Tag Archives: CyberTipLine

Child Pornography – Part Three

Will an offender that views child porn become a ‘hands on’ offender?

Melissa Killeen

Melissa Killeen

The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers is an international, multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to preventing sexual abuse. In a report adopted by the ATSA Executive Board of Directors on September 7, 2010 it was found that there is increasing attention paid to Internet-facilitated sexual offending. Internet-related sexual offending includes different crimes, including: viewing, trading, or producing child pornography to be traded or posted on-line. Others use the Internet to make contact with a child, or adolescent, these offenders are often called ‘hands on’ or ‘contact’ offenders. These offenders seek to contact vulnerable persons for sexual chats (electronic correspondence), exploitation such as convincing a child to view or produce pornographic images (e.g., having the child take and email a nude picture of him/herself), or to arrange face-to-face meetings to commit sexual offenses (sometimes referred to as “luring” or “traveler” offending)1 .

The vast majority of these ‘contact’ abuses against minors are from either a family member, or someone the child knows such as a family friend, coach, teacher or church leader, according to Dr. Fred Berlin, founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic in Baltimore. Whereas the viewer of child pornography remains anonymous.

That is not to say there is not a significant amount of psychological damage is perpetrated on children during the production and subsequent constant viewing of child pornography. Incredible and devastating harm is done to these young children that requires years of counseling and treatment in order for these young victims to heal, if they can ever heal. It is the point of this blog, to clarify that viewers of child pornography often do not move on to being ‘contact’ offenders.

It is a primary concern for professionals who evaluate and treat Internet-facilitated sexual offenders to assess the risk these viewers may pose to perpetrate direct contact offenses with victim(s) or to commit future Internet-facilitated sexual offenses such as producing and/or distributing child pornography. Accurate risk assessment is critical to decisions by law enforcement in order to make appropriate recommendations for sentencing, treatment, and level of supervision. Across studies of Internet-facilitated child pornography offenders, approximately one in ten has an officially known history of contacting a child for the purpose of sexual offending2 . However, the majority of Internet-facilitated sexual offenders have no known history of contact sexual offenses. Some, through self-reporting, suggests these offenders may have committed contact offenses, but never got caught. However unfortunately, there is very little research to assess the risk of viewers of child pornography who have no official history of contact sexual offenses to relapse into contact offenders.

A follow-up study of offenders that view child pornography suggest these individuals present less risk for any future hands-on offenses, on average, than undifferentiated samples of contact sex offenders3 . Viewers of child pornography also presented a relatively low risk to commit another child pornography viewing offense. The preliminary results of follow-up research suggest criminal history, self-reported sexual interest in children, and unstable lifestyle (e.g., substance use problems) are factors that identify the likelihood that contact offenders will re-offend. As a result of these risks and unstable lifestyles, 8.5% of the offender population are more likely commit a contact sexual offense in the future4 .

Possession of child pornography is a felony under federal law and in every state. If you know of anyone producing or promoting child pornography, please report them through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline: 1 (800) 843-5678. If you are concerned about what you or a loved one has been looking at while online, seek the help of a professional who specializes in this area.

References used in this blog:


1 Motivans, M., & Kyckelhahn, T. (2007). Federal prosecution of child sex exploitation offenders, 2006 (Report No. NCJ 219412). Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.

2 Seto, M.C., Hanson, R.K., and Babchishin, K.M. (in press). Contact Sexual Offending By Men with Online Sexual Offenses. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment.

3 Seto, M. C., & Eke, A. W. (2005). The future offending of child pornography offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 17, 201-210

4 Wolak, J., Finkelhor, D., Mitchell, K. J., & Ybarra, M. L. (2008). Online “predators” and their victims: Myths, realities, and implications for prevention and treatment. American Psychologist, 63, 111-128.

The Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH) is a nonprofit multidisciplinary organization dedicated to scholarship, training, and resources for promoting sexual health and overcoming problematic sexual behaviors. SASH is the only organization dedicated specifically to helping those who suffer from out of control sexual behavior. http://sash.net/?q=about-us

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline: 1 (800) 843-5678 . The CyberTipline is operated in partnership with the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service, military criminal investigative organizations, U.S. Department of Justice, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program, as well as other state and local law enforcement agencies.

Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers is an international, multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to preventing sexual abuse. Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers offers symposia, workshop presentations, discussion groups, and advanced clinics relating to issues in both victim and perpetrator research and treatment at an annual conference in November 2016.

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Child Pornography — Part Two

The Child Pornography Industry

Melissa Killeen

Melissa Killeen

The pornography industry nets approximately $13 billion dollars of revenue in the United States, alone. Illegal child pornography revenue is around $3 billion annually and is one of the fastest growing businesses online (Top Ten Reviews, 2005)[1]. In 2014, the Internet Watch Foundation found 31,266 individual child abuse domains or URLs, a 137% increase from 2013. Today, there are estimated to be more than one million pornographic images of children on the Internet, with 200 new images posted daily. The U.S. Customs Service estimates that there are more than 100,000 websites offering child pornography — which is illegal worldwide. The fastest growing demand is for images depicting the worst imaginable type of abuse and images of the youngest children. Of P2P users arrested in 2009, 33 percent had photos of children age three or younger and 42 percent had images of children that showed sexual violence. More than half of all illegal sites reported by the Internet Watch Foundation are hosted in the United States. Illegal sites in Russia have more than doubled from 286 to 706 in 2002 (National Criminal Intelligence Service, 8/21/03). One can only imagine how much free child pornography transfers hands on an annual basis. Who is possessing all of this child pornography?

