John Harris is correct that sexual offending by grooming gangs in many towns and cities across England over the past 20 years or so has heightened fears about the safety of women and girls and undermined community relations (Rightwingers warn of another blaze of summer riots in Britain – but they’re the ones striking the match, 10 August).
This being the case, it is vital to more fully understand the grooming problem by examining it in its wider context. It seems undeniable that the on-street grooming model that has so dominated our news often involves men of Pakistani heritage. However, research by the Home Office-funded Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme reveals that only 3.7% of the 115,489 child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) offences recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2023 (the most recent year for which figures are available) involved “group-based contact offences”, of which majority-Pakistani-heritage grooming gangs would have been just a part.
These figures also reveal that while Asian or British Asian individuals accounted for approximately 5% of all CSAE offenders, they make up roughly 9% of the British population over the age of 16 years, ie Asians are underrepresented in statistics relating to CSAE perpetrators.
Similarly, Asian or British Asian children represented 4% of CSAE victims. It could be argued then that political figures on the right and the left should be exploring why the Asian community is responsible for a disproportionately low amount of CSAE and examining what UK society might learn from this.
Dr Bernard Gallagher
Visiting fellow, Connect Centre for International Research on Interpersonal Violence and Harm, University of Central Lancashire
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