Sexual offending and the Internet.

1. Sexual offending and the Internet. COPINE Project University College Cork

4. What do they do? Four broad classes of sex offending behaviours associated with the Internet. Downloading Trading Producing Seduction At the heart of all such offending are child abuse images.

5. What is the role of the Internet? Traditionally, child pornography was expensive, difficult to access and carried with it a risk The Internet brings with it Accessibility Affordability Anonymity (Cooper et al, 2000)

6. The role of the Internet?

7. The role of the Internet?

8. The role of the Internet? Alters mood Lessens social risk and lowers inhibitions Enables multiple self-representation Evidence of group dynamics Validates, justifies & offers exchange medium Challenges old concepts of regulation Disrupts conventional hierarchies Empowers traditionally marginalized people

9. Sex and the Internet “There are a wide variety of sexually explicit possibilities available via the Internet. Consequently, an individual struggling with paraphilic behaviors may be easily caught up in the Web. In some instances, persons with paraphilias who are involved in illegal sexual activities over the Internet have a prior criminal history. On the other hand, clinicians may encounter a number of cases where the presence of the Internet itself seems to have been the primary impetus for such contact” - Galbreath et al (2002).

12. The role of abuse images? Simplistic to argue that all people who access abuse images on the Internet are motivated by exactly the same factors. Internet abuse images also function: as an aid to fantasy and masturbation as a means of avoiding negative emotional states as a way of socialising with others as a form of collecting behaviour

14. Young people and Internet use US 2001 - 59% used Internet (DeBell & Chapman) UK 2004 - 83% (Madell & Muncer) N.Europe 2003 - 80% (SAFT) UK 2005 - 92% (Livingstone and Bober)

15. Exposure to sexual material? SAFT (2003) 1 in 5 children invited to a face-to-face meeting with a stranger, and 34% had viewed a violent Website, either accidentally or on purpose. Mitchell et al. (2003) 1 in 4 of children encountered unwanted sexual pictures. 8% of the sample admitting to going to x-rated sites on purpose. Livingstone and Bober (2005) - high levels of exposure to online pornography, with 57% having come into contact with it. Most of this material was viewed unintentionally, through a pop-up advert, when searching for something else or through junk mail.

16. Potential problems? Pictures and text with a sexual content may impact negatively on current or future sexual and emotional development. Deviant sexual material may act as a catalyst to engage in a sexually problematic. Finding material = sexual exploitation by others, particularly adults. Victimising other young people through accessing images of child abuse or through making sexual solicitations. ‘Self-victimising’ or ‘self-harming’ sexual behaviours.

17. Before the Internet? Will (1999) talking about assessment issues, suggested that when examining the sources of sexual knowledge, it would be necessary to ask, “Has the young person read pornographic books or magazines or watched pornographic videos? (A minority will have done so. Often having illicitly watched videos owned by their fathers”.

18. Pornography and sexual violence Emerick and Dutton (1993) - high-risk adolescents, 80% acknowledged the use of pornography. 485 juvenile offenders, 31.6% reported using pornography (Zolondek, 2001). Ford and Linney (1995) - juvenile sexual abusers more exposure to pornography. O’Reilly et al., 1998 - no differences in pornography use.

19. What are we concerned about? Zillmann (2000) - prolonged exposure to pornography leads to a skewed perception of, “normal sexual activity… there should be concern for young people with a relatively narrow perspective who are exposed to frequent images such as sodomy, group sex, sadomasochistic practices, and bestiality”

20. Young people and abusive behaviours. Online solicitations - adults 24% and 34% of aggressive solicitations. Juveniles - 48% overall and 48% aggressive solicitations (Finkelhor et al.,2000). Wilson and Andrews (2004) and Carr (2004) - largest single number of offenders aged 15-19 (viewing/trading images). Wolak et al (in press) - only 3% younger than 18.

21. Function of activities? Longo (2004) “… an important indicator of sexual health for teenagers is the degree to which the sexual behaviour is in the service of developmentally appropriate sexual needs as opposed to primarily nonsexual needs”

22. Function of activities? Exploring new identities through sexuality. Managing negative feelings through compulsive masturbation. Developing age -appropriate social and sexual skills.

23. Type of images? Carr(2004) “… while the collection of material portraying the exploitation of children, young people or both, for sexual purposes was common across all of the age/occupation categories, those individuals identified as school students were much more likely to trade and/or possess images of teenagers and/or older children than any other group of individuals… most likely to select material showing children and young people with others of their age… school students tended to select materials portraying youth aged under 17 years… it appears that their interest was within the realms of “age appropriateness””.

24. Images? ...more frequently associated with the collection of images of older children and teenagers, portrayed with other children, and much less likely to collect images of adult rape or the torture of adults or children. “What is worrying is that their Internet based exploration has led them to subject matter involving largely deviant activities at a time when they are most likely to be influenced by the message it conveys”

25. Self-victimisation Increasing number of accounts where young people (either through camera phones or web cams) have taken sexual photographs of themselves and circulated them to others. In at least one case, a video-clip was subsequently auctioned through an Internet auction site (by a youth).

26. Increasing problems? Numbers of children and young people entering criminal justice system and/or child protection for sexually abusive behaviours associated with the new technologies is increasing. Over 2004, sample size from NSPCC and Barnardo’s doubled. Unclear whether this relates to actual increase or elevated awareness.

27. Conclusions Impossible to quantify extent of sexually abuse behaviours but topography appears similar to that seen in adults. Behaviours have multiple functions but also suggest risk-taking and sexual curiosity. Context is a medium saturated with sexually explicit material

28. Conclusions Internet an essentially private world for most adolescents. Brings with it access, anonymity and affordability (Cooper, 2002). Substantial divide between adults and youth in way that new technologies are used.

29. Conclusions “We might conclude that rather than criminalising such activities in relation to the new technologies we should see them as a child protection issue, both for the victims in child abuse images but also for those victimised by a largely unregulated environment”. (Quayle and Taylor, in press).