For many Jamaican children, the greatest threat does not come from strangers lurking in dark corners but from trusted adults within their own homes.

It is a painful reality that sits at the heart of new research by Jamaica-born legal scholar Sha-Shana Crichton, who says incest and intrafamilial child sexual abuse remain among the country's most hidden and devastating crimes.

In her paper, Children at Risk: Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse – Incest in Jamaica, Crichton argues that while incest remains one of society's strongest taboos, cultural silence, fear, shame and legal gaps continue to place vulnerable children at risk.