Stop It Now! Scotland - Database Analysis and Development of Data Quality Standards

Stop It Now! Scotland is part of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation child protection charity. As part of their sexual abuse prevention work, it provides support services to individuals with problematic sexual thoughts or behaviours and those who may be at risk of sexual offending, including those who are under investigation for internet sexual offences. Over the years, STOP IT NOW! Scotland has collected data on over 750 individuals arrested for internet-based offences, including possession of indecent images of children, indecent communication with minors and indecent online communication with adults. The database has information on over 40 variables which have been analysed to help shape the understanding of this group of offenders, factors which may have contributed to their offending, individual factors (such as employment, mental health, experiences of trauma, neurological differences etc), and consequences of their offending. The aim of this study was two-pronged: (1) to understand how clientele and the service is developing and identify future trends, and (2) to identify gaps or (statistically) redundant variables. These findings were summarised into practice-based guidance for database recording and an initial framework for data quality standards that can be shared with other services.