I heard that on Radio 4 this morning. By definition, children under the age of consent CANNOT consent to sex, therefore it is abuse/rape depending upon the individual case. All of these cases are where the perpetrator has been found guilty, therefore the crime did happen.....I just do not understand. This is offensive and unfair in two ways;
(1) the compensation is needed to pay for more counselling or in some severe cases to help allay expenses of moving the entire family out of the area where the crime was committed
and
(2) it is telling the children that they were complicit in the abuse, were guilty of 'leading them on', or whatever disgusting words they use.It tells these children that they were not believed, or that it 'wasn't really that bad'.
Disgusting and shameful.