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Lawless Space Theory for Online Child Sexual Exploitation Material Offending
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Abstract
Deterrence, treatment and legal responses to online child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) offenders is enhanced by the joint consideration of technological behaviours and cognitions. CSEM offenders choose an environment based on both psychosocial needs and utility, and in turn that environment shapes future behaviour and reinforces cognitive distortions. This paper introduces lawless space theory, which posits that offenders will primarily choose and utilize a perceived lawless space that best meets their psychosexual needs in the most frictionless way; habituation and differential association in the lawless space will reduce the perceived risk; normalization will increase comfort in a particular lawless space, increasing friction costs that must be overcome to switch technologies; and additional countermeasures will only be implemented by offenders to reduce perceived risk and lower cognitive dissonance, but not at the expense of utility. The theory offers explanatory power for the lifecycle of a lawless space, the use of legacy spaces in the presence of objectively more capable options, the simultaneous use of multiple spaces to meet different psychosexual needs, and the adoption of new technologies by offenders. Additionally, the gateway choice and progression of lawless space usage informs investigations, risk assessments, and deterrence efforts and provides behavioural treatment targets.
Seit einigen Jahren formiert sich im deutschsprachigen Raum mit der Cyberkriminologie eine neue Subdisziplin der Kriminologie, die sich explizit der Betrachtung von digitalen Kriminalitätsdelikten und Normenüberschreitungen widmet. Diese Entwicklung erscheint naheliegend, denn die Betrachtung von digitalen Kriminalitätsformen muss auch die Besonderheiten eines faktisch globalen und grenzfreien digitalen Raums mit einbeziehen. In diesem Raum treffen die strafrechtlichen, aber auch moralischen Vorstellungen annähernd aller Gesellschaftsformen aufeinander und schaffen so einen gemeinsamen Kriminalitätsraum. Dieser ist geprägt von einer Art digitaler Kriminalitätstransparenz, die gleichzeitig in Ansätzen die „Präventivwirkung des Nichtwissens“ durchbricht. Gleichzeitig zeigen diese Mechanismen, dass die formelle Kontrolle nicht mehr hinreichend in der Lage ist, diesen Raum auch zu regulieren. Erkenntnisse, die aus diesen Überlegungen gewonnen werden, können auch mittel- wie unmittelbar Auswirkungen auf die Ausrichtung einer digitalen Polizeiarbeit haben. Dieses Kapitel geht auf erste Konzepte der Cyberkriminologie ein und beschreibt primär ihre Wechselwirkung mit Formen digitaler Polizeipräsenz und -arbeit.
Child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) investigations have emerged as an area of specialization that combines multiple skillsets. Recent research has reshaped how we view CSEM offenders-they have different offense-supportive cognitions from contact sex offenders, their use of technology is no longer based on anecdotal evidence, and approaches to investigative planning, interviewing and forensics have evolved. This paper summarizes select, relevant areas of recent research related to CSEM investigations, and makes evidence-based recommendations for evolving how we approach these efforts. Current trends from other domains, including contact tracing and mental health considerations in a remote-working environment are additionally addressed.
Die White Gloves Theory ist ein kriminologischer Erklärungsansatz zur Ursachenbestimmung von abweichendem Handeln im digitalen Raum. Die Theorie baut auf der zunehmenden Beschleunigung des sozialen Lebens in der modernen Gesellschaft auf. Die daraus resultierende Gleichzeitigkeit stellt die Grundlage einer Kultur der Digitalität dar. Menschen treffen sich insbesondere im virtuellen Raum zu neuartigen gemeinschaftlichen Formen, was die Bildung digitaler Identitäten ermöglicht. Diese können mit anderen Moralvorstellungen verbunden sein, als beim analogen Ich, was die Begehung von Cybercrime fördert. Dieses Kapitel soll zwei Dinge leisten: Zum einen stellt es das Phänomen Zeit als grundlegende Basis für das menschliche Handeln in den Fokus. In der Kriminologie wurde Zeit bisher wie selbstverständlich und nebensächlich hingenommen. Zum anderen soll verdeutlicht werden, warum bisherige Theorien, die für das analoge Leben entwickelt wurden, Handlungsmotivationen im digitalen Raum unzureichend erfassen, was die Notwendigkeit einer Cyberkriminologie bekräftigt.
Zusammenfassung
Durch die Arbeit von Ermittlungsbehörden ins Hellfeld gekommene Online-Plattformen wie „Elysium“ oder „Boystown“ zeigen in drastischer Weise auf, wie weit verbreitet sexueller Kindesmissbrauch und entsprechend dokumentierte Taten in den digitalen Medien sind. Doch dies ist nicht die einzige Erkenntnis daraus, sondern es wird auch deutlich, wie verbreitet die teils weltweite Vernetzung pädosexuell interessierter Menschen ist. Denn der Cyberspace bietet Möglichkeiten, deviante sexuelle Interessen in einem abgeschotteten Raum auszuleben und sich mit Gleichgesinnten austauschen zu können. Da entsprechende Plattformen und Foren meist frei von einer Gesellschaft mit korrektiven, missbrauchsächtenden Haltungen sind, werden deviante Fantasien ungebremst kommuniziert und wechselseitig bestärkt. Das vorliegende Kapitel befasst sich daher mit Einflussfaktoren durch die digitale Vernetzung pädosexuell interessierter Menschen auf die Integration missbrauchsbegünstigender Einstellungen in die eigene Identität und somit auf die Erhöhung des Risikos der Begehung sexueller Missbrauchstaten.
