Helen Beckett and Jenny Pearce: Understanding and Responding to Child Sexual Exploitation

Adolescents are a vulnerable class in the legal system and protecting them from abuse and exploitation is a global goal. Understanding and Responding to Child Sexual Exploitation, edited by Helen Beckett and Jenny Pearce, tackles contemporary perspectives and prevention/response tactics on child sexual exploitation (CSE) in the UK. Part I of the book conveys understandings of the definition of CSE and the factors that play into it, like the population it affects, disclosure of CSE, and intersectionality. Part II showcases the different forms of preventive measures the UK has taken to combat CSE and the results of those measures. While reading deeper into this book, it is obvious that the audience the authors hope to reach is other researchers, government personnel, community outreach personnel, and both nonprofessionals and professionals who report abuse. The book, although commended for their efforts, was limited in elements like explaining scenarios of sexual exploitation and describing warning signs to parents, teachers, etc. The Understanding and Responding to Child Sexual Exploitation research book is good-intentioned and knows that there is far more research to be done on this quite new topic, but the base-line work that the book focuses on is a good start to understanding and preventing the realms of CSE. …