Overview

What are the findings of the multi-year, state government-funded report of the PA Task Force on Child Pornography? And what are its recommendations?

Summary

In 2021 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed ACT 53 which established the Task Force on Child Pornography.

It directed the task force to “conduct a review to ascertain any inadequacies relating to the offense of child pornography in 18 PA CS 6312.

The report was finished and published in September of 2022.

What was the Focus of the Report of the PA Task Force on Child Pornography?

The report narrowed in on a number of issues related to CSAM offenses.

It reviewed the demographics of the individuals committing these crimes, assessed the newest research on recidivism, looked at SOAB assessments and surveyed law enforcement and prosecutors.

Who was included in the Report of the PA Task Force on Child Pornography?

Between 2014 and October of 2021, there were 2989 cases involving CSAM offenses with an average of 385 cases per year.

The majority of cases

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Overview

A look at the data and results of an August 2022 study of 141 sexual offenders. The study further emphasizes the recidivism prediction abilities of the CPORT.

Summary

Evaluators conducting evaluations and risk assessments CSAM offenders do not have a validated actuarial risk assessment measure for this population. For contact offenses, there are several, with the Static-99R being the most widely used.

To combat this, Seto and colleagues created the CPORT. 

However, the CPORT authors provide the following provisos:

• It should not be used with more than 1 missing data point
• Until it has been validated more widely, should not be used as a measure to predict recidivism

The CPORT Validation Study

This study, published in August of 2022, sought to directly replicate the original CPORT validation study with a population of individuals from Scotland. They were charged with offenses related to images of child sexual abuse.

The authors were able to use data for 141 individuals with a fixed follow up period to measure recidivism of 5 years.

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Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

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Continue exploring Mitigation Aide for the information on mental health necessary to ensure your clients are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.

The post Does the CPORT Predict Risk in a Scottish Population? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

What are the characteristics of dark web consumers of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)? And how can they be helped?

Summary

Protect Children is a non-governmental not-for-profit organization that is based out of Finland. They recently published the results of their survey related to the ReDirection Project.

What is the ReDirection Project?

It’s the organization’s effort to provide primary prevention of child sexual abuse and exploitation. The project aims to help consumers of Child Sexual Abuse Materials by providing them an anonymous and self-directed program designed for individuals who view CSAM.

CSAM Surveys

In 2020, Protect Children had two surveys on their website. The main survey, “Help Us Help You,” was for individuals who felt they needed some help with their CSAM consumption. 

The second survey was for those who felt they did not need help but were consuming child sexual abuse materials. 

The recently published report is the result of over 8400 responses to the surveys. Survey respondents were all users of the dark web consuming CSAM.

The authors provide 6 main bullet point results from the survey.

1. A large number of individuals who consumed child sexual abuse materials want to or have tried to stop using it in the past but have been unsuccessful in their attempts to stop.
2. 70% of the survey respondents stated that they had first been exposed to CSAM materials before they were 18 years old. Almost 40% were first exposed prior to the age of 13. 
3. Almost half of the respondents (45%) view child sexual abuse materials of girls aged 4 to 13 years old. 
4. More than half of the survey respondents have feared that their viewing of CSAM might lead them to a contact offense with a child. 
5. Nearly half of the survey respondents have watched actual child abuse on a live-stream feed.
6. More research is needed. Most research is conducted with individuals who are convicted of child sexual abuse materials crimes, knowledge from those not arrested can be informative.  

Specific Results of the CSAM Survey

• 70% of survey respondents first saw child sexual abuse materials prior to the age of 18. Nearly 40% were under the age of 13
• 51% first came across CSAM by accident
• 43% of survey respondents have been watching child sexual abuse materials for 1 to 4 weeks
• 55% view illegal material occasionally
• 45% view CSAM of girls between the ages of 4 and 13
• 50% would like to stop viewing child sexual abuse material
• 62% have tried to stop viewing child sexual abuse material at some point
• For those who have stopped viewing CSAM, the main motivator was the negative feelings of guilt and shame
• 45% have seen live streamed child sexual abuse material
• At some point in their CSAM use, 62% of respondents felt they were unable to control their use
• 48% did not feel that their child sexual abuse material use made them afraid of a contact sexual offense
• 56% reported that they never thought about direct sexual contact with a child after viewing CSAM
• 63% of the child sexual abuse material users stated that they never sought direct contact with a child with the remainder seeking said contact anywhere from rarely to every time
• About half the respondents had thought about or attempted suicide or self-harm
• 58% never thought about telling anyone about their child sexual abuse material use
• 54% of CSAM users stated they never had (29%) or never wanted (25%) contact with other users

CSAM Study Limitations

This study has a number of limitations:

1. It is a survey of dark web users. It is possible that the survey results are not generalizable to other populations. 
2. Also, inherent in any voluntary survey, there is the possibility that there are characteristics of those willing to take a survey that are different from those individuals who chose not to. Again, possibly affecting the generalizability of the results.