Although offense-supportive cognitions are related to the maintenance of contact sexual offending behavior, it is unknown whether this finding also applies to online sexual offending behavior. A few studies have examined the cognitions of men convicted for using child sexual exploitation material, but findings remain limited due to important methodological limitations. Furthermore, fewer studies have investigated the cognitions of men who use the internet to solicit sexual activities with children. The objective of this study was to examine the nature of the cognitions that support online sexual offending against children. The content of police interviews was analyzed using a thematic analysis to identify the cognitive themes present in the offense-related views expressed by 20 men who consumed child sexual exploitation material, 15 who sexually solicited children, and 18 who committed both types of online offenses. Results revealed eight cognitive themes that reflected four underlying themes related to interpersonal relationships, the sexualisation of children, perceptions of the self, and perceptions of the virtual environment. Findings indicate that while the cognitive themes of the three groups are similar, their specific content varies according to the types of offenses. Implications for future research are discussed.
Persons with obesity find high-energy-dense food and sedentary behaviors highly reinforcing. Diets and exercise programs deprive individuals of many favorite foods and activities, which can counterproductively heighten their value and lead to relapse. Since the value of reinforcers depend on the alternatives available, one approach to reducing food and sedentary activity reinforcement is to build healthy alternative reinforcers. Current behavioral treatment programs for children and adults do not attempt to build alternative reinforcers as substitutes for unhealthy behaviors to reduce the impact of food or activity deprivation on the motivation to eat or be inactive. A goal of the next generation of obesity treatment programs should focus on development of healthy behaviors as reinforcers so that people will be motivated to engage in them. This article provides an overview of relationships among reinforcers, how understanding substitutes and complements can influence eating and activity, and how enriching a person's environment and providing choice architecture can enhance weight control. Ideas for translation of these basic behavioral economic principles to obesity treatment programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
The use of biomarkers in medicine is a common and valuable approach in several clinical fields. Understanding the relationship between measurable biological processes and clinical outcomes not only is indispensable in the face of understanding physiological processes in healthy as well as in diseased organisms but also for understanding and evaluating treatment effects. Therefore, also in the context of forensic psychiatry, biomarkers and their potentially beneficial effects are of growing interest. The objective of this review is to examine if there are biomarkers that may serve as a tool to support diagnostic process, treatment evaluation, and risk assessment of pedophilic individuals and child sexual offenders. In the first part, we present an overview of the current neurobiological, as well as physiological and psychophysiological approaches to characterize pedophilia and child sexual offending. Secondly, we discuss and evaluate the impact of these approaches on the development of biomarkers for diagnosis, therapy, and risk assessment in pedophilic subjects and child sexual offenders. We conclude that a lot of research has already enhanced our neurobiological knowledge about pedophilia and child sexual offending. Although there surely exist promising parameters and approaches, in our view currently none of these is ready yet to serve as a clinically applicable diagnostic, response, or predictive biomarker for pedophilia and child sexual offending. Therefore, further work remains to be done. The development of a composite diagnostic biomarker to assess deviant sexual interest, combining several measures like functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalogram, eye tracking, and behavioral approaches seems to be most promising. A valid and reliable measurement of deviant sexual interest, insensitive to manipulations could significantly support clinical diagnostic process. Similarly, regarding therapy evaluation and risk assessment, a composite biomarker to assess inhibitory control functions seems to be promising. Furthermore, the application of the Research Domain Criteria-approach, a new approach for investigating and classifying mental disorders, offers the possibility to take research to a new level.
There is evidence that endorsing a higher level of offense-supportive cognitions is associated with contact sexual offending. Such an association assumes the construct of cognitions as unidimensional, thus ignoring the possibility that specific subtypes of cognitions exist and that certain may be criminogenic. To investigate this possibility, this study aimed at examining the associations between criminal behaviors and cognitive themes found in the discourse of men who engage in sexual offenses against children over the Internet. Through the discourse of a sample of 60 men with online child sexual exploitation material and solicitation offenses, a previous study identified eight cognitive themes: Uncontrollability, Nature of harm, Child as sexual being, Child as partner, Dangerous world, Entitlement, Virtual is not real, and Internet is uncontrollable. These themes were not investigated for their criminogenic nature. Thus, in this study, bivariate analyses were used to determine whether these cognitive themes were linked to three indicators of criminal behaviors: the extent of criminal charges, the diversity of offending behaviors, and the nature of contact with victims. Results suggest that, taken as a whole, online sexual offense–supportive cognitions may not be criminogenic. Moreover, only cognitive themes related to antisocial orientation and atypical sexuality were found linked with criminal behaviors, although associations found remain limited. Findings and associated implications are further discussed for research and clinical purposes.
Child exploitation material (CEM) is sexually abusive images of children that are typically disseminated via the internet. This paper reviews recent literature to establish a profile of those who view or collect CEM. CEM offenders are predominantly male, white, with an average age of between 35 and 45 and they are often single. They also tend to be better educated and are more likely to work in professional occupations than other sexual offenders. CEM offenders tend to be less assertive, less dominant and less socially confident than other sexual offenders and show higher levels of sexual deviancy. They are also more likely to sexually fantasise about children. They tend to have few previous convictions and are at low risk of reconviction. This study will help law enforcement and corrections practitioners to target resources towards this offending group.