What does an Internet viewer of underage pornography look like?

Federal child pornography charges are leveled against judges, politicians, doctors, teachers and other well-regarded members of society more frequently than you would ever imagine. If you remember in 2015 alone, Glee co-star Mark Salling, TV producer on Law and Order Jace Alexander, and the Subway spokesman, Jared Fogle were all arrested for possession of child pornography. National Juvenile Online Victimization Study found that men who view child pornography include those who are:

  • Sexually interested in prepubescent children (pedophiles) or young adolescents (hebephiles), who use child pornography images for sexual fantasy and gratification
  • Sexually compulsive, meaning they are constantly searching for new and different sexual stimuli
  • Sexually curious, downloading a few images to satisfy that curiosity
  • Interested in profiting financially by selling images or setting up websites requiring payment for access

These offenders weren’t concentrated in any specific geographic location, and their levels of income and education varied widely. Two-thirds were single, about one-quarter lived with children under the age of 18 and about one-quarter had problems with drugs and alcohol. In 2009, similar to 2006, about 20 percent of the offenders were between the ages of 18 to 25; while the majority of men who viewed child pornography were 26 or older. The National Crimes against Children Research Center reported the great majority of those arrested were non-Hispanic white men and less than 1 percent were women.

Possession of child pornography is a felony under federal law and in every state. If you know of anyone producing or promoting child pornography, please report them through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline: 1 (800) 843-5678. If you are concerned about what you or a loved one has been looking at while online, seek the help of a professional who specializes in this area.

References used in this blog:


[1] Ropelato, Jerry. Top Ten Reviews. Top Ten Reviews, Inc. 5 December, 2005. http://internet-filter-review….pornography-statistics.html

My Kid’s Browser: http://www.mykidsbrowser.com/internet-pornography-statistics.php

International Watch Foundation 2014 Annual Report: https://www.iwf.org.uk/accountability/annual-reports/2014-annual-report

 Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, POP Center, The Problem with Child Pornography on the Internet, Guide No.41 (2006), by Richard Wortley and Stephen Smallbone

Enough is Enough web site: http://www.enough.org/inside.php?tag=stat archives#3

National Juvenile Online Victimization Study

J Clark Baird, web site of a Kentucky criminal defense attorney, http://kyfederalcriminallawyer.com/practice-areas/federal-child-pornography-charges/

SASH- Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health- http://sash.net/

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Child Pornography – Part One

Melissa Killeen

Melissa Killeen

Possession of child pornography is a felony under federal law, as well as every state. Because I am a recovery coach, I know some offenders, and I had some questions. I wanted to know more about these viewers of child pornography. Are they all potential hands-on offenders? Is this a victimless crime? What is the demographic of the users of underage pornography? I found there were some staggering statistics about child pornography. That billions of dollars are generated annually by child porn. The volume of pornography shared for free is incredible. That one image is all that is required to be convicted and eventually spending 15 years on probation under Megan’s Law. I wondered what were the costs to maintain the non-violent offenders of Megan’s Law, for life? This blog post, as well as others that follow, will explore these issues.

How is child pornography viewed?

Peer-to-peer (P2P) computer platforms are the most likely portal to view underage or child pornography. These are sites that share files for free. There are also for-profit pornography sites, which charge viewers a monthly membership fee. The for-profit pornography sites do list child porn sites, but are well hidden, because to do so is illegal. A person really has to dig and search diligently to find these child porn sites. Then there is the Dark Web.

How does a P2P Network work?

Peer-to-Peer Networks or file sharing networks are vast global systems that can be located anywhere in the world. P2P networks are used by millions of people in order to acquire, for free, popular music, current television shows, movies, electronic books, and other digital material. The software allows users to log onto any P2P network and download files from other P2P network users.

Limewire, Gnutella, or other file sharing programs are downloaded to your computer in order for you to view files. Users create copies of movies, book or photographs, and place them into folders that are accessible to other peers. Users search by using keywords, just like you search on Google, to find these folders. Type in what you are looking for, and these keywords are broadcast to the network of participating peers and again, just like Google, files appear below the search box.

There are several reasons P2P networks are particularly attractive to child-pornography traffickers. First, child pornography on P2P networks is free. Any person with access to the Internet can connect to a P2P network. P2P networks do not make use of servers, which means users can transmit illegal material without oversight from an online service provider like Google, EBay or NetFlicks. P2P networks are an anonymous way used to view, buy or sell anything online. The Dark Web, however, is more anonymous.

What is the Dark Web?

The “Dark Web” is an encrypted network that exists between Tor servers and their clients. These Tor servers are set up to be anonymous. After downloading a Tor browser bundle, clients can search the Dark Web, a supermarket of illegal activity, for drugs, weapons, murder for hire or pornography. For a porn addict, the Dark Web has anything that addict could want. Porn mixed with anonymous high-speed Internet is a lethal mix.

Next week, I will discuss in more detail the demographic of the average child-pornography viewer. If you know of anyone producing, promoting or possessing child pornography, please report them through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline: 1 (800) 843-5678

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