10. Sex Offenders & The Internet

Question 1

What 3 ways does the sex offender use the internet?

Answer 1

• JUSTIFICATION
• ACCESS TO / INTEL ON CHILDREN & GROOMING
• CSE and CSAM

Question 2

JUSTIFICATION

Answer 2

The internet has made starting to offend easier (get over the first 2 of Finkelhors pre-conditions) - it has made convincing yourself that what you are doing is right, much easier.

Can seperate JUSTIFICATION into 2 areas:
- Those PRE-DISPOSED to offend
- Those NOT previously disposed to offend.

For those PRE-DISPOSED consider 4 ‘S’.
Start, Sustain, Secour, Satisfaction

For those NOT PREVIOUSLY DISPOSED to offending consider 4 ‘Ds’.
Discover, decide, deepen, destroy.

In summary the internet allows the offender to easily justify their behaviour by easily meeting likeminded people, easily meeting victims and easily minimising and normalising behaviour.

Question 3

GROOMING - Definition (Harms 2007)

Answer 3

“communication process
by which a perpetrator applies affinity-seeking strategies, while simultaneously engaging
in sexual desensitization and information acquisition about targeted victims in order
to develop relationships that result in need fulfilment”

Consider the important points here - AFFINITY SEEKING, SEXUAL DESENSTISATION, INFO AQUISITION, TARGETED Victims, NEED FULFILLMENT

Question 4

GROOMING: 5 Phases (O’Connel 2000)

Answer 4

Grooming Phases:
» Friendship forming stage
» Relationship forming stage
» Risk assessment stage
» Exclusivity stage
» Sexual stage

Not linear - stages may occur together at same time, or at differnt times in any order.

End goal of grooming is not always contact offending, motivations vary e.g. to ‘own’ the sexuality of the child, to contact offend, to extort or to aid fantasy or to gain CSAM or to make child watch sexual act etc.

Question 5

GROOMING - Role of technology and social media

Answer 5

Technology creates the space to:

• Engage in high rates of purposive, sexual behaviour with young people
• Opportunities to lie, deceive etc. that would just not be possible IRL
• Social Networks actively encourage the sharing of information that becomes valuable
  intelligence for the offender
• Simultaneously contact hundreds of potentials and drop those who did not respond. 1% success rate is good enough.
• Technology allows for the taking/ developing and sharing instantly of photos etc.
• Allows ease of manipulation of identity

Question 6

GROOMING - Use of images

Answer 6

images can be used for desentisisation or sexual gratification or testing compliance. E.G using images that have similar age child, same look etc to normalise.

Offender can use ‘teaching’ about sex as a justification in their own head

Question 7

Think about the ways that SITUATIONAL & PREFERENTIAL OFFENDERS may use grooming differently

Question 8

CSAM - Why do people access & collect CSAM

Answer 8

• Validation / Justification
• Sexual Gratification
• As Grooming material
• As blackmailing material
• To Prove
• To Memorise
• To Trade
• To Profit

Question 9

Typology of Paedophile Picture Collections (Taylor Et Al 2001)

Answer 9

10 Categories from lowest level being non illegal material - indicative of a sexual interest in children - may be exploitative. May be at the start of a series or end of a series.
1 - Indicative
2 -Nudist
3 - Erotica
4 - posing
5 - erotic posing
6 - explicit erotic posing
7 - explicit sexual activity
8 - assult
9 - Gross assult
10 - sadism / beastiality.

Consider the fact that victimisation continues to occur every time that material is viewed and shared for a sexual purpose (Taylor et all 2001). CSAM collections allow instant access to the victims, and also allows them to be used as part of sexual grooms and to de-sensitize children to sex – continuing that victimisation. Also consider the community impact of apparently ‘innocent’ settings being used for sexual gratification - places where children should be safe.

Question 10

Typologies of online CSAM Offenders

Answer 10

SIMPLE VIEWERS - highest numbers, most likely caught, caught by credit card details, IP address etc. Use key word searches online, have different motivations but just save simply by screen shots or right click save. May pay for access.

OPEN TRADERS - step up from simple viewers, move into this as they meet people online who wish to trade. More complex technology, e.g automated tools to save pages. Start to learn about differnt technologies to use. Subgroup is commercial sales - posting links. Also cuckoo traders who piggy back off servers / websites to post files - they will upload and post url to groups

CLOSED TRADRERS - Closed groups and communities, discord servers, telegram etc. Have very important relationships, 80/20 rule. To obtain better quality and less risky images. Need to be moderated in. Assists in justification and intelligence.

EXPERTS - top of the pile. Focused and determind. Insatiable appetite for new material. Contact offend or encoiurage someone else to contact offend for new material. Technologically superior, organised and dangerous