- Local Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford and his constituent, CSE survivor and whistleblower Sammy Woodhouse, jointly write an article calling for a Commissioner of Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation
It is impossible to address the issue of so-called ‘grooming gangs’ without considering Rotherham, the most infamous epicentre of abuse. Sadly, we all recall the widespread atrocities that occurred in the town, where over two decades 1,500 children, some as young as 11, were raped and exploited. Rother Valley constituency is home to us both: Sammy Woodhouse, a survivor of child exploitation in Rotherham some years ago, and Alexander Stafford, the local Member of Parliament for the area.
Since my election to Parliament, I have spent a great deal of time looking at the issue of child exploitation, raising the matter often in the House of Commons and in the media. I have been inspired by Sammy’s courage and her fantastic work aimed at raising awareness of victims and ensuring they receive the support they deserve.
For example, she recently proposed ‘Sammy’s Law’, which would pardon child sexual abuse victims for crimes they were coerced into committing as a result of their abuse, removing these crimes from their criminal record. I was proud to support this campaign and am urging colleagues and Ministers in Government to take this forward urgently.
However, we must not stop there. I am working with Sammy to press the Government to introduce a Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation Commissioner, in the mould of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner. The Domestic Abuse Commissioner is a fantastic tool; however, we believe that a specialist commissioner for children is required who has a much wider remit, covering that affect boys and girls equally. Thus, our new commissioner would oversee all cases of child exploitation, be that of a sexual nature or coercion to commit crime.
In addition to tackling the child sexual abuse of the type we witnessed in Rotherham, we are both particularly concerned with the rise of criminal exploitation. This is a phenomenon where ruthless drug gangs use young and vulnerable children, many with mental health or addiction problems, as drug runners to escape the attention of law enforcement. Children exploited in this way will usually be exposed to physical, mental, and sexual abuse and will often be trafficked to areas a long way from home known as county lines. As with other types of abuse, these young people may not realise that they are being groomed, so it is vital that the Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation Commissioner places addressing criminal exploitation at the top of the agenda.
Furthermore, we believe the introduction of such a commissioner will combat the perception that children who are abused are often female. In a huge proportion of criminal coercion cases, the victims are in fact boys. We feel that the Domestic Abuse Commissioner is largely weighted towards abuse against women, often in the home, leaving boys coerced into committing crime to slip through the net. We advocate a joined-up approach, where the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and the Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation Commissioner can work together to ensure that women, boys, and girls are protected from all types of illegality and abuse.
A key part of our campaign for a Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation Commissioner is securing a statutory definition for child criminal exploitation. It is hard to believe that no such legal definition exists in the modern day. Sammy, whilst being abused as a child in Rotherham, was coerced into committing numerous criminal offences against her will, one which will remain on her criminal record for 100 years. The lack of understanding of child exploitation then and now led to her being treated as a criminal and resulted in a permanent black mark on her record.
Currently, some child criminal exploitation is covered within the Modern Slavery Act 2015, however the reality is that children who are coerced into criminal activity, like Sammy, are often treated as criminals by statutory agencies rather than as victims of exploitation. This is because agencies have different interpretations of what constitutes criminal exploitation. Until we have a standalone definition, we cannot guarantee adequate understanding and protection for vulnerable children. This is too important an issue nowadays for it to be lumped in with modern slavery and so urgent change is required.
A statutory definition of CCE would send out a strong message that children who are forced to commit crime are victims rather than criminals. It would improve understanding of child exploitation; lead to professionals spotting grooming earlier and would enable a better coordinated response; provide the framework for better support for abused children; and create greater focus on targeting those who exploit children. Catalysing change across government and the third sector in this regard would be the work of our commissioner, and a statutory legal definition would empower them to tackle this abuse effectively and decisively.
We must fundamentally change the discourse and, indeed, the law, when it comes to how we approach victims of exploitation and we must recognise the lasting effect of this heinous crime on their lives. Many young girls who fall victim to CSE, Sammy included, conceive children as a result of this abuse and those children must be recognised as secondary victims as well as the children who were groomed.
It is critical that a Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation Commissioner is installed at the earliest opportunity. The criminal and sexual exploitation of children is a stain on our society and cannot be ignored as it was in the past. We have a duty to act to protect our children and to provide a coordinated and fair system to deal with victims of child abuse. Our commissioner will work with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and across local and national government and charities to address child abuse of a sexual, physical, and mental nature, tackling criminal exploitation, trafficking, and modern slavery and forced labour, both by gangs and by individuals. Sammy and I call on the Government to back our campaign to stand up for the most vulnerable children in our society and to strike a blow against those depraved criminals who seek to do them harm.
