There will be a national enquiry into the grooming gangs

[inkognitha]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/14/keir-starmer-national-inquiry-grooming-gangs

Posting here for traffic

YABU: this was unnecessary
YANBU: this was the right thing to do

Why haven't the Rochdale rape gang leaders been deported? This was supposed to happen years ago but apparently their human rights are more important than those of their victims. Must be incredibly traumatic and terrifying for their victims to know that their rapists are walking around free and consecutive governments don't give a shit about their victims.

Exactly my point!

Why is that not in the definition and the definition should clearly state this is rape not sex and that this is force and abuse not a reciprocal choice. The definition says implies it is a choice which it shouldn't be. The definition used to call it child prostitution and basically all they did was remove the word prostitute so the wording is still saying that without the word prostitute in there.

It is on the gov legislation site about sexual offences.

Everyone going on about 30 years ago, this was happening in Sheffield and Rotherham with taxi gangs less than 10 years ago

It still is in my own east midlands city, @ohdelay, and on the subject of taxi drivers a fresh nuance has appeared

Obviously there's a requirement for these to be registered, but private hire vehicles are now arriving without taxi plates or any other form of ID to confirm the driver is who they're supposed to be

Clearly nobody would suggest every taxi driver is a menace waiting to spring, but such laxity hardly helps, and neither does the council's refusal to do anything about it

I see. We don’t lock disgusting rapists up anymore because our prisons are full? Trotting that line out just illustrates your ignorance.

What we ‘do’ is lock these filthy c*s up and let them rot in the numbers wing where there is space btw with all the other pedophiles and mad sickos.

everyone involved in the cover up should be prosecuted.

I found this:

Child sexual exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse. The same 2018 HM Government report, ‘Working together to safeguard children’, defines “child sexual exploitation” as:

“…where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into sexual activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator. The victim may have been sexually exploited even if the sexual activity appears consensual. Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology”.

Is this what you mean? You think sexual activity should be changed to rape? Rape is a specific criminal offence and not all sexual activity is rape.

The whole Human Rights fiasco should carry a sliding scale, if you commit a crime then your HRs are reduced, those who don't commit crimes should be protected from those who do. HR is yet another card to carry to keep out of jail etc..

I agree not all grooming leads to rape but almost all does so rape should be in there as one element of CSE should it not? Quite a weird take on crime - we cannot mention rape for those that are because some are not raped. Most are so yes we well can mention it and should. There is absolutely no reason why we cannot say raped.

However we can name sexual assaults instead of sexual activity no? Activity implies a choice and consent. Assault says it is not. It could say rape and sexual assault but it says sexual activity as that is specific in ensuring that consent is not there.

I engage in sexual activity with my partner but he has never assaulted or raped me. Sexual activity is not rape or assault.

I don't agree and think you're tilting at windmills. Sexual assault and rape are specific crimes. Sexual activity includes anything sexual such as watching porn, sexting, filming, nudes and anything sexual that the child may believe is consensual.

Yes they are and they are part of this crime. You do not agree that penetrating a child with a penis without consent is not rape or penetrating a child with a finger is not sexual assault? What the actual fuck?

That is not sexual activity that is sexual abuse. Sexual abuse can be contact or non-contact of which the watching porn etc is part of. Why should we label it something different when it comes to gang crime and non-gang crime?

So it is abuse in the home but in a gang it is not abuse it is activity with a child? How can you justify saying it is not abuse when it is done by a gang but it is abuse when it is one adult?

Why are we frightened to call it what it is. My flabber is gasted at how many people will defend not calling it what it is. Abuse, assault and rape. Why are we pussyfooting around these abusers and rapists because we are too frightened to call it what it is?

You've completely lost me. I said that rape and sexual assault are specific crimes; I didn't say that those crimes aren't serious or don't happen. Sexual activity covers all sexual related crime as well as rape and sexual assault.

You keep misrepresenting people’s points on here . It’s not doing you any favours.

I came across a piece in The Spectator by Julie Bindel, titled "Grooming gangs inquiry is welcome – but too late." www.spectator.co.uk/article/grooming-gangs-inquiry-is-welcome-but-too-late/

Before anyone reaches for the smelling salts at the mention of The Spectator, it’s worth acknowledging that the magazine has consistently covered this issue, along with others relating to sex-based advocacy that are too often ignored — or dismissed as far-right posturing. I’m looking at you, Guardian.
I believe in reading a broad range of sources, especially when they’re prepared to confront difficult or uncomfortable subjects head-on.

