;Hewitt, 1986) and there are no reliable statistics on the extent of child sexual abuse in Victoria (Jones, 1985;Law Reform Commission, 1988;Matthews, 1988).…”

“…In 1984,484 child sexual assault complaints were made to the Victoria Police (Brown, 1988): this suggests that over 4000 children may have been sexually abused that year in Victoria, if the 10% reporting rate of offences is correct. Jones (1985) reports that of the 343 cases of child sexual abuse the Victoria Police dealt with in 1983,58% were committed by a close blood relative, and 60% of the remaining assaults were allegedly victims of adults who had a caring role or were in some way responsible for the children. Eighty-three per cent of known child sexual abuse in 1983 had been committed by a trusted friend, caregiver or family member.…”

“…Several local sources indicate an increase in reported cases of sexual abuse. The number of cases of child sexual abuse coming to the attention of the Victoria Police increased by 238% from 1979 to 1983 (Jones, 1985), whilst referrals to the Office of the Police Surgeon in Victoria of sexually abused children increased from 50 in 1987 to 500 in 1988, an increase of 1000% (Wells, 1989). Community Services Victoria (1991) statistics show that in the year ending December 1990 they received 612 notifications (from a total of 5124 notifications for all categories of abuse and neglect) which listed child sexual abuse as the principal maltreatment.…”

“…Traditionally there has been considerable suspicion of children and adults who allege they have been sexually abused (Jones, 1985;Jones, 1987;Sexual Offences Against Children, 1984). Freud (Breuer & Freud, translation, 1974) described how many of his female patients claimed they had been seduced by their fathers -claims Freud eventually labelled as fantasy.…”