In diesem Beitrag dieskutieren wir die Frage, ob das Gefühl der Rechtsfreiheit im Internet auch ein Ergebnis davon ist, dass keine hinreichend aktive Aufhellung des Dunkelfeldes durch Sicherheitsbehörden im deutschsprachigen Raum stattfindet.
This study analyzed the evolution over time of the activity of consumers of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM). To this end, images and metadata were extracted from the hard drives of 40 individuals convicted of possession of child pornography and analyzed. A sample of these images (N = 61,244) was categorized by the age of the subjects depicted and—using the Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe (COPINE) scale—by severity of the acts depicted. Collecting activity was observed to follow four patterns. The most prevalent pattern was a progressive decrease in the age of the person depicted and a progressive increase in the severity of the sexual acts. In light of the results, we propose four explanations of the nature of, and variations in, child-pornography collections.
Sexual offending behavior is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Most existing etiological models describe sexual offending behavior as a variant of offending behavior and mostly include factors referring to disinhibition and sexual deviance. In this article, we argue that there is additional value in describing sexual offending behavior as sexual behavior in terms of an incentive model of sexual motivation. The model describes sexual arousal as an emotion, triggered by a competent stimulus signaling potential reward, and comparable to other emotions coupled with strong bodily reactions. Consequently, we describe sexual offending behavior in terms of this new model with emphasis on the development of deviant sexual interests and preferences. Summarized, the model states that because sexual arousal itself is an emotion, there is a bidirectional relationship between sexual self-regulation and emotional self-regulation. Not only can sex be used to regulate emotional states (i.e., sexual coping), emotions can also be used, consciously or automatically, to regulate sexual arousal (i.e., sexual deviance). Preliminary support for the model is drawn from studies in the field of sex offender research as well as sexology and motivation research.
Situational prevention shifts attention from the psychological characteristics of the individual performing behaviour to the facilitating role played by the immediate environment in which the behaviour occurs. Applied to the problem of Internet child pornography, the situational approach emphasises the role of opportunity in driving consumption. It is argued that under the right environmental conditions the potential to view children as sexual objects is more widespread than sexual deviance models suggest. The Internet allows individuals to satisfy their secret desires conveniently, cheaply and relatively risk-free. Situational prevention of Internet child pornography requires strategies that reduce the opportunities for accessing child abuse images by making the activity less rewarding, more difficult, and riskier.
This article argues that application of the term “cybercrime” is overly expansive and by this nature exclusive of lesser deviancies, or “microdeviations.” These relatively minor deviant actions are frequently encountered online but are ineffectively checked by regulation. Their banal nature contributes to normalization, informing manufactured uncertainty and moral panic. Several examples of microdeviation are explored emphasizing the intersection of normalization and anxiety and the potential impact on digital spaces. While this issue is only part of the greater societal impact of informationalization, it nonetheless raises important questions as the global north progresses toward harmonizing Internet regulations.
In this article, I return to the idea that pedophilia, a sexual interest in prepubescent children, can be considered a sexual orientation for age, in conjunction with the much more widely acknowledged and discussed sexual orientation for gender. Here, I broaden the scope to consider other chronophilias, referring to paraphilias for age/maturity categories other than young sexually mature adults. The puzzle of chronophilias includes questions about etiology and course, how chronophilias are related to each other, and what they can tell us about how human (male) sexuality is organized. In this article, I briefly review research on nepiophilia (infant/toddlers), pedophilia (prepubescent children), hebephilia (pubescent children), ephebophilia (postpubescent, sexually maturing adolescents), teleiophilia (young sexually mature adults, typically 20s and 30s), mesophilia (middle-aged adults, typically 40s and 50s), and gerontophilia (elderly adults, typically 60s and older) in the context of a multidimensional sexual orientations framework. Relevant research, limitations, and testable hypotheses for future work are identified.
The increasing relevance of youth participation in the e-environment and invariably the use of cyber technology has been remarkably accentuated by many scholars. Lately, the affinity inherent in the triad of youth, cyber technology and e-business banding together to form the driving force of progress in the modern economy have also been considerably recognized. However, the unanticipated consequences of the synergy between each of these components are yet to be explored in details. This paper, having identified this gap therefore, explores an aspect involving the intent of youths in their utilization of cyber technology and locates this in the appropriation of the gains in the e-business environment to generate diverse desired ends. The existence of both standardized and non-standardized behaviours in the use of e-technologies has steadily increased the vulnerability of gamut of users in the cyber community. In cognizance of this development, this paper locates the surge in Nigeria's youth's interest in manipulating the Internet for private gains in expressive identity that is both promoting independence and creativity among the studied group. The theoretical anchorage links fraud attraction to the nature of the social psychological composition of the youths. Finally, the paper concluded that though the increase in technological innovations has been of tremendous advantages to the youth population and the society at large, it has also constituted serious challenges in terms of technologically enhanced crime. These crimes include the cyber fraud characteristic of the youth population in many developing nations. This study proffered some pragmatic solutions to the challenges relating to youth-cyber fraud connection. The widespread information networks and the development of information and communication technology (ICT) skills across a broader socio-cultural boundaries open new avenues to prosperity that did not exist many decades ago in many parts of the world. Livingstone (2010) attributed this development to the benefits the new technological order confers on the global community. ICT created new opportunities for self-expression, sociability, community engagement, creativity and new literacies. Nonetheless, it also creates a whole new set of uncertainties for global businesses and other forms of relationship (Salkowitz 2010). Modern technologies exist to target solving all human problems but they still pose enormous threat to the physical and psychological well-being of humans, thereby generating relatively non-predictability of
