The Home Office’s grooming report is an exercise in obfuscation

The Home Office review into the grooming of young white girls into rape and sex slavery, which Home Secretary Priti Patel insisted that she see, and that it be released was finally released yesterday. According to the Daily Mail Miss Patel is disappointed in the limited data available. 

 ….poor data collection failed victims as it did not include characteristics including ethnicity. Home Secretary Priti Patel laid bare her disappointment into the investigation, which was sparked by Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford child abuse networks, themselves made up of men of mainly Pakistani origin. 

The review was published following criticism that victims had been failed due to political correctness and fear of accusations of racism. But Ms Patel said it had not been able to go far enough in her foreword to the findings.

She said: ‘Some studies have indicated an over-representation of Asian and Black offenders. However, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the ethnicity of offenders as existing research is limited and data collection is poor. This is disappointing because community and cultural factors are clearly relevant to understanding and tackling offending.

‘Therefore, a commitment to improve the collection and analysis of data on group-based child sexual exploitation, including in relation to characteristics of offenders such as ethnicity and other factors, will be included in the forthcoming Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy.’

The Spectator said 

…credit is due to Home Secretary Priti Patel for doggedly battling to ensure that ‘Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation – Characteristics of Offending’ ever saw the light of day. But when it comes to expecting her civil servants to answer the question about the extent to which Pakistani-heritage men make-up grooming gangs (which is, let’s face it, the main point at issue), the Home Secretary has been notably less successful.

For what has emerged is an exercise in self-deception via the turning of blind eyes, headlong rushes into obfuscation and the construction of straw men. In working-class towns like Rotherham and Telford, which saw hundreds of children abused by grooming gangs, this is not going to convince people the Government is taking the issue sufficiently seriously.

The top line of the report – absurdly, given the blanket media coverage of an apparently never-ending series of group trials involving scores of men of Pakistani heritage in recent years – is that grooming gangs come from ‘diverse backgrounds’.

Instead, it trots out irrelevances to lead itself away from the veritable elephant in the room. At one point it cites information from police forces suggesting that ‘the nationalities and ethnicities of offenders and suspects… varied considerably, including American, Angolan, Bangladeshi, Bengal, British…’ (etc. ad infinitum). Yet has anyone ever suggested that there are nationalities completely immune to taking part in group CSE? Not to my knowledge.

A lack of reliable data is repeatedly cited as a barrier to knowing whether some ethnic groups are really over-represented among the villains.

The Left wing press are happy and report with headlines such as 

Most child sexual abuse gangs made up of white men, Home Office report says Study of England, Scotland and Wales dispels myth of ‘Asian grooming gangs’ popularised by far right. The Guardian

Grooming gangs come from ‘diverse backgrounds’, says Home Office as review finally published. Report says that although high-profile cases involve Pakistani men, existing evidence does not prove a link to ethnicity. Independent

White men most likely to commit child sexual exploitation, says Home Office report  Socialist Worker

The Telegraph takes a thoughtful view of a little publicised element of the report

Middle-class girls groomed by Rotherham-style gangs are being overlooked by police because of victim stereotypes, a Home Office report has revealed.

The research into grooming gangs commissioned by the Home Office warned that there was a danger of stereotyping victims as being in care, often missing from home and ill-educated.

investigators should not “ignore cultural characteristics” which could explain offending, citing the case of Rotherham where police’ and social services’ fear of being branded racist stymied the investigation and their reliance on male community elders as a conduit of communication deterred victims from speaking.

The report disclosed there are 70 “live” investigations into grooming gangs across 32 police forces, which would suggest up to 100 across all 43 forces.

It said most of the groups’ child sex offenders were men under the age of 30. While offenders came from diverse backgrounds, the groups tended to be of men of the same ethnicities. Money and sex were  motivations as well as a sexual interest in children and misogyny. The gangs also appeared to operate with a sense of impunity, with the researchers citing an inspection of Rotherham by former Government adviser Louise Casey which attributed this to a “credulity gap.”

“[The] failure by agencies to grasp the scale, nature, and severity of offending enabled offenders to think they could not be touched.” said the research.

Ms Patel said the suffering of the young victims was “one of the biggest stains on our country’s conscience” who were “let down by the state in the name of political correctness.”

On one level it is correct that the gangs are an assortment of ethnicities. Pakistani Muslims are not exactly the same as Bangladeshi Muslims. Even within Pakistan there are several distinct ethnic groups. Somali gangs are different again, Kurds and Turks are different, as are Albanians. Just off the top of my head all these have been involved in “Rotherham style” grooming gangs in different towns. What they have in common is their islamic ideology, and their cultural view of the infidel girl as loot. Miss Patel knows this. Lets hope she is given the time, and retains the fortitude to see this through.