NCJ Number
204911
Date Published
December 2004
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on child pornography offenses derived from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI's) National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
Abstract
The NIBRS was developed to replace the FBI's existing Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system and for the first time offers law enforcement agencies the ability to track crime involving child pornography and child exploitation. Currently, NIBRS data are only available from a fraction of the reporting jurisdictions; this data indicated that in 2000 there were approximately 2,900 nationwide crime incidents involving child/juvenile pornography reported by State and local police. The proportion of pornography cases involving children/juveniles rose from 15 percent in 1997 to 26 percent in 2000. Pornography offenses comprise less than 0.03 percent of all crimes known to the police, and only a fraction of these pornography cases involve child/juvenile victims. Two types of pornography incidents involving juveniles are analyzed here: juvenile victim pornography and child exploitation pornography. Most juvenile pornography incidents involve additional sexual or violent offenses, which lead to higher arrest rates for this offense. Offenders tend to be adult males who act alone without the use of the Internet or computers. Most pornography incidents with juvenile victims involve only one victim and females are more often victims than males. The NIBRS data reveal a great deal of jurisdictional disparity in the number of pornography offenses known to police, perhaps due to differences in State statutes and community standards. The data presented in this report underscore the need for more research in regards to child pornography. Several textboxes explain child pornography and the NIBRS reporting system in more depth. Figure, tables, references