Editing Pitcairn Islands (section)

===Sexual abuse in modern times===
Three cases of imprisonment for raping underage girls were reported in the 1950s.<ref>"Island of shame", Claire Harvey, ''The Mercury'', 28 October 2004</ref>

In 1999, Gail Cox, a police officer from [[Kent]], [[UK]], served on a temporary assignment on Pitcairn, and uncovered allegations of sexual abuse. When a 15-year-old girl decided to press [[rape]] charges in 1999, criminal proceedings (code-named "Operation Unique") were set in motion. The charges include 21 counts of [[rape]], 41 of [[indecent assault]], and two of [[Indecency with Children Act 1960|gross indecency]] with a child under 14. Over the following two years, police officers in [[Australia]], New Zealand and the [[United Kingdom]] interviewed every woman who had lived on Pitcairn in the past 20 years, as well as all of the accused men. These interviews revealed stories of girls as young as three being sexually assaulted and as young as 10 being gang-raped.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |date=2006-11-19 |title=Pitcairn: The island of fear |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/pitcairn-the-island-of-fear-424862.html |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

The file was held by Pitcairn's first Public Prosecutor Simon Moore, an Auckland Crown Solicitor appointed to the position by the British government for the purposes of the investigation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gP_-8rXzQs8C&pg=PA4480|title=The Europa World Year: Kazakhstan - Zimbabwe|date=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781857432558|language=en|access-date=2 November 2020|archive-date=3 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103085220/https://books.google.com/books?id=gP_-8rXzQs8C&pg=PA4480|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto"/>

[[Australia]]n [[Seventh-day Adventist Church|Seventh-day Adventist]] pastor Neville Tosen, who spent two years on Pitcairn around the turn of the millennium, said that on his arrival, he had been taken aback by the conduct of the children, but he had not immediately realised what was happening. "I noticed worrying signs such as inexplicable mood swings," he said. "It took me three months to realise they were being abused." Tosen tried to bring the matter before the Island Council (the legislative body which doubles as the island's court), but was rebuffed. One councillor told him, "Look, the [[age of consent]] has always been 12 and it doesn't hurt them."<ref name="Paradise under a cloud">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/the-paradise-thats-under-a-cloud-9198421.html|title=The Paradise that's under a cloud|last=Marks|first=Kathy|date=23 January 2002|work=The Independent|publisher=Independent news and media|access-date=2009-05-29|location=London|archive-date=21 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121232933/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/the-paradise-thats-under-a-cloud-9198421.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

A study of island records confirmed anecdotal evidence that most girls bore their first child between the ages of 12 and 15. "I think the girls were conditioned to accept that it was a man's world and once they turned 12, they were eligible," Tosen said. Mothers and grandmothers were resigned to the situation, telling him that their own childhood experience had been the same; they regarded it as just a part of life on Pitcairn. One grandmother wondered what all the fuss was about. Tosen was convinced, however, that the early sexual experience was very damaging to the girls, outright stating, "They can't settle or form solid relationships. They did suffer, no doubt about it."<ref name="Paradise under a cloud"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=118516&page=1|title=Child Sex Claims Haunt Remote Island|website=ABC News}}</ref>

In 2016, [[Mike Warren (mayor)|Mike Warren]], Pitcairn mayor from 2008 to 2013, was convicted and sentenced to 20 months imprisonment for possession of child pornography.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/07/former-pitcairn-mayor-found-guilty-over-child-pornography|title=Former Pitcairn mayor found guilty over child abuse images|first=Eleanor|last= Ainge Roy|newspaper=The Guardian |date=7 March 2016|access-date=17 November 2017|via=www.theguardian.com|archive-date=17 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517170719/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/07/former-pitcairn-mayor-found-guilty-over-child-pornography|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Edward Gay - @EdwardGay |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/295486/former-pitcairn-mayor-denies-porn-possession-charges |title=Former Pitcairn mayor denies porn possession charges &#124; RNZ News |publisher=Rnz.co.nz |date=2016-02-01 |access-date=2022-03-05}}</ref>

==== Sexual assault trials of 2004 ====
{{main|2004 Pitcairn Islands sexual assault trial}}
In 2004, charges were laid against seven men living on Pitcairn and six living abroad. This accounted for nearly a third of the male population, and half of the island's adult males. After extensive trials, most of the men were convicted, some on multiple counts of sexual assaults on children.<ref name="Tweedie 2004">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/pitcairnislands/1473399/Islander-changes-his-plea-to-admit-sex-assaults.html |title=Islander changes his plea to admit sex assaults |first=Neil |last=Tweedie |date=5 October 2004 |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=29 November 2011 |location=London |archive-date=12 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812175937/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/pitcairnislands/1473399/Islander-changes-his-plea-to-admit-sex-assaults.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On 25 October 2004, six men were convicted, including [[Steve Christian]], the island's mayor at the time.<ref name="Fickling 2004">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/26/davidfickling |title=Six found guilty in Pitcairn sex offences trial: Defendants claim British law does not apply |date=25 October 2004 |last=Fickling |first=David |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702134223/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/26/davidfickling |archive-date=2 July 2015 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Six guilty in Pitcairn sex trial |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3950033.stm |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2004 |access-date=29 November 2011 |archive-date=31 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731092733/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3950033.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=6 men convicted in Pitcairn trials |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/world/25iht-pitcaIRN.html |date=24 October 2004 |access-date=29 November 2011 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |archive-date=5 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105131917/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/world/25iht-pitcaIRN.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, the islanders had about 20 firearms among them, which they surrendered ahead of the [[Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004|sexual assault trials]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tvnz.co.nz/content/441332 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317210435/http://tvnz.co.nz/content/441332 |archive-date=17 March 2015 |access-date=4 July 2015 |date=11 August 2004 |title=Pitcairn islanders to surrender guns |agency=Reuters |publisher=Television New Zealand |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> After the six men lost their final appeal, the British government set up a prison on the island at Bob's Valley.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10127299 |title=Pitcairners stay free till British hearing |last=Marks |first=Kathy |author-link=Kathy Marks |date=25 May 2005 |newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=29 November 2011 |archive-date=4 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804221357/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10127299 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Lost Paradise: From Mutiny on the Bounty to a Modern-Day Legacy of Sexual Mayhem, the Dark Secrets of Pitcairn Island Revealed |publisher=Simon and Schuster |first=Kathy |last=Marks |author-link=Kathy Marks |date=2009 |isbn=9781416597841 |page=288 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBl_hS0YgvIC&pg=PA288 |access-date=5 July 2015 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906043508/https://books.google.com/books?id=aBl_hS0YgvIC&pg=PA288 |url-status=live }}</ref> The men began serving their sentences in late 2006. By 2010, all had served their sentences or been granted home detention status.<ref>{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702171040/http://smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/last-pitcairn-rape-prisoner-released-20090423-afkt.html |archive-date=2 July 2015 |url=http://www.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/last-pitcairn-rape-prisoner-released-20090423-afkt.html |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |title=Last Pitcairn rape prisoner released |date=23 April 2009 |access-date=4 July 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>