Sexual abuse focus can solve the criminal responsibility conundrum

The serious case review of more than a decade's child sexual exploitation in Oxford was published this month. The Prime Minister immediately declared a state of "national threat". Reading through the government's set of urgent actions - many well-founded, some demanding robust interrogation - I feel that nothing expressed yet feels like the kind of national soul-searching needed if we are to shed light on the question of how we must change. How is it possible that teenage victims were perceived by anyone, let alone professionals, as consenting to their own sexual abuse?

Soul-searching suggests a process in which we look inwards, rather than pointing blame outwards; a process of questioning ourselves, our culture, beliefs, laws and attitudes; a willingness to change ideas and systems previously held on to. I would hope, for example, soul-searching might turn us towards Sweden and their remarkable reductions in child abuse and murder, societal changes they trace back to their bold government decision to ban smacking.