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

If this is a real nation-wide inquiry, not just England & Wales again, then hell yes it is needed. The situation in Scotland has been shocking for decades and is still horrifying, and very rarely acknowledged or talked about.

That's not the case, I care about victims of all ethnicities. The stats I've seen (which are hard to find) indicate that a disproportionate number of victims were white and working class, however, under-reporting is a problem across the board but particularly within ethnic minority communities, so there is a possibility that there is more than we know about.

https://news.sky.com/story/child-sex-abuse-and-grooming-gangs-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-from-the-data-13285420

The point is that it doesn't really matter the skin colour of the victims or perpetrators, it matters that there are so many children who weren't listened to or protected. We failed them, as a society.

True, but the beauty of having another will be that they can avoid implementing the recommended measures for now because they're "waiting on the report"

Not that there was likely to be any intention of implementing anything, but with Reform on the rampage they may feel the need to be seen doing something

Absolutely so the skin colour and class of the victims shouldn't even feature when we are talking about how appalling it was and still is for them. In excluding victims who are different ethnicities or class we are saying they do not matter.

We still continue to fail them as this is still going on today and so many are still not being listened to or protected. We still have a victim blaming attitude toward victims on the whole and education around this is still focusing on what the victim did wrong. We need a huge shift to make proper changes.

Wow. Just wow. You think accusations of racism is worse than the mass rape and torture of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable teenage girls and children?

New figures from the police database show that, where ethnicity data was available, 85% of “group-based” child abusers were white in the first three quarters of 2024

The key point that gets overlooked here, @saraclara, is that bit about "where ethnicity data was available", and as has been identified our authorities - often driven by the need not to appear to be racist - haven't reliably collected such data

Thank you for highlighting this, it gets said all the time and girls and women get shut down.

It will decades to complete. It’ll be a whitewash. And they’ll drag their feet so that anyone who could be held to account and anyone in government now will be long dead and not be able to be held accountable. The whole thing is a joke and everyone getting excited about a ln enquiry is naive.

Long overdue but I don’t have high hopes. It will be dragged out and I don’t anyone will be held accountable.

For all the 'racist' throwers, I'll leave this here :

• Spanish at one time raised complaints over "Brits drunkenness" when visiting their country. It was an observation. And I think a fair one at that.

By your standards : how dare they ? They should include all nationalities? Are they saying a German has never been drunk over there ? Hermann from my hotel in 2012 puked up in the bar ?

Not all Brits go there getting pissed? What about the ones that go there on walking holidays ? They're not getting drunk !

What about the Spanish ? Spanish have AA groups, so they've got alcoholics?

So , the Spanish are completely and utterly xenophobic for pointing out "Brits abroad drunkenness" - it's clearly not a thing and there's clearly no link is there ? No, they should include all nationalities, including their own in their problem with drunken antics.

See ? Doesn't work does it ? It's called whatabouttery

It’s posturing mostly and panicking about loss of support, earlier the request was ‘dog whistle’ apparently. They just lobbed insults and abuse instead.

I want justice for the victims mostly. Whether this will bring that seems to be an open debate. I can see Labour using this for their own political gains, a part of their 'we're going to stop the boats, actually' especially as Reform seem to be growing so popular. But we could deport every foreigner and close the borders and women and children will still be raped. The root of the issue isn't cultural though of course some cultures are more explicit in their misogyny, the root of the problem is patriarchy and that's something that transcends culture entirely. Should the men involved be held accountable, perpetrators and those complicit in covering up/brushing off the abuse? Absolutely. But the problem runs a lot deeper than many believe.

Why is ethnicity important?

If it looks as if certain ethnicities or groups have been particularly targeted that should be investigated.
If it looks as if the perpetrators in particular areas come from particular groups that fact should not be ignored. It should be acknowledged and addressed.
We look at ethnicity in lots of ways - health and education outcomes etc. it’s a way of making sure everyone gets fair treatment ( including white girls in the care system)

This. The "far right" and other grifters are latching onto this national tragedy because the so-called "decent" ones are determinedly blind to the issue.

Completely agree with this and @SquashedMallow

Absolutely- should have included Windrush!

Why is the ethnicity of the perpetrators important?

Because it's a complex issue and can hardly be addressed witthout all of its components being thoroughly examined

The price, of course, is causing community discomfort - or more realistically a loss of votes - but if that matters more to our authorities than the protection of children then they should say so

Not that it isn't already very obvious ...

It's not obvious. We've known for a long time that these particular gangs are of Pakistani descent. Why is it important ie what has been gained from that knowledge?

Instead of being vague eg it's 'complex' or 'all components need to be examined' - can you explain why it's important?

It's an England & Wales inquiry.
The Scottish government would have to call any kind of Scottish version of it themselves I believe.

So that any patterns of behaviour can be identified ,
Another example would be identifying patterns of child abuse from church ministries / sports clubs / scout masters etc.
Ignoring the fact that a number of child abusers in a particular area appear to come from a particular sub group of society is not helpful.

I also think that it provides a head up to thise particular communities need to internally address stuff. ( report suspicious stuff etc)

You haven't explained why it's helpful.

We should be focusing on why thousands of vulnerable girls were blamed for being victimised. These men preyed on them because they could, they acted with impunity for decades.

The victims were let down by every agency put in place to protect them: the care system, the police and social workers. We need to know what changes are being put in place to make sure this doesn't happen again.

I think that you should be prosecuted if you don't act on child abuse and I think that these agencies need to be overhauled if they're not effectively protecting children. Focusing on the ethnicity of the perpetrators, isn't particularly helpful.

It’s not just ethnicity. It appears be a small section of Pakistani decent that originated in rural tribal areas. What I have found particularly repulsive is how these gangs seem to be relatives, passing girls between bothers, fathers, uncles and cousins. While grooming gangs and abusers exist in all ethnicities and faiths, I’ve yet to see anything on this scale that involves whole families. Furthermore, the families and communities seem not to be ashamed of this behaviour. At least abusers in British culture are shunned and effectively banished.