Fear induced by human activity is increasingly becoming recognized to influence both behavior and population biology of wildlife. Exposure to human activity can cause animals to avoid human-dominated areas or shift temporal activity patterns, but repeated, benign exposure can also result in habituation of individuals. Habituation is typically viewed as a negative potential consequence of human interactions with wildlife, with effects such as increased vulnerability of habituated animals to predation. Concurrently, the advancement of the understanding of the ecology of fear has shown reduced fitness in species because of behavioral changes in responses to fear of predators—including humans. Here, we test how habituation and fear drive the foraging ecology of brown bears (Ursus arctos) feeding on Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in Southeast Alaska, USA. We used motion-detecting trail cameras at salmon spawning areas across a gradient of human disturbance to record human and bear activity at fine spatial and extended temporal scales. Higher human activity was associated with increased nocturnality of non-habituated bears, likely leading to suboptimal foraging, but had no effect on habituated individuals. For the top 20% of sites for which human activity was greatest, an average of 78.7% of the activity of non-habituated bears was nocturnal, compared with an average of only 10.2% of the activity of habituated individuals. Habituation of brown bears in this system alleviated perceived risk and avoidance of human activity, allowing habituated individuals to overcome their fear of human presence and maximize foraging opportunities. While habituation may lessen some of the deleterious effects of human activity on large carnivores, the long-term effects of habituation may be negative, as habituated individuals may be at greater risk of depredation. Future research should examine whether habituated bears and their lower perceived risk of human activity ultimately experience smaller population-level effects of human disturbance than non-habituated individuals.
Recent findings showed that users on Facebook tend to select information that adhere to their system of beliefs and to form polarized groups -- i.e., echo chambers. Such a tendency dominates information cascades and might affect public debates on social relevant issues. In this work we explore the structural evolution of communities of interest by accounting for users emotions and engagement. Focusing on the Facebook pages reporting on scientific and conspiracy content, we characterize the evolution of the size of the two communities by fitting daily resolution data with three growth models -- i.e. the Gompertz model, the Logistic model, and the Log-logistic model. Then, we explore the interplay between emotional state and engagement of users in the group dynamics. Our findings show that communities' emotional behavior is affected by the users' involvement inside the echo chamber. Indeed, to an higher involvement corresponds a more negative approach. Moreover, we observe that, on average, more active users show a faster shift towards the negativity than less active ones.
This Article focuses on the Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) approach in criminology, which expands the crime reduction role well beyond the justice system. SCP sees criminal law in a more restrictive sense, as only part of the anticrime effort in governance. We examine the “general” and “specific” responses to crime problems in the SCP approach. Our review demonstrates that the most serious barrier to converting SCP techniques into policy remains the gap that exists between problem identification and problem response. We discuss past large-scale SCP interventions and explore the complex links between them and SCP’s better known specificity and piecemeal approach. We develop a graded framework for selecting responses that acknowledge the local, political, and organizational issues involved in identifying and choosing them. This framework determines when SCP interventions and policies can be crafted on the macro level to eliminate or greatly reduce the problem everywhere, and when interventions should be limited to a piecemeal, local approach to eliminate only the specific problem. Finally, we situate this analysis within the general context of the relationship between science and policy, noting the challenges in converting scientific observations into broad social policy and the expansion of crime control beyond criminal justice into the realm of government regulation and partnerships with nongovernmental agencies.
We provide detailed measurement of the illegal trade in child exploitation material (CEM, also known as child pornography) from mid-2011 through 2014 on five popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks. We characterize several observations: counts of peers trafficking in CEM; the proportion of arrested traffickers that were identified during the investigation as committing contact sexual offenses against children; trends in the trafficking of sexual images of sadistic acts and infants or toddlers; the relationship between such content and contact offenders; and survival rates of CEM. In the 5 P2P networks we examined, we estimate there were recently about 840,000 unique installations per month of P2P programs sharing CEM worldwide. We estimate that about 3 in 10,000 Internet users worldwide were sharing CEM in a given month; rates vary per country. We found an overall month-to-month decline in trafficking of CEM during our study. By surveying law enforcement we determined that 9.5% of persons arrested for P2P-based CEM trafficking on the studied networks were identified during the investigation as having sexually offended against children offline. Rates per network varied, ranging from 8% of arrests for CEM trafficking on Gnutella to 21% on BitTorrent. Within BitTorrent, where law enforcement applied their own measure of content severity, the rate of contact offenses among peers sharing the most-severe CEM (29%) was higher than those sharing the least-severe CEM (15%). Although the persistence of CEM on the networks varied, it generally survived for long periods of time; e.g., BitTorrent CEM had a survival rate near 100%.
The central question of this article is whether routine activity theory (RAT) can be used as an analytical framework to study cybercrimes. Both a theoretical analysis and an analysis of empirical studies have thus far failed to provide a clear answer. The multivariate analysis presented in this article tries to avoid some of the limitations of other RAT-based studies. Based on a large sample (N = 9,161), the effects of value, visibility, accessibility, and guardianship on victimization of six cybercrimes have been studied. Analysis shows some RAT elements are more applicable than others. Visibility clearly plays a role within cybercrime victimization. Accessibility and personal capable guardianship show varying results. Value and technical capable guardianship show almost no effects on cybercrime victimization.
