The Trend of Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitations: A Profile of Online Sexual Offenders and Criminal Justice Response

ABSTRACT

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of technology-facilitated crimes against children worldwide has increased substantially and become one of the most serious crime problems. Due to these considerations, there is a lack of large-scale systematic reviews investigating Cybercrime in and of itself could be challenging to investigate in comparison to traditional ones due to the elusiveness of the cyber realm. Specifically, investigating internet crimes against children comes with specific challenges. These offenses target vulnerable children who are less likely to realize their victimization, lowering the probability of reporting to the proper authorities. With these obstacles in mind, this research study utilizes data information regarding the characteristics of online CSAM users and their practices to inform law enforcement, parents, and the public for preventative and strategic purposes. Furthermore, this study diagnoses the significant challenges of investigating technology-facilitated crimes against children by examining how the current criminal justice system responds to these incidents. The policy recommendations discussed offer a holistic lens for highlighting this critical issue and implementing practical and proactive training solutions for law enforcement and the public.

KEYWORDS:

• Online child sexual abuse and exploitations
• online sexual offender typologies
• Covid-19
• criminal justice response
• cybercrime training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Kyung-Shick Choi

Kyung-Shick Choi is a Professor of The Practice and the Director of Cybercrime Investigation and Cybersecurity Graduate Programs at Boston University. His research interests are in cybercrime, cyber-criminology, and cybersecurity. Dr. Choi has an established track record in designing and delivering law enforcement training programs in cybercrime investigation, including computer forensics and child exploitation investigation.

Hannarae Lee

Hannarae Lee is an assistant professor and Chair of the Cybercriminology and Cybersecurity Graduate Certificate Program at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. She has co-authored journal articles and book chapters regarding cybercrime and cybersecurity while participating in a federally funded project regarding internet crimes against children.