‘Acting on Behalf of the Children’ in the Cleveland Inquiry

This article argues for the recognition of children as important subjects in sexual violence histories. We apply Lois Prosser’s criminological framework of ‘unsaid analysis’ to a close reading of the records of the Inquiry into Child Abuse in Cleveland, UK (1987/88) to expose the many ways in which the abuse of children was denied and their voices silenced. We use this to advocate for greater attention to the methodologies and conceptual tools that historians can employ, which we argue have particular utility in recovering the histories of children and those who experience multiple marginalizations such as disabled, queer and trans people.