This comprehensive text provides an up-to-date review and critique of current theorising about sexual offending. It presents the key ideas underpinning each theory in a clear and accessible manner. Theories are rigorously tested and evaluated, and their merits are examined from both a research and a clinical point of view. Importantly, the emphasis is on providing clear links between theory and practice, and the clinical implications of the different theories and perspectives are explicitly discussed. In addition, a number of new ideas about the aetiology of sexual offending are presented. Theories of Sexual Offending is one of the few books to draw all of the disparate strands of theorising together, and is the only one to clearly link theory to practice. It will be a valuable resource for any professional working with sexual offenders, such as clinical and forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, probation officers and social workers. It will also be of interest to students of forensic and clinical psychology.
This chapter represents an attempt to integrate a widely disparate literature concerning factors which play a role in the etiology of sex offending and lead to its persistence. In particular we are concerned that most researchers seem to take a rather narrow perspective of this behavior, stressing their own preferred processes (i.e., psychological, biological, or sociological) to the virtual exclusion of others. We have previously emphasized the role of learning experiences (Marshall and Barbaree, 1984a), sociocultural factors (Marshall, 1984a), and biological processes (Marshall 1984b) in the etiology of rape, but this represents our first attempt at integration and the first time we have extended our theorizing to account for other sex offenses. We believe that a proper understanding of sex offending can only be attained when these diverse processes are seen as functionally interdependent.
The term 'addiction' was traditionally used in relation to centrally active substances, such as cocaine, alcohol, or nicotine. Addiction is not a unitary construct but rather incorporates a number of features, such as repetitive engagement in behaviours that are rewarding (at least initially), loss of control (spiralling engagement over time), persistence despite untoward functional consequences, and physical dependence (evidenced by withdrawal symptoms when intake of the substance diminishes). It has been suggested that certain psychiatric disorders characterized by maladaptive, repetitive behaviours share parallels with substance addiction and therefore represent 'behavioural addictions'. This perspective has influenced the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), which now has a category 'Substance Related and Addictive Disorders', including gambling disorder. Could other disorders characterised by repetitive behaviours, besides gambling disorder, also be considered 'addictions'? Potential examples include kleptomania, compulsive sexual behaviour, 'Internet addiction', trichotillomania (hair pulling disorder), and skin-picking disorder. This paper seeks to define what is meant by 'behavioural addiction', and critically considers the evidence for and against this conceptualisation in respect of the above conditions, from perspectives of aetiology, phenomenology, co-morbidity, neurobiology, and treatment. Research in this area has important implications for future diagnostic classification systems, neurobiological models, and novel treatment directions.
Starting with electronic Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs), Usenet and email, the adoption and continued use of technology to facilitate the viewing and possession of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) has been of research interest for investigation, treatment, intervention, and interdiction purposes, and has been used in developing risk assessment tools. In this review, a systematic search of databases containing peer reviewed journal and conference papers as well as grey literature was conducted to identify prior quantitative research using the SPIDER methodology. The search was broken into a search for general technology usage, which identified 1,093 papers, and a search for countermeasure usage, which identified 3,190 papers. Following a title and abstract triage, then a subsequent full text review of the remaining papers, 33 papers were identified for inclusion as meeting relevancy and quality standards as measured by a modified Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies analysis. The review found long term trends indicative of a slow growth in collection sizes with growing percentages of video content. Additionally, offenders continued to use technologies beyond their normative usage periods and only adopted new technologies once capabilities specific to offender needs were incorporated into those technologies. Finally, the review noted issues with current countermeasures research in not adequately addressing integrated countermeasures that are enabled by default in newer technologies, and with general technology research in using older data and not including mixed-method technologies.
There are claims that the societal appetite for ‘child exploitation material’ is increasing. Yet, Australia’s policy response does not include initiatives to dissuade potential offenders from deliberately viewing child exploitation material for the first time (onset). To critically examine this issue, this paper draws on Situational Crime Prevention theory. It argues that (a) many first-time child exploitation material viewers fit the Situational Crime Prevention construct of the Opportunistic Offender and (b) suggests that current policy overlooks the kinds of non-instrumental factors that increase the risk of onset for this group, including doubts about the criminality and harmfulness of viewing child exploitation material. The paper then empirically examines social attitudes to child exploitation material viewing by presenting the findings of a survey of 504 Australian internet users. Results indicate that a sizeable minority of the participants were: unaware that it is a crime to view certain types of child exploitation material in Australia; and held doubts about the harmfulness of viewing child exploitation material. These findings are used to reflect on how the presence of these non-instrumental factors among ordinary internet users may affect the offending readiness of the Opportunistic Offender. Policy implications are then briefly discussed.
The aim of this review was to analyse and synthesize the results of prior research into the cognitive distortions present in online child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) consumers. A systematic search of databases containing peer reviewed articles as well as grey literature was conducted for prior studies involving the cognitions of CSEM offenders using the SPIDER methodology. Twenty articles were identified for inclusion following a full text review and a Mixed-Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) quality analysis. The instruments used were reviewed and summarized, and the level of endorsement present in the measured characteristics was analysed. The study's findings show that overall endorsement of cognitive distortions traditionally associated with contact sex offenders by CSEM offenders was low, and that existing sex offender instruments are largely ineffective tools for use with CSEM offenders. Newer assessment instruments built specifically for online offenders show promise, with overall moderate endorsements present in tools such as the Cognitions on Internet Sexual Offending scale (CISO), but additional research is needed to validate this approach.
