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The sexual abuse of children by strangers: its extent, nature and victims' characteristics
Author(s) -
Gallagher Bernard,
Bradford Michael,
Pease Ken
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1002/chi.724
Subject(s) - seriousness , sophistication , sexual abuse , psychology , criminology , phenomenon , child abuse , social psychology , developmental psychology , sociology , poison control , suicide prevention , medicine , political science , social science , medical emergency , law , physics , quantum mechanics
This paper reports a school‐based questionnaire survey conducted among 2420 children aged nine to 16 years. It examines the extent of stranger abuse, its nature and the characteristics of victims. The research contains complex messages in terms of the ‘seriousness’ of stranger abuse and identifies a number of challenges to understanding this phenomenon. It highlights the need for much more sophistication in debates over, and policy and practice responses to, stranger abuse. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.