Suchergebnisse

Accessing child sexual exploitation material (CSEM; child pornography in legal statutes) can indicate sexual interest in children. It logically follows then that the age and gender of the depicted children may reflect specific interests in those age/gender groups, and if so, may correspond to age and gender of any known contact offending victims. We had data on CSEM characteristics and child victims for 71 men convicted of CSEM offenses who also had contact sexual offenses against children; some had also sexually solicited children online. Sixty-four men had 134 prior or concurrent child victims, and 14 men reoffended directly against 17 children during follow-up. There were significant, positive associations (with moderate to large effect sizes) between age and gender of children depicted in CSEM and age and gender of child contact or solicitation victims. Examining future offending, though with only 14 recidivists, all men who sexually reoffended against a girl had more girl CSEM content, and all men who sexually reoffended against a boy had more boy CSEM content. Our results suggest that CSEM characteristics can reflect child preferences. This information can be relevant in clinical settings, police investigations, and community risk management, though it does not rule out interest in, or offending against, victims of other ages or gender. We discuss these findings in the context of other evidence regarding victim cross-over, and suggest future research.

The likelihood that child pornography offenders will later commit a contact sexual offense is unknown. In the present study, we identified a sample of 201 adult male child pornography offenders using police databases and examined their charges or convictions after the index child pornography offense(s). We also examined their criminal records to identify potential predictors of later offenses: 56% of the sample had a prior criminal record, 24% had prior contact sexual offenses, and 15% had prior child pornography offenses. One-third were concurrently charged with other crimes at the time they were charged for child pornography offenses. The average time at risk was 2.5 years; 17% of the sample offended again in some way during this time, and 4% committed a new contact sexual offense. Child pornography offenders with prior criminal records were significantly more likely to offend again in any way during the follow-up per-iod. Child pornography offenders who had committed a prior or concurrent contact sexual offense were the most likely to offend again, either generally or sexually.

The Child Pornography Offender Risk Tool (CPORT) is a seven-item structured tool to assess the likelihood of future sexual offending over a 5-year fixed follow-up. The current study examined 5-year fixed follow-up data (15% any new sexual offense, 9% any new child pornography offense) for a validation sample of 80 men convicted of child pornography offense(s). Although statistical power was low, results were comparable with the development sample: The CPORT had slightly lower predictive accuracy for sexual recidivism for the overall group (area under the curve [AUC] = .70 vs. .74), but these values were not significantly different. Combining the development and validation samples, the CPORT predicted any sexual recidivism (AUC = .72) and child pornography recidivism specifically (AUC = .74), with similar accuracies. CPORT was also significantly predictive of these outcomes for the child pornography offenders with no known contact offenses. Strengths and weaknesses of incorporating CPORT into applied risk assessments are discussed.

The Child Pornography Offender Risk Tool (CPORT) is a seven-item actuarial risk assessment tool that is used to estimate the potential for sexual recidivism among men convicted of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM; legally referred to as child pornography) offenses. In the current study, we examined the convergent and divergent validity of the CPORT in a clinical sample of 224 men on federal probation in the United States who were convicted of at least one type of CSEM offense. CPORT scores were significantly, moderately, and positively correlated with scores on another sexual offense risk assessment tool, the Risk Matrix 2000 (RM2000/S), showing broad evidence of convergent validity, and was nonsignificantly associated with scores on a general offense risk assessment tool, the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI), showing evidence of divergent validity. There was also evidence of specific convergent validity; for example, the CPORT item reflecting prior criminal history was most strongly related to the Criminal History domain of the LS/CMI, and CPORT items reflecting sexual interest in children were significantly and strongly associated with self-reported sexual interest in children from the clinical evaluation. We also examined the impact of including clinical information in the scoring of the CPORT. Including this information reduced the amount of missing scores, but the impact on predictive accuracy is not yet known. Implications for clinical practices are discussed.

AbstractThe complexity of the phenomenon of child sexual abuse images online (CSAIO) benefits from cross‐disciplinary collaboration across law enforcement, child protection, and children's mental health. Through focus groups with professionals working in these fields, this article focuses on when and whether professionals who work with child sexual abuse cases should be exposed to viewing CSAIO and if so under what circumstances doing so would benefit investigations and support services for victims. In a broader sense, this article is about professional experience, decision making, training, and collaboration around a particularly difficult professional experience, namely exposure to viewing CSAIO.