Child Pornography and Cyber-victimization

Since the beginning of the digital age, the globe has seen significant transformation. This has created new difficulties in the investigation of child sex crimes. With regard to cybercrimes, the expansion of the internet presents new difficulties for law enforcement. The Internet provides sexual predators and perverts with limitless options to access child pornography and the opportunity to conceal themselves behind a screen in order to exploit youngsters by abusing them (Becker, 1991). Trends have evolved, according to research, thus law enforcement agencies’ strategies should also adjust. This essay will take an in-depth look at the problem of internet child pornography its consequences and what is being done to curb it.

Rate of Arrests

According to law enforcement data, arrests for cyber-based child exploitation crimes increased dramatically from the turn of the millennium to 2009. This increase coincides with the increase of internet connections and computer literacy in the United States. In 2009 alone, law enforcers arrested 8,144 individuals for cyber crimes that involved exploiting children sexually. This marked three times increased from individuals arrested for the same crimes in 2000. The data also shows that the biggest increase in arrests happened between 2000 and 2006 at a period which the access to the internet was increasing rapidly (Wolak, Finkelhor, & Kimberly, 2012).

During the period, 2000-2009, arrests for child pornography possession increased steadily (Wolak, Finkelhor, & Kimberly, 2012). Almost half of the arrests made in 2009 for technology based child exploitation was possession of child pornography. Each year from 2000 to 2009 marked increase in arrests for child pornography.

According to various reports, In 2011, technology played a role in the kidnapping of children (Wolak, Finkelhor, & Kimberly, 2012). Technology involved kidnapping accounted for 9% of kidnappings notably involving children. In these cases, the use of the internet played a role in the kidnapping usually by coercing or tracking the victims. In some of the cases, the kidnapper used the internet and electronic device to exploit the kidnapped victim sexually. In most cases, the victim use of the internet led him or her to contact the kidnapper before the kidnapping. In one of the cases, a mother used the Internet to traffic her 16-year-old daughter to a man sexually. In another incidence, a mother communicated with a man in jail who kidnapped her child when he got out and forced the mother to prostitute herself.

Cyber bullying is a crime that developed from the internet itself. Cyberbullying and victimization comprise overtly and covertly hostile acts of aggression towards other over the internet. Cyberbullying is using technology to target and hurt others. Scholars have called for cyber bullying addition to antisocial acts classification. Cyber bullying involves acts such as receiving harassing messages, being shamed on the social internet forums spread of true or untrue information that is detrimental to someone’s emotional health (Listenbee, 2011).

Cyberbullying and victimization is a common trend now, especially among teenagers. The young people have access to information sharing platforms, and victimization has become as prevalent as physical bullying. Scholars believe that cyber bullies find it easier to victimize others because they can hide behind their keyboards and computer screens (Becker, 1991). The capacity to conceal identity makes it easier for someone to bully someone and victimize him anonymously. Cyber bullying has become prevalent due to the current increase in social media platforms as well as the increase in computer literacy and access to the internet.

The Internet and Child Pornography

Children have been treated as sex objects throughout the ages. It is possible to trace child pornography to ancient erotic art and literature that involves children. Child pornography in the modern setting traces back to the invention of the camera (Wortley & Smallbone, 2010). Although child pornography has been restricted since the early 19th century, the camera made it easier to collect and sell pornographic images of children.

In 1960’s the censorship standards were relaxed and sexualized images of children started circulating in the United States. By the year 1977, there were over 250 magazines that were involved in the circulation of child pornography (Wortley & Smallbone, 2010). Most of these magazines ended up in Europe. Law enforcement agencies were moderately successful in suppressing these magazines, but all that changed when the internet came around in 1980’s. Initially, the potential of the internet had not been realized. In fact, only a few people were computer literate, and it was pretty difficult to access the internet in its early stages. However, the condition gradually changed and with the increase of ease of internet access, it became harder to control child pornography.

Child pornography differs from the magazine child pornography in many ways. In this way, the variation poses a challenge for local police to handle it. For instance, people may view child pornography images or videos that are stored and produced in another country or continent (Song, 2015). Some perverted individuals also stream these videos and images live from where they location. Local citizens can also produce and upload child pornography on the internet to be downloaded and accessed by millions of people from all over the world.

Any investigation that involves child pornography on the internet will need collaboration between different law enforcers because it will certainly cross several jurisdictions. This can be a nightmare and therefore to control internet child pornography will certainly need cooperation at an international stage (Song, 2015). This does not mean that local police have no work in controlling pornography. On the contrary, they are the ones supposed to start investigations that may lead to a wider scope of investigations.

Law enforcers need to corporate with each other when it comes to internet investigations. Larger police departments need to develop strategies to investigate this type of crime as well as developing teams that lias with other jurisdictions.

