Abstract
We do not know whether men who access Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM) are contact child-sex offenders using technology - or a new and different type of child sex offender. This study compares men who were charged with Contact Child Sexual Abuse (CCSA) (n = 95) exclusively, and men who were charged with offences involving online CSEM (n = 99) exclusively. This is the first study of its kind in Australia, the first to divide participants into mutually exclusive offending type groups and to do this using police data. Logistic regression results indicated that CSEM offenders were significantly more likely to be older, more likely to be employed, have fewer criminal charges and supervision violations compared to CCSA offenders. The findings further highlighted the heterogeneity of those charged with child sexual offences based on offence typology. The identification of demographic, lifestyle and interpersonal characteristic differences between online CSEM and CCSA offenders’ questions the use of uniform approaches to community supervision and treatment protocols. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of an increased volume of people charged with CSEM offences.
Highlights
Online Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM) has proliferated over the past two deca des, but there is still much that we do not know about those who possess it
A relatively clear picture of two distinct profiles emerged from these results: those charged with Contact Child Sexual Abuse (CCSA) were younger, more likely to be Indigenous and often with antisocial indicators such as prior criminal charges and supervision violations
As predicted by hypotheses 1 and 2, those charged with CCSA were younger and more likely to be Indigenous Australians than those charged with CSEM offences
Summary
Online Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM) has proliferated over the past two deca des, but there is still much that we do not know about those who possess it. Prior studies that have compared those convicted of online CSEM offences with those prosecuted for CCSA have shown between-groups differences, but none have compared the groups using police level data in an Australian context. This study extends beyond the use of ‘index offence’ as a unit of analysis and includes their entire criminal record. Because this is the first investigation of its kind to examine a contemporary Queensland sample, we can consider the distribution of Indigeneity in both groups. This study concluded that those charged with CCSA were more likely than those arrested for CSEM offences to be younger, Indige nous, unemployed, have prior criminal charges, and previous community order breaches
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