Preventing child sexual abuse in the community
Author: Kieran McCartan, Professor of Criminology
My research is focused on developing and implementing innovative, effective ways to prevent child sexual abuse in our communities. For me, that starts with better understanding people who commit child sexual abuse, so that we can work to prevent it happening in the first place.
The crux of my work is about child protection. We know that between one in three and one in four children will be victims of child sexual abuse at some point in their lives. That’s pandemic level. I’m keen to get that conversation going – but I realise that it’s a conversation that most people don’t really want to have.
"Community relations are the cornerstone of building healthier communities. Through our research, we’re helping communities and society to better prevent and respond to child sexual abuse."
Kieran McCartan Professor of Criminology
Tackling abuse together
My big motivator is that I believe that a lot of abuse can be prevented. We spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about how crime and abuse are all about the individual. Someone did this, another person did that. But in many ways, we’re talking about community issues. And communities can therefore play a key role in preventing abuse and crime.
Being from Belfast, I know that community relations is the cornerstone of building healthier communities. I believe that the prevention of child sexual abuse is a community issue, and communities need to play a more active role. Because child sexual abuse isn’t just an individual criminal issue. It’s also about social justice, health, wellbeing, behaviour and psychology.
Radical new thinking
Nowadays, a lot of the work I do crosses into the public health domain. We’re seeing public health approaches being used more and more - engaging on a community and individual level. We’re talking about the influence of violence reduction units, as well as trauma-informed and service-user-engaged services. These things didn’t exist 15 years ago.
Look at some of the research we’ve been doing with the NSPCC and Together for Childhood in Plymouth. They’re trying to make Plymouth a child sexual abuse preventive city. They’re on a ten-year journey with Plymouth City Council to make the entire city a place where child abuse doesn’t happen. It’s a very radical way of thinking about it. It’s changing the perspective, reframing the conversation. It’s a fantastic example of what really drives me.
Real-world impact
I want us all to think about sexual abuse and crime differently. There’s a growing recognition that our old modelling of crime as just the offence is no longer fit for purpose. We’re now starting to see crime and abuse as community issues. And that means that communities can also be the answer.
I believe in research that has real-world impact. That’s why I do what I do. With the best will in the world - you can write all the theory papers you want, but if research isn’t picked up by professionals, policy makers and the real world, then what’s its purpose?
Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals
UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. This research aligns with the following goals:
