A conceptual framework for internet child abuse material offenders: risk-relevant therapy based on assessed risk factors

Figures & data

Table 1. History and current ACT legislation relevant to I/CAM offences.

Year	Offence	Crimes Act 1900 section
1987	Employment of young persons for pornographic purposes	Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1987
1991	Possession of child pornography	Crimes (Amendment) Act 1991
1994	Expansion of child pornography laws to encompass computer games	Classification of Publications (Amendment) Ordinance 1994
2004	Using child for production of child pornography* etc. Trading in child pornography* Possessing child pornography*	Crimes Legislation Amendment Act 2004 (current)
2018	*Replace ‘child pornography’ with ‘child exploitation material’	All

Note: ACT = Australian Capital Territory; I/CAM = internet child abuse material.

Table 2. Current I/CAM treatment programmes and evaluation/s.

Name	Delivery	Approach	Risk level	Location	Sessions	Hours	Excludes	Evaluation
Prevention Project Dunkelfeld (2005)	Group	Therapeutic Pharmacological	N/A	Germany – Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine	45–50 sessions × 3 hours each	135–150  hours	Acute untreated psychotic disorders. Acute untreated mood disorders. Developmental disability. Current legal supervision. Pending criminal charge/s	Beier, Ahlers et al. (2009); Beier, Neutze et al. (2009); Beier, Grundmann et al. (2015); Mokros and Banse (2019)
Inform Plus (2005)	Group or individual (currently online only due to COVID-19 pandemic)	Psychoeducational	N/A – arrest, caution or conviction	UK – Lucy Faithfull Foundation	10 sessions × 2.5 hours each (group) 5 sessions × 2 hours (individual)	25 10	Unknown	Gillespie et al. (2018); Dervley et al. (2017)
i-SOTP (2006–2017)	Group or one to one. Age 17–21: one to one	Model of change Good lives model	Low, medium and high on RM2000	UK – HMPPS	35 sessions × 2 hours each	70	Women IQ under 80 High deviance	Middleton et al. (2009)
Troubled Desire (2017)	Online	Psychoeducational	N/A	Germany – Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine	Unknown	Self-assessment 15–30min. Self-management unknown	Unknown	Nil
iHorizon (2018)	Group	Bio/psycho/social model of change Good lives model	Moderate or high on RM2000	UK – HMPPS Northern Ireland	26 group + 3 individual sessions	46	Women serious MH IQ under 80	Nil
CEM-COPE (2019)	Group	Psychoeducational RNR	Unknown – must be in criminal justice system	Australia – Forensicare	10 sessions × 2 hours each	20	ID ABI Self harm Suicidal severe MH	Nil

Note: I/CAM = internet child abuse material; i-SOTP = Internet-Related Sexual Offending Programme; CEM-COPE = Coping with Child Exploitation Material Use programme; RNR = risk–needs–responsivity model; RM2000 = Risk Matrix 2000; HMPPS = Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service; MH = mental health; ID = intellectual disabilities; ABI = acquired brain injuries.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework for I/CAM-specific assessment and treatment. I/CAM = internet child abuse material; ERICSO = Estimated Risk of Internet Child Sexual Offending; RNR = risk–needs–responsivity model; GLM = good lives model.

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