According to figures from Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI), the number of children under 18 who allegedly abused other children of the same age or younger has increased by 18 percent in the past year.
he hidden world of peer abuse takes place in classrooms, at bus stops and even in playgrounds across the country. Gardaí says nearly 200 young people under the age of 16 committed assault and rape over a two-year period.
Rape crisis centers in several countries, including Mayo, Kerry, Waterford and Carlow, have seen the number of referrals rise within a year. Donegal saw a 50 percent increase in the number of victims under 16 seeking help over the summer, with the youngest being just 12 years old.
According to the data, there were 103 victims of sexual abuse under the age of 18 asking for help in crisis centers in 2021 and 132 so far this year. There were 39 alleged abusers under the age of 18 reported in 2021 and 46 so far this year.
“What we have observed is that the level of physical violence associated with sexual assault has escalated severely in recent months,” said Marina Porter, the manager of the Center for Sexual Abuse and Rape in Donegal. “We’ve also seen multiple offenders increase in one crime and this is very worrying.”
Tusla has described peer-to-peer sexual abuse as a “very complex area of practice” and said a number of agencies are involved in responding to such allegations, including medical forensics, sexual assault treatment units, mental health services for children and adolescents (CAMHS) , and Barnahus, among others.
“Tusla will notify An Garda Síochána in all cases of sexual or physical abuse, and in any case where a crime is suspected,” a spokesperson said.
Gardaí registered 97 assault and rape suspects under the age of 16 in 2019; and 79 in 2020. The data has a one-year delay to allow time for the studies.
New figures collected by RCNI also show a 28 percent increase in the number of abuse survivors under the age of 18 who visited seven of its centers.
The RCNI survey shows that abusers target people of the same age or younger, and this pattern has not changed in the past year.
“If you ask me why we don’t have the services we need to deal with this problem, it’s because it’s hard for us to face this really ugly thing happening – that our kids are abusing our kids. , RCNI director director Clíona Saidléar said.
“And now we’re seeing an increase in the number of children coming to us because of that.”
One of the reasons is that crisis centers have received additional funding, which has allowed them to increase their counseling hours by 30 hours a week.
In addition, a number of services have seen greater involvement of mothers who have brought their children for help, while some centers have seen increased inter-agency work and greater involvement with social workers and schools.
Clíona Saidléar of the RCNI says peer abuse is hard to face. Photo by Steve Humphreys
Ms Saidléar said her organization flagged the issue of peer abuse nearly 10 years ago when it asked for specific services to address it – and still sounded the alarm.
“We really need to talk about that child offender and deal with it. It has been a very long time since 2013 when we said at that time that we need dedicated services around these issues and the need for prevention. We are still in the early stages of developing these services,” she says.
Most survivors of child sexual violence who visit crisis centers for counseling and support are adults who have been victims of historical abuse.
The median length of time between committing sexual violence and the survivor’s access to counseling and support shows significant differences between those who are victims of sexual violence at different life stages.
For those who are victims of sexual assault between the ages of 13 and 17, the median time between the onset of the abuse and coming to a crisis center is eight years.
For those who are victims of sexual violence under the age of 13, the median time between the onset of the abuse and arrival at a crisis center is 33 years.
“A child offender starts around puberty and that is mainly boys. In children under the age of 12, the abuse usually takes place in their own home or at the perpetrator’s home. When you get into the teens, it’s different locations, like outdoors or other social settings,” said Ms Saidléar.
According to the RCNI data, minor survivors revealed that almost all perpetrators were boys or men (99 pc) and a small number were girls or women (1 pc).
Exposure to and easy access to pornography on smartphones or computers may be one of the reasons why schoolboys are abusive, added Ms Saidléar, who believes society has “facilitated that mentality and we need to be reasonable about it”.
“The message in it is how the bodies of women and girls should be objectified and treated and how boys have that right. How we sexualize women’s bodies is the biggest problem. The second is the opportunity and in this case the technology and ease of access.”
She has also noted a “desire to romanticize child-to-child sexual activity,” saying she’s “seen a push over the age of majority by some, a push on the boundaries, and we’ll seeing people talking about Romeo and Juliet screenplays”. We’re like, no, no, there’s sexual violence, coercion, physical violence, this is abuse. No matter what some think it’s not from a love story – this is about abuse and violence.
“For a long time it was denied that it was even possible for a child to abuse another child and I think some have resistance to accept that this is a problem because it is a very hard truth to face.
“We do know that adolescent programs really work, to tell these children something different. But this is a long-standing problem and it’s time we all had those conversations about how to tackle it.”