Internet Users’ Beliefs about a Novice-user of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): What Can They Tell Us about Introducing Offender-focused Prevention Initiatives?

ABSTRACT

Interest in preventing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offending is growing. A variety of initiatives have been proposed, including the use of warning messages triggered by keyword searches. An under-explored question is how the public might perceive such initiatives. Existing research reveals that the public holds very negative views about individuals labeled ‘sex offenders’ and ‘pedophiles’. Yet, little is known about how the public views individuals who commit CSAM offenses. This study explores the beliefs of 491 young adult Internet users toward a hypothetical novice-user of CSAM. Using thematic analysis, five key themes are identified. Informed by this analysis, implications for introducing prevention initiatives are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Child sexual abuse material
• prevention
• offenders
• public views
• warning messages

Notes

1. Strategies employed by Google and Microsoft Bing to reduce CSAM-related searches appeared to be effective, but the degree to which this was due to warning messages is not clear (see Steel, 2015).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [DP160100601].