Publications & Resources

Our ‘Key messages from research’ papers aim to provide succinct, relevant information for frontline practitioners and commissioners. They bring together the most up-to-date research into an accessible overview, supporting confident provision of the best possible responses to child sexual abuse. This paper focuses on child sexual abuse within institutions or organisations and was updated in 2023 (see second edition, renamed as 'Key messages from research on child sexual abuse in institutional contexts).

An update of the original July 2017 version, this report brings together a wealth of evidence relating to the scale and nature of child sexual abuse into a single document. It reviews prevalence estimates of child sexual abuse, summarises published research into the scale of child sexual exploitation, and analyses the official data on recorded cases of child sexual abuse that have entered the criminal justice and child protection systems.

Our ‘Key messages from research’ papers aim to provide succinct, relevant information for frontline practitioners and commissioners. They bring together the most up-to-date research into an accessible overview, supporting confident provision of the best possible responses to child sexual abuse. This paper focuses on children and young people who display harmful sexual behaviour and was updated in 2023 (see second edition).

Our ‘Key messages from research’ papers aim to provide succinct, relevant information for frontline practitioners and commissioners. They bring together the most up-to-date research into an accessible overview, supporting confident provision of the best possible responses to child sexual abuse. This paper was updated in 2023.

This review by the Connect Centre for International Research on Interpersonal Violence, commissioned by the CSA Centre, was produced to inform its work on improving data currently collected in England and Wales. This study looks at differences in self-report survey methodologies to research rates of victimisation and perpetration.

This briefing reflects on the learning from a series of five scoping studies commissioned by the CSA Centre concerning perpetrators of child sexual exploitation, and sets out how the CSA Centre’s next steps will build on this work.

The first report in the Child sexual exploitation perpetrators research programme. This report investigates the backgrounds of young people identified for child sexual exploitation concerns as perpetrators, the nature and range of their sexual behaviours, and the range of victims targeted. It was written by Simon Hackett, Durham University, and Stephen Smith, Durham Constabulary.

The second report in the Child sexual exploitation perpetrators research programme. The report investigates the characteristics of those who commit child sexual abuse and identify the nature and dynamics of their behaviours, their motivations and the way they target and exploit their victims.

The third report in the Child sexual exploitation perpetrators research programme. The report investigates the characteristics of those who commit child sexual exploitation, and identifies the nature and dynamics of their behaviours, their motivations and the way they target and exploit their victims.

The fourth report in the Child sexual exploitation perpetrators research programme. This report ascertains whether any current interventions exist specifically for adult male perpetrators of child sexual exploitation involving physical contact, identifies areas of promising practice and any evidence of their effectiveness, gathers expert views on what an appropriate approach to an effective intervention for this group would be.