Julie Bindel, for those unfamiliar, is a left-wing radical feminist who has campaigned for women’s rights for over 30 years. Her perspective is not rooted in sensationalism, but in long-standing, often courageous advocacy.
She makes two major points:

1. A national inquiry into grooming gangs is long overdue. Local investigations have been painfully slow, lacked real powers, and frequently failed to confront institutional failings.
2. Media silence and official inaction were driven, in part, by fear — fear of being labelled racist, of disrupting community cohesion, or of attracting reputational damage. This, Bindel argues, allowed years of harm to be swept under the rug.

Her central argument is that this must not remain a left-versus-right issue. Accountability and justice cannot be sacrificed to political tribalism. The crimes were real. The victims were real. And the institutions that failed them must be held to account — regardless of how uncomfortable that may be for certain parts of the political or media establishment.

You were saying that we cannot use them as they do not apply to all. I said yes that is correct not all are raped but we can put it in the definition as being this is one element of CSE.

Sexual activity is what I do with my partner and is consensual activity so why would you want to include consensual activities in a child crime definition as then it implies a choice which is what the definition originally said. That is why it is in there because originally it was defined as a choice. It is in there because this was called prostitution and they just removed that label from the top of the paragraph.

It is rape, abuse and sexual assault. We are too scared to say those words when it comes to these cases.

Not doing myself favours by saying it is rape, sexual assault and abuse?

It is those three things so why not say it? the reason it isn't written as those three things is that the definition prior to today said it was a choice and they just removed the word prostitute that is why.

Prostitution - engaging in sexual activity in exchange for money, drugs etc.
Rape of a child - engaging in sexual activity in exchange for money, drugs etc.

See the correlation?

We'll have to agree to disagree. I see nothing wrong with the definition.

Of course you have every right to agree. I do not as I do not think that consensual activity should be in any child abuse/rape/sexual assault definition. I think it should be specific to ensure that the child is never blamed or it is ever suggested that they consented. We can agree to disagree.

Sure. Enjoy your day.

You too

Right here the link to Baroness Caseys report :

https://t.co/wm6olbZyT6

Interesting paragraph

The 2020 Home Office paper183, ‘Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation:
Characteristics of Offending’, which we discuss in chapter 4, reached a conclusion
that “it seems most likely that the ethnicity of group-based CSE offenders is in line
with CSA more generally and with the general population, with the majority of
offenders being White.” It is quoted and requoted in official reports, the media and
elsewhere as proof that claims made about ‘Asian grooming gangs’ are
sensationalised or untrue, although this audit found it hard to understand how the
Home Office paper reached that conclusion, which does not seem to be evidenced in
research or data.

Quite frankly anyone who says the majority of offenders of group based cse is white is lying .

Quite frankly anyone who says the majority of offenders of group based cse is white is lying

Yes, and this being stated at the outset restores some trust that this won't be another exercise in diluting the truth behind a wall of misinformation.

Yes . It feels as if we’ve been gaslit by the authorities.

So the ethnicity of the perpetrators was a factor in the failure to protect these girls.

All those posters who told us we were racist / far right etc should be ashamed.

• A report into sexual abuse carried out by grooming gangs in England and Wales says there was a "collective failure to address questions about the ethnicity of grooming gangs"
• The ethnicity of grooming gangs is "shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators", it finds
• But the report says in areas where more data was recorded, there was a "disproportionality of group-based child sexual exploitation offending by men of Asian ethnicity"
• Baroness Louise Casey - leading the audit - was asked by the prime minister to review new and existing data, including the ethnicity and demographics of these gangs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6292x36d4pt

This is pathetic by Starmer. He was head of the CPS when this was all going on. There was clearly a cover up at the time yet this enquiry will uncover nothing other than the usual "lessons will be learned" BS.

I'll probably be flamed for saying this, but I think that along with Ethnicity, they should also have details on which countries these men or their parents originally came from and what their religion is. If they had this data, they would definitely see some patterns.

And I say this as an Asian woman!!