“Otis”: A Case Study of an Online Attempt to Purchase Children for Sex

ABSTRACT

The researchers analyzed court documents to develop a case study of an individual convicted of buying sexual services from exploited children. Findings indicate that the subject deviates from preexisting victim selection processes and demonstrates characteristics inconsistent with existing sexual offender typologies that likens offender behaviors to the hunting techniques and behaviors of predatory animals. As evidenced in the case study, the individual perceived the victims solely as a means of deviant sexual satiation and did not participate in traditionally established victim acquisition techniques. In addition, the researchers propose adopting terminology that adheres to the term consumer rather than buyer as it better represents some offenders’ disconnect and lack of empathy in the victim acquisition process.

KEYWORDS:

• buyers
• child trafficking
• human trafficking
• sex slavery
• typology

Disclosure of interest

The authors declare they have no financial or personal conflicts to report that might have biased the work being submitted.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stacey Diane A. Litam

Stacey Diane A. Litam is a doctoral candidate in the Kent State University Counselor Education and Supervision Program and a licensed mental health counselor at an agency in Northeast Ohio. She received her MA from John Carroll University and is an instructor at Cleveland State University and the Northeast Ohio Medical University.

Jesse Edward Bach

Jesse Edward Bach, PhD, is the founder and executive director of the Imagine Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, and a sex trafficking researcher.