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17 - The right of abused children to protection by the criminal law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Jane Fortin
Jane Fortin
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Summary

Introduction

Children obviously have as much right to protection by the criminal law as adults and its use on their behalf clearly indicates that society will not condone their ill-treatment. Behaviour which leads to a child being made the subject of care proceedings under the Children Act (CA) 1989, section 31 may also result in the perpetrator facing criminal charges. Consequently, throughout a child protection investigation there should often be close collaboration between social workers and the police with a view to using both the civil and criminal law. Despite this, the criminal justice system, in many ways, casts a blight over the child protection system. There is a widespread perception amongst childcare practitioners that, as presently organised, the criminal justice system does not promote the welfare of children caught up in its processes and that its use may even victimise them over again. At every stage of the child protection process, efforts to help the child recover from the effects of abuse may be undermined by the prospect of criminal proceedings against the abuser. Sometimes the drive to obtain a conviction may prevail over the needs of the child victim.

If children, as a class, substantially benefited from criminal proceedings being brought against the perpetrators of abuse, this might justify individual children suffering in the process. The conviction rates do not, however, bear this out. It is notoriously difficult to obtain accurate statistics regarding the number of offences recorded against children.

Type
Chapter
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Children's Rights and the Developing Law , pp. 644 - 677
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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