Court delays significantly impacting children, says NSPCC

Following on from the article by NSPCC and the impacts of court delays on those involved, the figures speak for themselves.

The average number of days between a defendant in child sexual abuse cases being charged and the criminal trial starting rose from 273 days in 2017/2018 to 423 days in 2022/2023.

This means that of the 5,513 outstanding child sexual abuse cases going through the crown courts this year victims will wait on average almost 14 months before their case even goes to trial.

For a child who is already experiencing trauma following the depression, suicidal thoughts or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a consequence of sexual abuse, the drawn-out process of waiting for a trial to start let alone come to completion can be extremely distressing.

Meanwhile, access to specific support to help them recover from the abuse can be scarce. Earlier this year, the NSPCC revealed that only 23% of local authorities say they offer specialised support for children in the form of independent and specially trained advisors.

Read out initial article here.