The problem that can be identified in Germany is lack of mandatory reporting and central documentation of cases of child sexual abuse. Because of this it is difficult to estimate how big the problem of child sexual abuse is in this country. The only data that can be used for this purpose is data from the criminal law statistics, youths statistics and epidemiological data. From what is known from these sources is that cases of child sexual abuse are ten time higher than those of physical abuse, that recently the numbers have generally decreased, that most of the offenders are male and 16% of them are under the age of 18, and that the gender distribution of victims is one boy to three girls. From child welfare statistics it is known that in year 2000; 206,242 children received educational services outside their homes, and 274,573 children received counselling out of which 9,395 were suspected to be victims of sexual abuse (Raupp and Eggers, 1993).
German legal system can be described as inquisitorial, where policing is tried to be minimal, as well as surveillance and coercive intervention. Generally policing is characterised by participation, prevention, partnership and family support. The part of the German Criminal Code which is at most relevant to child sexual abuse, is article 179. In 1998 legislation was changed and punishments for child sexual abused have been increased. Previously child sexual abuse was an offence and now it is defined as crime. Convicted people must spend between 1-15 years in prison, depending on severity of the crime. The penalty for production of pornographic material with children is between 2 and 15 years. However in case when it is proved that production of such material is organized then the minimum penalty is 5years in prison. In 1998; 1,341 men, 12 women and 20juvenile were convicted under the article 179 of the Criminal Code. The problem that Germany faces is the fact that it has a federal structure, where in every state there is a different law and it is sometimes difficult for the legal system and child protection services to help children and prevent child sexual abuse (Herczog, M.,2003).
Next country which is going to be presented here is Poland. It is going to be an example of a country where there is still a lot work to do in order to create a good working child welfare system. It is a country where the situation is probably similar if not the same like in other eastern European countries. In Poland the knowledge about the problem of child sexual abuse is very limited. There are no police statistics which could give at least some kind of idea about the extend of the problem. There are no organizations which help children who have been victims of child sexual abuse. The only one in the whole country is the Nobody's Children Foundation which is placed in some bigger Polish cities. Children have nowhere to go to look for help, as well as teachers or doctors who discover that a child is sexually abused. They are very often willing to help a child but have to then start a very difficult search for institutions which can help victims of child sexual abuse. Not everyone however is ready to take this responsibility (Sobiech,1994).
The other very important aspect which may have an influence on this problem is Polish mentality. It is very characteristic for Polish people not to talk about personal problems publicly. Family problems are considered to belong only to the family, and they should not be spoken out. Very often it can be heard a typical phrase: “what other people are going to say!?”. There can be still voices heard about the exaggeration of the problem of child sexual abuse, and about plotting against polish families. Poland is a generally catholic country and the family is considered to be saint. That is why it is easy to understand that people become offended when somebody tries to say something wrong about the family member. It is something that may be probably difficult to understand by a person from western European country. The situation is probably worse in small villages, where elderly people have very conservative views about life, religion and family. Generally from the few social attitudes surveys that have been done, it is known that people think that child sexual abuse is the least form of child abuse, and only 61% of people would sentence a father to imprisonment for having sexual relationship with own child. Only 30% would sentence a father for imprisonment for watching pornographic films and magazines with a child (Fluderska and Sajkowska,2001).
The process of revealing the phenomenon of child sexual abuse in Poland started about ten years ago and it will probably take another ten to make a significant change to the system, and provide child victims of sexual abuse with help and support. The penalties for child sexual abuse are also not particularly high comparing to Germany for example. The punishment for sexual intercourse with somebody under the age of 15 is from 1 to 10 years imprisonment, the same punishment is for recording a pornographic material with a child. For sexual intercourse with a blood relative is from 3 months to 5 years, and for presenting pornographic material to a person who does not want it the person can get less than 1year and for selling, producing, displaying pornographic material with children younger than 15 years old, the penalty is between 3months and 5 years imprisonment (Herczog,M.,2003).
