SINGAPORE — More young people were arrested for sexual crimes in 2023 compared to the year before, and sexual crime remains among the top crimes of concern for youth offenders.

In 2023, the police arrested more than 470 youths aged 19 and below for sexual crimes, a jump of about 30 per cent from 2022.

The figures were revealed by Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Home Affairs, at the Singapore Police Force Sexual Crime Awareness Seminar 2024 held on Monday (April 15).

The annual seminar aims to increase awareness of the youth sexual offending situation, and the criminal justice procedures for both offenders and victims.

This year’s seminar focused specifically on youth sexual offending.

WHY IT MATTERS

Youth sexual offending has been a key focus of the National Committee on Prevention, Rehabilitation and Recidivism, since it was established in 2018 to oversee national efforts on the prevention of offending and re-offending.

In spite of this, sexual crime remains among the top crimes of concern for youth offenders.

Speaking at Monday’s conference, Ms Sun, who is also Minister of State for Social and Family Development, said that a possible cause of this trend is the shifting societal attitudes among youth towards sexual behaviour.

Ms Sun also said that studies have identified some contributing factors to youth sexual offending, which include:

• Early and repeated exposure to sexually explicit materials or adult sexual activity
• Inappropriate or inaccurate information about sexual behaviours and relationships 

Ms Shamala Gopalakrishnan, assistant director and lead psychologist at the psychology division of the Home Team under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), said in a media release that sexually explicit material could spread misinformation on sex and relationships.

The young who become “obsessed” with such material “adopt unrealistic, harmful perceptions towards women and girls and this can contribute to sexual offending”, she added.

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO TACKLE THIS

The authorities have been strengthening Singapore’s laws to tackle this problem and to better deal with sexual crime, Ms Sun said.

Most recently, in February this year, Parliament passed changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, which includes the establishing of a legislative framework for conducting forensic medical examinations.

Beyond legislative changes, the Government is also ramping up its crime prevention efforts to tackle youth sexual offending, she added.

The police, MHA, and the Ministry of Education (MOE) will work with stakeholders in two key areas to:

• Improve training for counsellors who work with children and youth, through the development of a resource package
• Educate young people to better protect themselves, through the Character and Citizenship Education curriculum in schools and talks delivered at schools by the police 

The resource package will be developed by MHA and MOE to train counsellors in schools and in the community to recognise early signs of harmful sexual behaviours in children and youth.

The training will enable counsellors to better engage children and youth on such topics, which would thus facilitate early intervention, Ms Sun said.

The resource package will be made available in the second half of this year.

The police will also enhance victim care for sexual crime victims in two areas.

Firstly, there will be a pilot collaboration with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) to tap the expertise of students pursuing their master’s degree in forensic psychology.

Since last month, these students have been called upon to respond to activations for victim care services.

This initiative would help the police improve their response capabilities, by increasing the available pool of victim care officers who offer practical and emotional support to victims while investigations are ongoing, Ms Sun said.

Secondly, the police will also work with community partners, such as protection specialist centres, to provide more support to young victims of sexual crime.

Noting that young victims are particularly vulnerable, and some of them may require continued support even after the police case has concluded, Ms Sun said that the authorities would explore a structured referral process for more young victims to receive longer-term care. 

The new process will allow the police to link young victims with partner agencies directly, upon the completion of investigations.

The partner agencies may then follow up with the young victims and provide them with longer-term support and intervention as needed.