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Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys ~refugee pea #59
Posts: 3,149
Jun 25, 2014 19:51:11 GMT
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Post by back to *pea*ality on Sept 9, 2014 22:29:43 GMT
I saw an article about this on Facebook and then by google search found this documentary about systematic sexual abuse of girls in the UK town over a long period of time. I have not seen anything in the US news.
From BBC website-
The independent inquiry, by Professor Alexis Jay, found that at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited in the northern English town of Rotherham by gangs of men who were predominantly of Pakistani origin between 1997 and 2013. Her report said that girls as young as 11 were raped by "large numbers of male perpetrators". It spoke of the "collective failures" of political, police and social care leadership over the first 12 years the inquiry covered.
The sexual abuse of children is a global concern, but the Rotherham story also contains elements about race, culture, secrecy, policing and public scrutiny and other issues that add to its importance as a story.
How did police, press, politicians and professional agencies fail address the issue, and why was it such a struggle for victims to be heard?
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uksue
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,597 
Location: London
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Post by uksue on Sept 9, 2014 23:07:29 GMT
I am still getting my head around this, especially as I used to work in child protection ( not in that area!)and find it hard to believe the attitude of those who were involved in this scandal.
I have experienced my own frustrations in working with police and social workers with, quite frankly, a total lack of skill and care in this area, but nothing to this extent.
I have heard several people say that part of the problem was that police and other agencies didn't want to appear racist in following up on complaints, but I think this is too simplistic/a total cop out. This is not the first scandal of its kind in the UK, and I am sure it won't be the last- I honestly don't believe that the inherent currupt attitudes/neglect of that era will be confined to that small area of the country.
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back to *pea*ality
Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys ~refugee pea #59
Posts: 3,149
Jun 25, 2014 19:51:11 GMT
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Post by back to *pea*ality on Sept 9, 2014 23:47:42 GMT
uksue have arrests been made are these perpetrators going to face trial? Do you have a statute of limitations?
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Post by I-95 on Sept 10, 2014 0:44:50 GMT
That's absolutely horrifying. HTH did they get away with it for so long, and with so many victims? Didn't ANYONE stand up for these children. It seems like half the town knew it was happening.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:09:22 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2014 0:50:25 GMT
What's scary is how recent these events happened. I can partly see how it is a cultural thing. Look at how long the sex abuse happened in the Catholic church before it became public.
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Post by austnscrapaddict on Sept 10, 2014 1:35:49 GMT
Wow! This hits close to home, my ex husband grew up in Rotherham, his mother was a school Matron there and very good friends of his/ours are polic officers in Rotherham.... Scary stuff for such an industrial backward town.
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Post by gar on Sept 10, 2014 8:22:55 GMT
uksue have arrests been made are these perpetrators going to face trial? Do you have a statute of limitations? No arrests yet although police chief is vowing the perpetrators will face justice. Too soon for arrests. An independent inquiry has begun but at the moment it's all about blame and who should or shouldn't resign  |
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,203
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Sept 10, 2014 8:43:26 GMT
Here's a link to some key dates, a group of five men were jailed in 2010. Why the Police Commissioner, who was the councillor in charge of children's services, has not resigned is beyond me. The wholesale failure of the system is shocking.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28955170 |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:09:22 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2014 9:19:03 GMT
It's just sickening what has been going on there. What makes it just as sickening is the people in positions of authority that are there to protect the vulnerable, have chosen to either sweep it all under the carpet, others were so naive in thinking that it wasn't happening or kept quiet for fear of being called racists. I just can't get my head round the fact that NOBODY spoke out about this......someone, somewhere must have known what was going on. You can't have trafficking,grooming,rape and other sexual exploitation on this scale without someone,somewhere knowing about it,you just can't. I read this report this morning It's all very well for her to say now that they knew but she also has to ask herself the question...if she knew the Pakistani community knew what was going on then why didn't she do something about it? |
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Post by anxiousmom on Sept 10, 2014 10:09:27 GMT
This came up in my twitter feed the other day (I follow the BBC feed) and read several articles about what is going on. It was astounding to me that there were so many children involved in such a small geographical area over such a long period of time.
It is like a perfect storm of evil and indifference...you know?
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back to *pea*ality
Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys ~refugee pea #59
Posts: 3,149
Jun 25, 2014 19:51:11 GMT
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Post by back to *pea*ality on Sept 10, 2014 10:19:44 GMT
It's just sickening what has been going on there. What makes it just as sickening is the people in positions of authority that are there to protect the vulnerable, have chosen to either sweep it all under the carpet, others were so naive in thinking that it wasn't happening or kept quiet for fear of being called racists. I just can't get my head round the fact that NOBODY spoke out about this......someone, somewhere must have known what was going on. You can't have trafficking,grooming,rape and other sexual exploitation on this scale without someone,somewhere knowing about it,you just can't. I read this report this morning It's all very well for her to say now that they knew but she also has to ask herself the question...if she knew the Pakistani community knew what was going on then why didn't she do something about it? I read the article and it mentions terrorism although not linking it to these crimes. Do you think there is a possibility these illegal activities finance terrorism? |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:09:22 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2014 10:38:57 GMT
This came up in my twitter feed the other day (I follow the BBC feed) and read several articles about what is going on. It was astounding to me that there were so many children involved in such a small geographical area over such a long period of time. It is like a perfect storm of evil and indifference...you know? Not that it makes any different to the horrifying things that has been going on there but you have to appreciate that the numbers involved was over a period of 16 years and not that number for 16 years. If that makes sense. If someone had spoken out 16 years ago about this then so many of them wouldn't have victims in later years.......that is what makes it horrific.......people in authority shut their eyes to it over a number of years and let it continue with more victims. These children/teens were vulnerable to start with, they usually are when grooming starts and were easy targets but no one in authroity was prepared to stand up and be counted and protect them.......sickening! |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:09:22 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2014 11:16:52 GMT
It's just sickening what has been going on there. What makes it just as sickening is the people in positions of authority that are there to protect the vulnerable, have chosen to either sweep it all under the carpet, others were so naive in thinking that it wasn't happening or kept quiet for fear of being called racists. I just can't get my head round the fact that NOBODY spoke out about this......someone, somewhere must have known what was going on. You can't have trafficking,grooming,rape and other sexual exploitation on this scale without someone,somewhere knowing about it,you just can't. I read this report this morning It's all very well for her to say now that they knew but she also has to ask herself the question...if she knew the Pakistani community knew what was going on then why didn't she do something about it? I read the article and it mentions terrorism although not linking it to these crimes. Do you think there is a possibility these illegal activities finance terrorism? Difficult to say really but I'm guessing that it's more to do with" male" satisfaction There's no doubt that some ( and I really do mean some) younger members of the Pakistani communities think that young white girls are there to be exploited. There happens to be Eastern European Roma involved in this too. The easiest target are the girls that are vulnerable to start with. The ones that are from broken homes,gone off the rails etc. Certainly they are easier to groom. No one cares for them to start with so if someone shows them any attention/emotional attention then they fall for it. No different to on-line grooming really. Because of their culture the perpetrators don't " recruit" from their own communities. They wouldn't shame their own as their women are suppose to be pure if you know what I mean. I'm not specifically blaming the whole of the Pakistani community but it does seem they are the ones that are doing this but by no means only.They do come from any background. There was a case not so long ago in Rochdale link. Thankfully that was dealt with before it carried on for the number of years that this has been going on. |
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