Offenders convicted of child sexual exploitation material offences: characteristics of offenders and an exploration of judicial censure

Abstract

Research on the discernments of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), particularly delivered by judicial officers, is limited. Sentencing remarks can disseminate formal messages about the offender’s character while censuring crime. This study aimed to: obtain a deeper understanding on the characteristics of CSEM offenders and explore the censure sentencing judiciary impart. An exploratory content analysis conducted on sentencing remarks of 29 offenders across a 10-year period in Australia found all offenders were male, mostly middle-aged, with diverse employment and education. Most possessed and/or accessed CSEM involving: children under three and the most severe category (sadism/bestiality). Characteristics and censure involved: offender’s motivations and explanations for offending (sub-themes included poor mental health and substance abuse, downplay or denial, and addiction); CSEM offences are not victimless crimes; and disparities in the offender’s public versus private life. This study’s findings are valuable for law, psychology and social work disciplines across Australia and internationally.

Keywords:

• Child abuse
• child exploitation material
• child pornography
• child sex offender
• conviction
• criminal justice
• judiciary
• sentencing
• sexual offending

Ethical standards

Declaration of conflicts of interest

Larissa S. Christensen has declared no conflicts of interest

George S. Tsagaris has declared no conflicts of interest

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Notes

1 In some instances, an early guilty plea can result in a discounted sentence of up to 25%.

2 While the age of several offenders was not reported in the sentencing remarks, these were attained in newspaper articles. No further information was attained from newspaper articles.