Users of Online Child Sexual Abuse Material

• Published in: Journal of police and criminal psychology 2023-12, Vol.38 (4), p.904-913
• Main Author: Huikuri, Salla
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abusers; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child pornography; Child sexual abuse; Children; Citations; Cognitive impairment; Community; Criminality; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Internet; Law and Psychology; Mental health; Offenses; Pandemics; Pedophilia; Peers; Profiles; Psychological models; Psychology; Sex crimes; Sex offenders; Sexual abuse; Sexual violence; Streaming media; Victimization; Violence; Virtual communities; Webcams
• ISSN: 0882-0783; 1936-6469
• DOI: 10.1007/s11896-023-09611-4

Online communities on darknet contribute to sexual violence against children. They provide offender access to Child Sexual Abuse Material and to a group of peers that supports criminal activities. This article sheds light on online child sexual abusers and their justifications for Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). It describes different offender profiles and motivations for CSA, followed by a section on policing these offences. The article then lays out psychological models, such as cognitive distortions, that are used to understand pedophiles’ behavior. The discussion is complemented by direct citations from a darknet community of CSA offenders, showing that these models are not just theoretical considerations. The last part of the article concentrates on online communities of CSA offenders. It describes different types of members of such communities and explains how the communities support individual offenders and how they provide learning models that facilitate criminal behavior. The article concludes with a short reflection of its findings, including novel insights for investigators of these crimes and proposed venues for further research.