When Should the Police Investigate Cases of Non-recent Child Sexual Abuse?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Relative strength of moral reasons generated by the presumption and considerations.

Table 1: Features of hypothetical cases and implications for decisions

Features of case	Reasoning and decision indicated
Case One Police are made aware of a potential offence against a victim of historical CSA by the local authority. The suspected offender is already in prison for unrelated matters and likely to remain there for many years to come. The potential victim has not approached the police to report the offence, and information suggests that they are mentally vulnerable and at risk of self harm.	In such circumstances, a case could be made out not to approach the potential victim, owing to the low threat posed by the offender, and the high risk of harm to the potential victim.
Case Two Police are made aware of a potential historical CSE case by the local authority; 20 years ago children regularly went missing from a care home, had numerous older “boyfriends”, and unexplained gifts and money. The case involves potentially many victims and dozens of offenders; some of whom are deceased, others in prison on unrelated matters, while others appear to no longer be offending. None of the potential victims have complained to the police.	Conducting an investigation on this scale is likely to be highly resource intensive and would have significant opportunity costs; an assessment of the resources required estimates that it would take a team of twelve officers working for maybe eighteen months to complete. Given that the threat posed by the potential offenders is low (owing to their being deceased, in prison, or no longer offending) and that the victims have not sought an investigation, a case could be made out not to conduct the investigation.
Case Three A report from a third party that a potential victim was subject to abuse twenty years ago as a child. There is no information to suggest vulnerability on the part of the victim, but they have not reported the abuse themselves. The suspect is now confirmed as deceased, and there is no suggestion of the involvement of other offenders.	In such circumstances, a case may be made out not to conduct an unsolicited visit to the potential victim, primarily since the threat posed by the perpetrator is now removed, and the potential to harm the victim remains. However, if the suspect were a person of public prominence such that there would be a significant impact on public confidence if the police did not conduct an investigation, then a case could be made out to investigate.
Case Four Information comes into the possession of the police via intelligence that there was historical CSA against a victim who has not reported it to the police. The potential victim has previously engaged in self-harm and is receiving support from the local authority. The potential offender continues to have access to children through working at a youth group and has a number of other low-level convictions for acquisitive crime.	In such circumstances, despite the risk of harm to the potential victim from an unsolicited police approach, the threat posed by the potential offender is such that it outweighs this risk. However, compensatory support must be provided to mitigate harm to the victim.