Prevalence of Child Sex Rings
1 The University Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, The General Infirmary at Leeds, Leeds, England
Within a geographically defined population of 710,000, 31 child sex rings were identified by the police during a 2-year period. A total of 47 male perpetrators aged 16 to 82 years and 334 children aged 4 to 15 years were involved. The perpetrators usually operated alone or in pairs. Three rings were expanding and developing into semicommercial enterprises, however and four or more men participated in them. Children acting as ringleaders recruited victims for the perpetrator in 22 rings, usually in exchange for money. The offenses reported included fondling and masturbation (30 rings), oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse (21 rings), and production of child pornography (two rings). In addition, two adolescent prostitution rings involving 12- to 18-year-old boys were investigated by the police. During the 2-year period these sex rings accounted for 4.6% of all cases of child sexual abuse reported to the police and 6.6% of the subsequent prosecutions.
Key Words: sexual abuse • child pornography • child prostitution
Submitted on May 5, 1987
Accepted on May 10, 1988
