Viewing Child Pornography on the Internet: Understanding the Offence, Managing the Offender, Helping the Victims

How can we understand offending and victimisation processes in relation to abuse images and the Internet? This book offers the reader unique and deep insights into innovative ways of thinking about this challenging problem. The chapter authors are amongst the foremost researchers and practitioners in this field. In an area that often attracts unthinking and uncritical media comment, it is important to develop both empirical knowledge and conceptual understanding of the problems presented by abuse images and the Internet. From different perspectives, the chapters in this book provide the foundations for systematic and critical development of knowledge and understanding, and represent a major step forward in understanding of the problems that face us. Within the broader context of child sexual exploitation, the chapters effectively address four important areas of concern: the empirical evidence; legal and law enforcement provision; conceptual and practical understanding of the offending process and the management of offenders; and, victim issues. How are programmes to be developed to address the needs of the offenders? Are they the same as other forms of sex offender, or do they justify the development of different therapeutic interventions? Are we sufficiently addressing preventative measures, rather than responding to events as they arise? How do we reduce and control the quantity of abuse images available, without losing the positive qualities of the Internet? These are just some of the questions explored by the expert contributors from a wide range of disciplines; they report on new research that challenges our understanding, both by comparing it to existing knowledge about offending activity and by broadening the debate to consider its relevance to different age groups and different contexts. For anyone involved in therapy or management of Internet child pornography offenders and victims, this important book will develop professional knowledge and practice, and extend thinking in new directions.