Savile at Duncroft: Contesting high profile allegations of historical sexual abuse at a residential school

Sexual abuse allegations against high profile individuals have been dominant in the UK media over the last few years, particularly since the reporting of allegations in 2012 against Jimmy Savile, a British DJ and TV... [ view full abstract ]

Sexual abuse allegations against high profile individuals have been dominant in the UK media over the last few years, particularly since the reporting of allegations in 2012 against Jimmy Savile, a British DJ and TV personality who died in 2011. Some of the key allegations relate to Duncroft, an Approved Residential School for teenage girls with behavioural problems, during the 1960s and 1970s. This paper presents an analysis of materials from a project involving relevant official documents, blog posts, newspaper cuttings and photographs, as well as interviews with former residents and staff members regarding their time at Duncroft, their knowledge about Savile’s presence at the school, his contact with residents, and the sexual abuse allegations in particular. The data are analysed from the perspective of Discursive Psychology, which pays attention to the way that accounts actively construct reality and fulfil a range of social functions, such as blaming, justifying and criticising. The analysis highlights the ways in which accounts of sexual abuse (and its absence) are constructed, contested, and related to broader narratives about the informants, the alleged perpetrator, other residents and members of staff, as well as the school itself. The research has important implications for historical understandings of social work related services for young people, particularly in terms of the ‘re-visioning’ of the past through the present, the contestability of accounts, the role of memory, identity and narrative, as well as contemporary responses to allegations of historical abuse, especially in terms of how they relate to justice processes and child protection measures.