Just as in the movie, the isle became famous because of rape and sexual desires, incest, polygamy, etc..
Three cases of imprisonment for sex with underage girls were reported in the 1950s.
In 1999, Gail Cox, a police officer from Kent, UK, served on a temporary assignment on Pitcairn, and began uncovering 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 included 21 counts of rape, 41 of indecent assault, and two of 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 would reveal stories of girls as young as 3 being sexually assaulted, and as young as 10, being gang raped.
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 realized what was happening. "I noticed worrying signs such as inexplicable mood swings," he said. "It took me three months to realize 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."
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, stating outright, "They can't settle or form solid relationships. They did suffer, no doubt about it."
Sexual assault trials of 2004 -
Main article: 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 with multiple counts of sexual encounters with children. On 25 October 2004, six men were convicted, including Steve Christian, the island's mayor at the time.In 2004, the islanders had about 20 firearms among them, which they surrendered ahead of the sexual assault trials.[38] After the six men lost their final appeal, the British government set up a prison on the island at Bob's Valley.[39][40] The men began serving their sentences in late 2006.