Why This is a Valuable Study

There are a number of reasons why this is a valuable survey study:

1. The authors are correct that most of our knowledge of individuals who consume child sexual abuse materials comes from people who have been arrested for its possession. Therefore, all data misses a huge segment of people: those who are viewing the material and not getting caught. 
2. Additionally, the more we know about the consumers of CSAM, the better able we are to create prevention programs to help decrease its use at a primary prevention level.

Reference

Insoll, T, Ovaska, A & Vaaranen-Valkonen, N. (2022).  CSAM users in the Dark Web.  https://protectchildren.fi/2021/09/23/redirection-survey-report/

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Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

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Continue exploring Mitigation Aide for the information on mental health necessary to ensure your clients are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.

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Overview

The truth about sexual offending history in non-contact offenders.

Summary

The Dark Shadow of offending is something that is often talked about in sentencing hearings but not necessarily by name.  The phrase was coined by Biderman and Reiss in 1967 and refers to the differences between the known criminal reoffending that occurs compared to what is reported based on known offending. 

The post What is the Dark Shadow of Sexual Offending? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

Hyperfocus, compulsivity, and the effects of incarceration on offenders with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Summary

Anecdotally, in practice, we are seeing more clients who have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder being arrested for internet based sexual crimes including possessing images of child sexual abuse. 

The post Can Autism Symptoms Contribute to Child Pornography Offending? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

How do Internet Only CSAM Offenders (Child Sexual Abuse Material) differ from non-offenders and offenders with a contact offenses?

Summary

While this is an older article (2012), it needs to be included here. It is an oft-cited study that articulates both the psychological and demographic characteristics of men who have been convicted of possessing child sexual exploitation material (CSEM). 

It has provided a great deal of insight into the perpetrators of this type of crime.

Internet Only CSAM Offenders: The Study

The subjects were all men in federal custody with a history of a contact or a CSAM offense. 

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Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

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Continue exploring Mitigation Aide for the information on mental health necessary to ensure your clients are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.

The post Characteristics of Male Internet Only Child Pornography Offenders first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

How does a comprehensive, targeted educational program affect outcomes in CSEM offenders?

Summary

While most individuals who are convicted of crimes relating to possessing or distributing Child Sexual Exploitation Materials are court or probation mandated to sex offender treatment, there remains a lack of evidence-based treatment practices specifically targeting these CSEM individuals.  As we know that Internet Only Child Pornography offenders are different than contact or mixed offenders, we know that treatment targets for dynamic risk factors are different as well.  

This study sought to address some of these issues by creating a 10-week psychoeducational group curriculum that combined some traditional offender treatment goals such as offense cycles and sexual fantasies as well as other topics such as addictions, compulsions and relationship skills.

The post Psychoeducational Treatment for CSEM offenders first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

And how do these experiences affect these victims upon reaching adulthood?

Summary

From a treatment perspective, it is often more difficult to talk about victim empathy with individuals who are internet only offenders that possessed child pornography but do not have hands on offenders.  They can have a harder time understanding how they caused harm to the children in the images as they did not create the images but “simply” viewed them.

The post What are the experiences of child pornography victims? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

What are the socioeconomic demographics of juvenile offenders and how do non-CSEM offenses play into recidivism?

Summary

The increase in access to pornography has meant an increase in juveniles accessing child sexual exploitation material. This means an increase in these juveniles being arrested and charged for possession of the materials.  As we know that juvenile sexual offending is different from adult offending, research is needed to truly understand this phenomenon in juveniles.

The post Criminal Histories and Recidivism Rates for Juveniles Convicted of Child Pornography Possession first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

What scales are used to evaluate risk assessment among these offenders? How do the results differ from CP offenders with a contact offense?

Summary

It is now well established that there are two distinct categories of Internet Child Pornography offenders.  There is one category, often called internet only, that have no history of contact offending (IOCP).  The second category is sometimes called Mixed or Dual Offenders and these individuals have a child pornography charge and either a historical contact sexual offense or a concurrent contact sexual offense. 

The post Characteristics of Male Internet Only Child Pornography Offenders first appeared on Mitigation Aide.