Legal definition of Child Pornography

A child in the United States is anyone under the age of 18. In the United States, the laws are very clear and broad when it comes to legislation concerning children and pornography. Children images are observed strictly than adults. For example, an image does not have to be explicit to be considered child pornographic. A man was jailed because he had videos which focused on genital areas of clothed minors. Any suggestive materials are up for interpretation in the court of law (Song, 2015).

Possession of any child pornographic material is illegal. It does not matter whether the individual meant to distribute them or not. Images from the internet do not need to be saved for it to be considered an offense. Accessing them is already an offense.

Law enforcement faces various challenges when it comes to covering child pornography. Most States have registered laws to deal with child pornography however these laws are varying in their nature from one state to the other. Internationally countries have different laws to cover the same which impacts law enforcement when it comes to cooperation (Sessions, 2009).

The Internet and Promotion of Child Pornography

The internet has impacted child pornography by three ways; it has made it easy to access it, it is very efficient when it comes to distribution of child pornography, and it has increased the materials available of the same nature (Sessions, 2009). The age of the internet allows the collections of vast quantities of the materials from all over the world. People who distribute these materials have made it possible for the people who access them to remain discreet and anonymous on the web through various platforms and the dark web.

The internet also gives platforms for users to share these materials and to communicate when they do share them. These materials are shared with ease and at a low cost to the users. At the same time, these materials do not deteriorate and are stored on platforms where they can be accessed over and over (Wright, 2016). The internet also provides several possibilities such as sharing different formats of child pornographic materials ranging from pictures, videos, gifs and even provide platforms for live streaming.

The heart of the problem

Child pornography has three components problems that have enabled it to survive through the change in law enforcement tactics. There are the production, the distribution, and the access. The people who produce child pornography are not the ones who distribute it or consume it. Most of the producers of child pornography are motivated by greed and are not sexually attracted to children (Wortley & Smallbone, 2010).

Production

Production of child pornography materials occurs in different ways. Child pornography collectors pay premium fees for new materials. Some of the materials on the internet are old and mostly taken from old magazines. There are materials of children abused from around the world and mostly the third world countries. Production of some of these materials is by amateurs who film themselves in the act of sex with children (Department of Justice, 2016). This is more prevalent now with electronic devices which enable people to take high definition video themselves. There is also an increasing culture of people taking photos of children in public.

Distribution

Distribution of child pornographic materials over the internet is done for money or sexual gratification. Distribution can be done through pedophile rings or through groups who distribute it for profit. In most cases, amateurs who only seek gratification distribute these materials. The law enforcement agencies and internet service providers have put a lot of efforts in stopping the dissemination of child pornography (Wright, 2016). This, in turn, has forced the distributors to come up with different methods to distribute the materials.

Websites which disseminate child pornography are closed as soon as they are found out, and pedophiles are weary of entering chat rooms and asking for materials. This is because the police usually enter the same chat rooms posing as children or pedophiles, and then they capture the real pedophiles. Distribution of these materials has slowly moved on from the internet to the dark web (Wright, 2016).

Downloading

Accessing the materials now requires computer skills. The child pornography websites and chat rooms are now closed, and it is rare to find the materials in open internet. In some cases, it is possible to get a pop-up from a website and end up in a child pornography website (Department of Justice, 2016). However, most materials are accessible on the dark web where the perverts are required to pay a premium fee and then given a password to access the materials. However, this requires good computer skills.

Online grooming, Child Pornography, and Victimization

Some abusers use the internet to groom children and then meet them and abuse them sexually. A part of the grooming involves sending pornographic materials to children. Sometimes these offenders are a part of a network of pedophiles (Becker, 1991). These type of abusers are more prone to detection by the police or parents. When they succeed these abusers meet with the children, they have groomed, and they physically abuse them. Most of the children involved in child pornography are not physically forced or kidnapped. Most of them are recorded in tapes by the producer who happens to be someone they know. Child pornography leaves the devastating effects on the children regarding social, physical and their psychology.

The process of victimization starts when the children are first involved in the porn. Child pornography is a type of abuse that has far more reaching consequences for the children involved. Every time these materials are accessed by the adult the children become victimized further. A study carried out to assess the damage done by child porn revealed that its effects transcend and affect the individuals into their adulthood. The 34,000 participants revealed that during the making of the materials, they experienced physical pain as well as physical effects such as headaches, insomnia and lack of appetite. Emotional effects include shame, isolation, anxiety and loneliness (Wright, 2016).

