Splintered Lives - Barnardo's

working group comprising those who already have some form of data base, and
practitioners and researchers.
Additional recommendations (adapted from Council of Europe documentation) we
support in the creation of knowledge are:
�� the nature and extent of various forms of sexual exploitation, with a
cross cultural view;
�� structure, international networks, interconnections and earnings of the
sex industry;
�� the links between sex industry and organised crime;
�� links between sexual abuse in the family and prostitution and pornography;
�� who the consumers of child pornography and customers of child prostitution
are;
�� examination of the connections between residential care and involvement in the
sex industry;
�� outlining and evaluation of innovative approaches to working with children and
young people who are, and have been, involved in the sex industry;
�� the role of the criminal justice system in the prevention and repression of sexual
exploitation.
One issue which emerged during the research for this paper was the contention by
some that boys are more likely targets for sexual abuse rings, and the differential
attention to boys, in research, policing and prosecution. One key topic is, therefore, the
many ways in which gender is a factor in sexual exploitation (see earlier discussion on
paedophilia).
At least one analyst (Good, 1992), and some defence lawyers have suggested that
witnessing pornography could be the cause of children's distress which has attributed
to sexual abuse by clinicians. We need research on the impacts of various contacts with
pornography, in order that this is not used as way of questioning diagnoses of child
sexual abuse.
We still do not know enough about the impacts of being involved in sexual exploitation,
and more work needs to be done on the development of effective routes out.
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