Off the Record: Child Sex Abuse and the Exploitation of Girls within Reformatory and Industrial Schools during the Victorian Period

• In Event: EHC-WG Panel 5: Victims and Vulnerable Groups in Historical Criminology

Abstract

The scholarly exploration of child sex abuse, which gained prominence in the 1980s, has largely overlooked the experiences of girls who were placed in juvenile institutions in Victorian Britain. This critical yet underrepresented topic has significant implications for our understanding of the historical constructions of girlhood, victimhood, and the systemic prevalence of sexual abuse, particularly against working-class girls. This paper investigates cases of sexual abuse and exploitation through analysing records from three reformatory and industrial schools that were established in the nineteenth century. This paper will also examine the legacy of this Victorian discourse which routinely cast working-class girls as complicit in their own victimisation. Reflecting on contemporary reports, this paper highlights the legacy and implications in contemporary institutional failures to safeguard working class girls.

Author

• Dr Tahaney Alghrani, Hugh Baird University Centre