The revelations of widespread child sex abuse and its cover-up in the English town of Rotherham are chilling.
An independent report, by Prof Alexis Jay, commissioned by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council in October last year after growing evidence of the problem, brought the abuse into the public spotlight when it was released last week.
It showed from 1997-2013 an estimated 1400-plus girls, many of whom were in local authority care, and some as young as 11, were groomed, stalked, abducted, beaten, gang raped and trafficked around the country.
The alleged perpetrators were men, mostly of Pakistani origin.
The scale of the abuse in the town of about 250,000 people, beggars belief, and the details are horrific.
Compounding the shock and outrage is the fact it appeared councillors, council staff and police officers had known about the abuse, were contemptuous of victims (the report detailed how the rapes of a 12-year-old girl by several men were described as ''100% consensual in every incident'' by a CID officer) and failed to act, possibly for fear of being branded racist given the offenders' heritage.
The new abuse scandal comes while the country is still grappling with the revelations of the extent of historical child sex offending by the late British entertainer Jimmy Savile, and other celebrities.
Criticism has been heaped on authorities for their systematic failure to protect children.
A common claim in relation to the historic abuse cases has been that attitudes were different generations ago, and all-powerful authority figures were somehow untouchable.
While that may have been the perception, authorities clearly should have done more to investigate the rumours and accusations, and acted to stop what was obvious widespread criminal offending.
That similar known offending was happening in the very recent past - and again ignored by authorities - is reprehensible and seems to indicate an absolute failure by the powers that be to understand the criminal nature and devastating impact of sexual offending.
The accusation of racial sensitivities also defies logic. It is clear Britain is on a knife-edge with immigration and race issues, but surely it is political correctness gone stark raving mad when abuse on such a scale should be brushed under the carpet for fear of upsetting abusers.
There are those who believe the racial element is being used as an excuse to cover up incompetence by authorities. In the wake of the report's release there have been several council resignations and suspensions.
But while the South Yorkshire Police has launched an independent investigation into its handling of the cases, Chief Constable David Crompton is refusing to resign.
South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright (the local council member in charge of children's services during some of the time of the abuse) resigned from the Labour Party, but not his police role despite calls for him to go, including from Home Secretary Theresa May, who has accused local authorities of a ''complete dereliction of duty''.
The Government is now considering an investigation. Certainly something must be done to restore public confidence, to hold those responsible for any cover-up to account, and to bring perpetrators to justice.
Systems must be put in place along with checks and balances to ensure they are being upheld, and work done on changing what is clearly an entrenched culture to ensure such widespread abuse and cover-up can never happen again.
High-profile resignations are important because they show someone is taking ultimate responsibility and is willing to help the organisation start afresh.
Without such an acknowledgement, it perpetuates the messages of trivialising the horrific crimes and minimising their devastating impact.
While the report says there have been improvements in the past four years by the council and the police, there is much to address.
Real action must be taken to stamp out invidious attitudes whereby men - of any age, ethnicity or religion - cannot be challenged about their actions towards women and children, where young victims count for nothing.
Dealing with the issues will prove a lengthy and expensive exercise for the State, but is vital given the appalling costs to vulnerable children.
