More or Less: Behind the Stats Why is data on grooming gangs so bad?
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Jun 25, 2025 
Josephine Casserly, a dedicated reporter, dives into the troubling data surrounding grooming gangs, highlighting significant gaps in ethnicity reporting. She explains how two-thirds of cases lack ethnic categorization, impacting our understanding of crime. The conversation stresses the importance of comprehensive data for revealing accurate perpetrator demographics. Additionally, Casserly discusses how misconceptions about these figures can lead to biases and underreported incidents, raising critical questions about societal narratives.
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Incomplete Data on Grooming Gangs
- Data on the ethnicity of grooming gang perpetrators is highly incomplete and misleading.
- Around two-thirds of cases lack ethnicity info, making broad conclusions unreliable.
Localized Higher Asian Suspect Rates
- Some police forces with better data show a high proportion of Asian suspects in grooming cases.
- This is localized and may not represent the country overall.
Potential Bias and Low Reporting
- Focus on Asian grooming gangs may risk overlooking similar crimes by other ethnicities.
- Group-based exploitation accounts for about 5% of all child sexual abuse cases.
