NCJ Number
218886
Date Published
2007
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Drawing on research form the United Kingdom and New Zealand, as well as from the United States, Canada, and Australia, this chapter discusses Internet child pornography, the offenders who use it and the response of, and difficulty faced by the police in investigating and prosecuting those responsible.
Abstract
The subject of abusive images of children on the Internet throws up a number of paradoxes and contradictions. Despite the hysterical tone adopted by a media that are happy to peddle overtly sexualized images of young people in other contexts, the issue of Internet related sexual exploitation of children remains an intangible concept in the collective public conscience. In addition, the obstacles facing the police and the challenges in securing convictions across geographical territories, cultural boundaries, and legal jurisdictions, make the problem of Internet child pornography a worrying yet somewhat tenuous concern. This chapter discusses the issue of Internet child pornography. It is primarily interested in the Internet circulation of sexualized images of children, including those involving explicit, aggressive, and abusive acts as opposed to seemingly innocent, non-sexualized pictures used by adults for sexual gratification. It begins by discussing the paradox of societies that fetishes youth and sexuality at the same time as condemning pedophiles as the bogeymen of our age. It examines the nature and content of behaviors of offenders. It continues with a discussion of the demographics and behaviors of offenders, and it explores the role of police and outlines some of the particular difficulties facing police in the successful investigation and prosecution of individuals. Table, references