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More than 1,000 students were victims of sexual assaults in schools in New South Wales in 2022, newly released data has shown, with a leading charity blaming children’s easy access to porn as a leading cause.
Reports of sexual touching and sexual assault in the state rose from 721 in 2021 to 1,121 in 2022, with the number steadily increasing every year since 2012, according to data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
This included 326 alleged victims of sexual assault, more than double the number of those recorded in 2021.
The data covers private and public secondary and primary schools across the state, and could include attacks outside of school hours.
More than 1,000 students were victims of sexual assaults in schools in New South Wales in 2022, newly released data has shown, with a leading charity blaming children’s easy access to porn as a leading cause (stock image)
Less than five per cent of the cases progressed to legal action. Of the 62 preparators that faced legal action, 60 were male.
Only 34 of the victims were over 18, and 615 victims were female.
Hayley Foster, chief executive of sexual assault advocacy group Full Stop Australia said the increase in child offences is down to access to porn.
‘There are serious numbers of young people, particularly girls and LGBTQI youth, experiencing sexual violence in high rates,’ she told Daily Telegraph.
‘We can’t have this conversation without talking about the availability and nature of the pornography children as young as nine or 10 are freely accessing on their devices.
‘Problematic, harmful behaviour is being normalised and young people are being traumatised by those experiences, which have serious and often lifelong impacts.
Hayley Foster (pictured), chief executive of sexual assault advocacy group Full Stop Australia, said the increase in child offences is down to access to porn
She added that students need ‘widespread, respectful relationship education’ specifically ‘dealing with consent so young people aren’t relying on pornography for their sex education’.
Crime rates in 2022 fell across many categories in NSW but those predominantly committed against women have bucked the trend.
The COVID-19 pandemic wildly disrupted criminal behaviour, resulting in unprecedented falls in crime across NSW, particularly in the volume of property offences.
But reports of domestic violence, sexual assaults and restraining order breaches were higher in the year to June, compared with the year to June, 2017, according to data released in September.
Consent education was introduced into curriculum for senior years at NSW schools in 2020.
Commander of the NSW Police Force Child Abuse Squad Linda Howlett added that police work closely with the education department to deal with sexualised behaviour in students.
‘We know that sometimes students are more comfortable confiding in a teacher or school counsellor, and we are encouraged that more are coming forward to report incidents,’ she said.
‘Some child offenders don’t realise that what they’re doing is a criminal offence – whether it’s taking photos or touching in an inappropriate manner – so we need to get them to understand the boundaries of what’s inappropriate and what’s criminal.’
