Splintered Lives - Barnardo's

PAGE 60
chapter
9
are recruited into sex rings at 8/9, who as they get older then may then 'move on' (many
are probably passed on) to a ring which abuses adolescents, and when they are no
longer wanted/required move through to the 'rent' scene.
In series of 40 sex ring cases examined by Lanning and Wolpert Burgess (1984) almost
half of the abusers used an occupation (teacher, camp counsellor, doctor, scout leader,
photographer, school bus driver) to secure access. In these instances children were
already known to the adults, but other strategies provide access to unknown children,
such as advertising for help with housework, babysitting, or waiting at locations
runaways tend to frequent. They describe organised abusers as skilled 'child
psychologists', who use this knowledge to find and entrap vulnerable children. Wolpert
Burgess et al (1984) argue that what is involved is an:
... elaborate socialization process that not only binds them to the ring but locks them
into patterns of learned behaviours... a peer network that forces a pattern of
adaption which perpetuates sexually aggressive and potentially sadistic behaviours
(p657).
This process involves variable combinations of enticement, cajolement, entrapment and
a system of obligations, rewards and threats. One of the most effective strategies is for
the adult/s to act benevolently and pit the children against each other. Wild (1989)
confirms this pattern in British contexts, commenting that children: "are vulnerable to
surprisingly powerful combination of bribery and threats that are often used to great
skill" (p558).
Lanning and Wolpert Burgess (1984) provide a case history of 'Ralph' who minutely
detailed, on computer, records of the 400 boys and few girls he abused including an
index of pornography he produced. He developed an elaborate competitive hierarchy
based on various sexual acts; he thus ensured both that the children would not build
alliances with each other, and that they would compete with each other to be sexual
with him. All of the children when interviewed by the police "stated that Ralph was a
very nice man who was individually concerned about each of them. He paid them for
their work" (pp12-13).
It is important to remember that some adults use their own children. James Incardi's
study (1984) involved nine girls who were all living at home, and all 'introduced' to the
sex industry by their carers:
their early and repeated observations of sexual activity combined with the guidance
of a parent or other relative provided them with an easy transition into the worlds of
pornography and prostitution (p76).
Also we need to be mindful that some children's involvement is not influenced by adult
benevolence and manipulation, but by threats, coercion and force.