Finally the last country which is going to be presented here is United Kingdom. The English child protection system has been developed only over the past three decades, mostly because of public scandals that came to light and the big media pressure. Previously the situation of child protection was not very good. Now the law relating to protection of children in out-of-home situations has been tightened and several legislations have been developed that are supposed to make it difficult for paedophiles to work with children. In 1997 the Sex Offenders Register was introduced where convicted sexual offenders are put on, among them paedophiles. They have to stay in touch with the police, provide it with their current address and inform them even about planned holidays (Herczog, M.,2003). Also in 1999 the Protection of Children Act made it possible for the Department of Health to hold a list of people who are not suitable to work with children. Now employers can check whether the person they want to employ is on that list or not. Also every local authority in UK has a safety panel which meets every time when a high-risk offender is released from prison and moves into the area. They are supposed to discuss the potential danger for children living in that area and establish a plan to protect them. Previously the child protection did not focus that much on prevention of child sexual abuse, the main subject of their attention was investigation, assessment and monitoring. Now every area in UK has a Child Protection Committee, also in most areas there is a child protection co-ordinator who is in charge if the local child protection system. Also schools and police have child protection specialists. There are child protection registers where potential victims are put, children who are likely to be abused. When a child is put on this list, the above mentioned committee meets and they discuss what they can do in order to help the child (Herczog, M.,2003).
Very important changes have been made in the way the victims of child sexual abuse are treated. Years before children were not even allowed to give testimony in court, because it was thought that they can not in a position to give a corroborated evidence. This was changed only in 1988 so not that long ago. Now the victims are even allowed to testify via video in order to protect them from seeing their perpetrator again. What also was a very important change is that children are allowed to have a therapy before the process. Year ago it was impossible because people thought that a therapy before the process would “contaminate” the evidence. It means it could change child's testimony. Children also used to be separated from their families, would not be informed about the trial and would be asked intimidating and misleading questions by barristers. All these things were changed by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act in 1999 (Herczog, M.,2003).
Despite all the changes in the the English system and all these agencies and committees there is only very little known about the prevention of child sexual abuse. It has not been proved that all these things reduce the risk of sexual abuse. Children are educated at schools what increases their awareness, but it is not known this reduces the rate of abuse or only increases the rate of disclosure which is very low in UK. The majority of children still do not tell anyone about the abuse (Herczog, M.,2003).
The comparison of the situation on these three countries shows how different the problem of child sexual abuse can be dealt with. It is quite shocking that the situation can be so different in countries that are next to each other or not that far. It shows that it could be talked about the situation of the problem of child sexual abuse in eastern and western European countries. What can be taken for granted is the fact that the problem of child sexual abuse in every of these countries is bigger than people think and it does not matter where it is, this problem is present in every society. However the major problem that can be identified in all these three countries is lack of appropriate data, because all the numbers which describe the extend of the problem are only estimated. There is also lack of data like it can be seen in UK that would prove that all these programs ans laws that have been developed to prevent child sexual abuse are actually working. However the most concerning is the situation in Poland, where not only there are no statistics, but also no agencies helping children except the one which operates in some bigger cities in Poland. It can only be hoped that the situation will be changed quickly and that finally it will be possible to present concrete numbers to see how big the problem of child sexual abuse really is, not only in Poland but also in those two other countries.
Bibliography:
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Herczog, M. and May,.C (eds) (2003) Child Sexual Abuse in Europe, Strasbourg, Council of Europe: Council of Europe Publishing.
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Ruxton, S. (1996) Children in Europe, London: NCH Action for Children .
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Raupp, U., Eggers, C. (1993) “Sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern”, Monatsschr. Kinderheilkd, 141: 316-322.
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Sobiech, R. (1994) “The social problem of child abuse in Poland: the conflict between privacy and control”, in Maclean, M. Kurczewski J (eds) Families, Politics and the Law:Perspectives for East and West Europe, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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Fluderska, G., Sajkowska, M. (2001) The problem of child abuse. Attitudes and experiences of Polish adults. Warsaw: the Nobody's Children Foundation.
