{Child abuse: statistical claims}[19th June 1990]

[Redbook7:153][19900619:1225]{Child abuse: statistical claims}[19th June 1990]

19900619.1225

I keep coming across Esther Rantzen’s* estimate that Childline receives 10,000 calls a week from abused children (of whom only 1,000 get through). But if each call represents an abused child,** between the ages of 5 (old enough to call) and (say) 15 (able to leave home etc.), and if the average lifespan is 70, then every year, of our c(15-5)/70 x 50,000,000 = c7 million children of 5-15, 10,000 x 365*** = c3,500,000, or one half, are abused. Can this be?****

*[A TV show presenter with her own show]

**otherwise why make the claim? <900621>

***[The correct figure here should of course be 52 not 365, so 10,000 x 52 = 520,000; 520,000 / 7,000,000 =c7.5%, still a surprisingly high figure though nothing like as implausible as the original mistake suggested.]

****{??}

[No. See last previous fn=***. above]

[This does assume that there are no repeat attempts to get through, which seems unlikely but was, I think, rather the implication of the estimate and the way it was presented.]

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