Effective and ethical psychological practice relies on good science, and good science takes theory construction very seriously, as seriously as data collection. There is little point in developing valid research designs and sophisticated data analytic techniques if the ideas driving research are mistaken or trivial. In this paper I explore
the problem of theoretical illiteracy for correctional psychological research and practice. First, I discuss why theory is important in science and the dangers of ignoring it. Second, I review the role of theory in addressing the myriad of practical problems facing human beings. Third, I outline three strategies to increase researchers and
practitioners' appreciation of theory construction and development: adopting a more comprehensive model of scientific method, epistemic iteration, and promoting model pluralism. Fourth, I take an example of a core concept from correctional psychology, that of dynamic risk factors, and demonstrate how the above strategies can be used to rectify problems with this construct. Finally, I discuss the research, practice and normative implications of my approach to addressing theoretical illiteracy.
The Tor network is an encrypted network that allows anonymous access to the Internet for its users. The Tor network also hosts hidden services which constitute the infamous dark Web. These hidden services are used to carry out activities that are otherwise illegal and unethical on the surface Web. These activities include distribution of child pornography, access to illegal drugs, and the sale of weapons. While Tor hidden services provide a platform for uncensored ventures and a free expression of thoughts, they are outnumbered by grey activities taking place. In this paper, we have collected the addresses of about 25,742 hidden services and analyze the data for 6,227 available services with the help of custom-made crawler in Python. We analyzed the dataset and manually classify the data into 31 different categories to identify the nature of content available on the dark Web. The results indicate that a large share of hidden services provide illegal content along with a large number of scam sites. Non-English content was also studied and categorized. Russian was the leading language of the dark Web after English and hidden services having forums and blogs were predominantly present over other content.
The assumption that rewards and punishments influence our choices between different courses of action underlies economic, sociological, psychological, and legal thinking about human action. Hence, the notion of a reasoning criminal-one who employs the same sorts of cognitive strategies when contemplating offending as they and the rest of us use when making other decisions-might seem a small contribution to crime control. This conclusion would be mistaken. This volume develops an alternative approach, termed the "rational choice perspective," to explain criminal behaviour. Instead of emphasizing the differences between criminals and non-criminals, it stresses some of the similarities. In particular, while the contributors do not deny the existence of irrational and pathological components in crimes, they suggest that the rational aspects of offending should be explored. An international group of researchers in criminology, psychology, and economics provide a comprehensive review of original research on the criminal offender as a reasoning decision maker. While recognizing the crucial influence of situational factors, the rational choice perspective provides a framework within which to incorporate and locate existing theories about crime. In doing so it also provides both a new agenda for research and sheds a fresh light on deterrent and prevention policies.
Introduction:
Polytobacco use and experimentation is common among young adults. Additional research is needed to determine how these patterns of use impact perceptions of tobacco-related harm and risk. The current study examined whether a relationship exists between an increased number of tobacco products used and decreases in perceptions of harmfulness and health risk.
Method:
Participants (N = 792) completed a survey assessing current/lifetime tobacco use, perceived absolute harmfulness of tobacco/nicotine products and perceived health risk of smoking. For some analyses, participants were grouped by polytobacco use status.
Results:
Among participants who ever tried a tobacco product, a greater number of products tried was associated with lower perceptions of harm (all p < .05). For e-cigarettes and hookah, nonusers rated tobacco products as more harmful compared to single product, dual, and poly users (all p < .05). Number of products tried predicted perceived harmfulness above and beyond demographic characteristics and polytobacco use status across all products. Similarly, number of products tried predicted perceived health risk above and beyond demographic characteristics and polytobacco use status for both lung cancer and heart disease risk.
Discussion:
Trying a greater number of tobacco products is associated with lower perceived harmfulness of tobacco products. Prospective studies are needed to determine if experimentation with more tobacco products leads to reductions in perceived risk of tobacco use and subsequent sustained use of tobacco.
‘Cyberspace’ has added a dimension to the ecology of the child and should be a starting point for practitioners (including police) to think about digital media in the context of child sexual abuse. While there is no evidence to suggest that online abuse and exploitation is a more serious offence than crimes occurring offline, the behaviours enabled by social media may present a significant risk factor for some children. This article gives a brief overview of the phenomena and prevalence of online child sexual abuse and exploitation and the role that the Internet may play. This is considered in relation to deterrence, prevention and management of these crimes, and further develops a public health approach to online child abuse and exploitation. Finally, the article critically considers emerging evidence to support this interaction between the individual and the online environment.
Is crime reduced by highly publicized punishment events? Is crime reduced by law enforcement's public relations work? These longstanding questions are addressed in a novel context-digital drug markets. An analysis of trade data from two large and illegal e-commerce websites, collected on a daily basis for ten months, examined how market revenue was affected by (1) media coverage of police work on such markets and (2) the highly publicized conviction and life-sentencing of a market founder. Trade increased after periods with elevated media coverage, and also after the two court events. Possible explanations for the increase in trade after the trial outcomes are discussed in an analysis of textual conversations in three online forums associated with illegal e-commerce.