Most of these children failed to disclose the events to their guardians or adults because they felt ashamed of their behaviors and at the same time they had developed a kind of loyalty to the perpetrator. In the 34,000 cases studied, only in 15 cases that the victims reported to the authority. As the child matured to adults, the feeling of anxiety deepened and they increasingly felt shame. They became depressed, and despair ravaged their lives. In the end, they had problems maintaining healthy emotional and sexual relationships (Wright, 2016).

Current strategies in combating Child pornography and victimization

The current law enforcement agencies currently use different methods to catch child pornography producers, distributors as well as those who watch the tapes. One of the methods used is setting up honey trap sites where they capture the IP address as well as the credit card details of the visitors who access the content (Turgeman-Goldschmidt1, 2008). These trap sited have been known to result in multiple arrests. They have also managed to almost eradicate child porn access on the open internet. The police have used the media to crackdown child pornography on the internet. Coverage on the mainstream media on child pornography discourages the offenders by creating a type of perception that Internet child pornography is not safe.

Most of the arrests made regarding child pornography are made using the traditional investigations. The media focuses on technological aspects of investigations when it comes to internet child porn, but the reality is old school investigations start most of these cases. These means traditional methods of tipping the police are used (Sessions, 2009). There are special hotlines provided to the public that is meant for the public to call when they have any information about the production, possession or distribution of any pornographic materials that involve children.

In some States, it is mandatory for technicians to report any materials that may violate child pornography laws. There are some cases where local technicians have reported to the police after they have accessed personal files in the computers of their clients. Local technicians also establish relations with local technicians and encourage them to report such activities (Turgeman-Goldschmidt1, 2008).

Currently, victims are encouraged to report the perpetrators. School psychologist and counselors are supposed to inform the police when the life of the child is at stake. The police use his electronic computer to arrest his business associates when a known offender is arrested.

Effective Strategies that Law Enforcement need to Apply

Internet child pornography poses different challenges to law enforcers. While the efforts to combat it have been mildly successful, there is a lot to be done. Most departments need to have a specialized internet crime control unit. This means that police officers need to take a proactive approach and maybe specialize in certain computer skills. If local police departments are too small to have an internet crime control unit, then there is need to get assistance from larger departments which have that unit (Becker, 1991).

The fight against internet child pornography needs cooperation between law enforcers. This means that no single –police department should embark on the fight alone. There is need to develop links with other departments from different jurisdictions. There are some departments that have programs designed to coordinate investigations involving child pornography.

There is a need for the police to cooperate with internet service providers. The legislature in most states has failed to provide legislations that lay out the obligation of the ISPs’ This means that the police have to forge good working relations with the companies to be assisted when they are investigating internet crimes (Picard, Szymon & Yadid, 2015).

There is the need to set the priorities before embarking on investigations involving child pornography. The sheer volume of child pornography crimes is large enough, and most departments have minimum resources to cover it. The most important thing is to concentrate on production. These are the people who are involved in the actual abusing of children. Law enforcement needs to cross reference the lists of sex offenders with people who have been arrested for possession of child pornographic materials. The cross-referencing makes it easier to charge people who are already on the two lists (Department of Justice, 2016).

Conclusion

Child pornography sets out a dangerous precedent for the children evolved. This degenerative behavior leaves people devastated all through their lives. Law enforcement has succeeded in repelling the materials to the dark parts of the web. The problem that they face now is coming together and facing the epidemic as one. The internet poses different questions all together to law enforcers and their methods of investigations and one thing is that there needs to be a collaborative effort to win the war.

References

Becker, H. (1991). Labelling Theory. In H. Ecker, Outsiders: Studies in sociology deviance.

Department of Justice. (2016). The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. US department of justice.

Listenbee, R. L. (2011). Child Victims of Stereotypical Kidnappings Known to Law Enforcement in 2011. Juvenile JusticeBulletin.

Picard, R. W., Szymon, F., & Yadid, A. (2015). Multiple Arousal Theory and Daily-Life Electrodermal Activity Asymmetry. Emotion Review.

Sessions, W. K. (2009). THE HISTORY OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY GUIDELINES. THE UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION.

Song, J. K. (2015). Protecting Children from Cybercrime. World Bank.

Turgeman-Goldschmidt1, O. (2008). Meanings that Hackers Assign to their Being a Hacker. Open Access, 382-396.

Wolak, J., Finkelhor, D., & Kimberly J., M. (2012). Trends in Law Enforcement Responses to Technology‐facilitatedChild Sexual Exploitation Crimes: The Third National Juvenile Online Victimization Study. Children Research Center.

Wortley, R., & Smallbone, S. (2010). Child Pornography on the Internet. Cops.

Wright, M. F. (2016). Cyber victims’ emotional responses, attributions, and coping strategies for cyber victimization: a qualitative approach. Emerald Insight.