Call for action on youth sex offences

The head of a specialist therapeutic service for children has said Garda figures showing a rise in sexual offences involving juveniles “totally tallies” with their experiences — and repeated calls for urgent action.

CARI chief executive Mary Flaherty said they had seen a rise in calls to their helpline in relation to under 12s engaging in harmful sexual behaviour and said it was at least in part due to exposure to pornography online.

The 2017 annual report of the Garda Juvenile Diversion Programme Monitoring Committee found a 20% jump in reported sexual offences committed by a juvenile, increasing from 334 in 2016 to 400 in 2017.

It included a 37% increase in sexual assaults (non-aggravated), from 163 to 224, and a 181% jump in child pornography (as described in the report), from 21 to 59.

Nine involved “consensual peer-to-peer sharing” of images, 20 were consensual peer-to-peer sharing of personal images then shared online “without consent” and nine cases involved the taking of images without consent and sharing online.

The report said: “They were actions taken by children not aware that their actions constitute offences contrary to the Child and Pornography Act 1998. Where the sharing of images was not consensual, it occurred with the motivation of carrying out a prank or cyberbullying.”

It said the increase “highlights the need for appropriate modernised legislation” and “educating children about their behaviour and safety online”.

This included “increasing awareness that the sharing of images of themselves or their peers under 18 years of age is a criminal offence under current legislation”.

It said 47 of 355 sexual offences involved defilement (sex with a child under the age of 15 or 17). In 30 of the 47 cases, the “offender and injured party were in a relationship and had made the mutual decision to engage in sexual behaviour”.

It said: “In many cases, both parties were not aware that by engaging in such behaviour, the male was committing a criminal offence.”

Commending the analysis, Ms Flaherty said: “These are alarm bells we have been ringing for years.

“We are seeing the impact of online pornography on under 12s. Whether they are looking at adult or child pornography, the people they are acting out on are other children. If the behaviour starts in at that age, when they go on into their teens it is more serious.”

She said more needed to be done on education: “We are constantly saying people don’t treat online as real. You don’t go around with naked pictures in your pocket and hand it out. Images taken and uploaded is often in the context of bullying or spite in a broken relationship.

“We urgently need to look at the legislation — the consequences on young people, particularly young males, where there is a consensual relationship is very, very, serious.”

Ms Flaherty called on Oireachtas committees to act on the Garda report.

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