Although prior research suggests associations between parental characteristics and later sexual offending in offspring, possible links between early pregnancy-related factors and sexual offending remain unclear. Early risk markers unique to sexual offending, however, may be more prominent among sexual offenders with atypical sexual interests, such as individuals involved with child sexual exploitation material (CSEM; also referred to as child pornography). We examined the prospective association between parental and pregnancy-related risk markers and a behavioral indicator of pedophilic interest, CSEM offending. All 655 men born in Sweden and convicted of CSEM offending between 1988 to 2009 were matched 1:5 on sex, birth year, and county of birth in Sweden to 3,928 controls without sexual or nonsexual violent convictions. Paternal age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.1, 1.7]), parental education (AOR = 0.8, 95% CI [0.6, 0.9]), parental violent criminality (AOR = 2.9, 95% CI [2.2, 3.8]), number of older brothers (AOR = 0.8, 95% CI [0.6, 0.9] per brother), and congenital malformations (AOR = 1.7, 95% CI [1.2, 2.4]) all independently predicted CSEM convictions. This large-scale, nationwide study suggests parental risk markers for CSEM offending. We did not, however, find convincing evidence for pregnancy-related risk markers, with the exception of congenital malformations and having fewer older brothers.
Cognitive distortions are considered an important factor in the etiology and maintenance of sexual offending behavior in males. A predominant view within the literature is that cognitive distortions are cognitive products that arise from deeper cognitive structures, although it has also been proposed that goals and situational factors can play a role. In this article, we provide an updated theoretical account of cognitive distortions in males – the Multi-Mechanism Theory of Cognitive Distortions (MMT-CD). Adopting a dual-process perspective, and incorporating the concept of motivated cognition and the effects of visceral factors, we propose that cognitive distortions arise from three mechanisms, which can be identified in terms of their temporal occurrence to an offense. Mechanism I accounts for cognitive distortions that arise long before an offense is committed but serve to influence an individual's life-course and goals in a way that brings them closer to eventually sexually offending. Mechanism II accounts for distortions that arise in the lead up to or immediately before a sexual offense, thus, providing a justification for committing an offense. Mechanism III accounts for distortions that are formed post-offense as a result of the adversarial context of the individual's social environment. We describe: (1) the nature of each mechanism; (2) the way they underpin particular distortions; (3) the role they play in the etiology of sex offending; (4) and how they may play out in research and practice.
Research into the nature and structure of 'Dark Webs' such as Tor has largely focused upon manually labelling a series of crawled sites against a series of categories, sometimes using these labels as a training corpus for subsequent automated crawls. Such an approach is adequate for establishing broad taxonomies, but is of limited value for specialised tasks within the field of law enforcement. Contrastingly, existing research into illicit behaviour online has tended to focus upon particular crime types such as terrorism. A gap exists between taxonomies capable of holistic representation and those capable of detailing criminal behaviour. The absence of such a taxonomy limits interoperability between agencies, curtailing development of standardised classification tools.We introduce the Tor-use Motivation Model (TMM), a two-dimensional classification methodology specifically designed for use within a law enforcement context. The TMM achieves greater levels of granularity by explicitly distinguishing site content from motivation, providing a richer labelling schema without introducing inefficient complexity or reliance upon overly broad categories of relevance. We demonstrate this flexibility and robustness through direct examples, showing the TMM's ability to distinguish a range of unethical and illegal behaviour without bloating the model with unnecessary detail.The authors of this paper received permission from the Australian government to conduct an unrestricted crawl of Tor for research purposes, including the gathering and analysis of illegal materials such as child pornography. The crawl gathered 232,792 pages from 7651 Tor virtual domains, resulting in the collation of a wide spectrum of materials, from illicit to downright banal. Existing conceptual models and their labelling schemas were tested against a small sample of gathered data, and were observed to be either overly prescriptive or vague for law enforcement purposes - particularly when used for prioritising sites of interest for further investigation.In this paper we deploy the TMM by manually labelling a corpus of over 4000 unique Tor pages. We found a network impacted (but not dominated) by illicit commerce and money laundering, but almost completely devoid of violence and extremism. In short, criminality on this 'dark web' is based more upon greed and desire, rather than any particular political motivations.
Script theory explains how different types of crime may be committed in a particular sequence. While researchers have traditionally been interested in crimes against property and crimes against persons, this study analyzes a new form of crime: sexual crimes committed on the Internet. The objective of the present study was to review the scientific literature and investigate how viewing and creating Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM) can be understood dynamically. It is suggested that a motivated CSEM user, in acquiring new knowledge and techniques, goes through many stages and obstacles that lead ultimately to the contact sexual abuse of children. It is important to note that only a small proportion of individuals who follow the scripts described move on to the next step. The focus here is on the context and not on any causality between the steps, as the latter has not been demonstrated. Specifically, this study looked at the offenders’ path from consumption of adult pornography, to consumption of CSEM, to its distribution, to child luring, and, finally, to child sexual abuse and production of CSEM. The limitations and implications of the study are discussed.
In this article, I describe the motivation-facilitation model of sexual offending, which identifies the traits of paraphilia, high sex drive, and intense mating effort as primary motivations for sexual offenses, as well as trait (e.g., antisocial personality) and state (e.g., intoxication) factors that can facilitate acting on these motivations when opportunities exist. Originally developed to explain contact sexual offending against children, the motivation-facilitation model was subsequently extended as an explanation for child pornography offending and for online solicitations of young adolescents. Here, I argue it has the potential to be expanded to explain other forms of sexual offending, including sexual assaults of adults and noncontact offenses involving exhibitionism or voyeurism. In this review, I critically examine the evidence for and against the model, discuss its limitations, and identify critical gaps for future research.
