GrannyGravy13
I couldn’t care less if the perpetrators were/are blue with pink spots.
I do care that the girls need to be listened to, that the police investigate the people/agencies the girls site as abusers and/or enablers.
This must be done without fear or favour, regardless of ethnicity or position in society.
I agree 100%
I would add that it is true that reporting of the cases was treated carefully because of a wish to avoid racial tension, but the difficulty in proving guilt was separate from that.
The victims (and IMO the girls were absolutely victims) did ‘consent’ to what happened, and there were complicated circumstances surrounding the way it all happened, so it wasn’t clear cut, legally.
We need better legislation to protect vulnerable people, but there are, of course, difficulties with determining who they are and how far their apparent freedoms can be curtailed in their best interests.
The girls were abused because they were poor, not properly protected, and looking for ‘love’ without a clear understanding of what that means. The men abused them because they could, because all of the above made the girls vulnerable, and possibly because cultural factors made the women in their demographic circles ‘off limits.
I am offering no excuses there, but suggesting that laws and policies need to recognise all of the factors and put the girls’ needs first. Teenagers in general, and cared-for teens in particular are complex and often difficult to manage, but we (as a society) have to find a way to do it. It is shameful that we can’t.