IntroductionBasic AnalysisOptimality ConditionsShifts in the Behavioral RelationsFinesSummary and Concluding Remarks
The possession and distribution of online child pornography is a growingly pervasive problem and its pessimistic effects and dimensions are far-reaching in today’s society. With the steady increase in these types of offenses, it is pertinent that a better understanding of this heinous crime is addressed through various research endeavors. A research avenue significantly lacking in regard to these types of crimes is the extent to which the utilization of technology is further facilitating these types of crimes. Thus, it is the objective of the present study to specifically address these issues with its relationship to technology. In order to achieve this goal, a secondary data analysis was conducted using data from two prior studies with specific attention to the technological variables used by online sex offenders possessing or distributing child pornography. Conclusions of this study determined that technology does play a contributing role in the possession of increased amounts of child pornography over time. Specifically, hard drives, removable media, peer-to-peer, and encryption were all identified as having statistically significant relationships to either increased image/video amount or increased usage of that particular technology over time. This study concludes with policy implications and future research recommendations based on this study’s findings.
The current research examined the hypothesis that sexual activity functions as a coping strategy for sexual offenders. A 16-item scale, the Coping Using Sex Inventory (CUSI), was developed to assess the presence of and the degree to which sex was used to deal with problematic situations. Sexual offenders consistently reported using sexual activities, both consenting and nonconsenting, as a coping strategy to deal with stressful and problematic situations. In the first study, when compared to nonsexual violent offenders, sexual offenders showed evidence of sexual preoccupation during adolescence, and this preoccupation was related to the latter use of sex as a coping strategy. In the second study, intimacy deficits and loneliness were related to greater use of sexual activity as a coping mechanism. The third study examined the psychometric properties of the CUSI. A factor analysis revealed 3 factors in the CUSI corresponding to consenting sexual themes, rape themes, and child sexual abuse themes. Sexual offenders reported higher use of each type of sexual activity to cope with stressful and difficult situations as compared to nonsexual offenders. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed here.
As a region that is rapidly developing its technology base, Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing many of the issues associated with the benefits of cyber technology as well as its many negative sides. This paper discusses mobile and internet technologies currently being utilized in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as some of the major cybersecurity concerns threatening networks in the region that are associated with the new economic growth on the African continent. Such topics will include a viable increased awareness of news, historical events, and recent gatherings of information on this main topic.
Crime and Everyday Life, Fourth Edition, provides an illuminating glimpse into roots of criminal behavior, explaining how crime can touch us all in both small and large ways. This innovative text shows how opportunity is a necessary condition for crime to occur, while exploring realistic ways to reduce or eliminate crime and criminal behavior by removing the opportunity to complete the act. Encouraging students to take a closer look at the true nature of crime and its effects on their lives, author Marcus Felson and new co-author Rachel L. Boba (an expert on crime prevention, crime analysis and mapping, and school safety) maintain the book's engaging, readable, and informative style, while incorporating the most current research on criminal behavior and routine activity theory. The authors emphasize that routine daily activities set the stage for illegal acts, thus challenging conventional wisdom and offering students a fresh perspective, novel solutions for reducing crime … and renewed hope. New and Proven Features Includes new coverage of gangs, bar problems, and barhopping; new discussion of the dynamic crime triangle; and expanded coverage of technology, Internet fraud, identity theft, and other Internet pitfalls; The now-famous “fallacies about crime” are reduced to nine and are organized and explained even more clearly than in past editions; Offers updated research on crime as well as new examples of practical application of theory, with the most current crime and victimization statistics throughout; Features POP (Problem-Oriented Policing) Center guidelines and citations, including Closing Streets and Alleys to Reduce Crime, Speeding in Residential Areas, Robbery of Convenience Stores, and use of the Situational Crime Prevention Evaluation Database; Updated “Projects and Challenges” at the end of each chapter Intended Audience This supplemental text adds a colorful perspective and enriches classroom discussion for courses in Criminological Theory, Introduction to Criminal Justice, and Introductory Criminology.
In the last few decades, rational choice theory has emerged as a bedrock theory in the fields of economics, sociology, psychology, and political science. Although rational choice theory has been available to criminologists for many years now, the field has not embraced it as other disciplines have. Moreover, rational choice scholars have fueled this skepticism of the theory's generality by modeling offender decision making that is one-sided—large on the costs of crime (sanction threats), short on the benefits of crime. In this article, we directly assess the generality of rational choice theory by examining a fully specified model in a population that is often presumed to be less rational—adolescents from lower socioeconomic families who commit both instrumental (property) and expressive crimes (violence/drugs). By using a panel of N = 1,354 individuals, we find that offending behavior is consistent with rational responses to changes in the perceived costs and benefits of crime even after eliminating fixed unobserved heterogeneity and other time-varying confounders, and these results are robust across different subgroups. The findings support our argument that rational choice theory is a general theory of crime.
This study aimed at evaluating self-control theory in the context of online music piracy by adolescents in Hong Kong. In addition to self-control measures, social variables and strain variables were measured in this study with 634 secondary school students. The results did not strongly support the general theory of crime's claim that the impact of self-control is universal across gender and cultures. Individuals' self-control was correlated with boys' online piracy behaviour, but not that of girls. A stronger influence of social factors (differential association) compared with self-control on online piracy behaviour was also observed. This research contributes to knowledge of the interplay of gender and culture in shaping the applicability of self-control theory in understanding delinquent behaviour.