Child pornography
Child pornography, also known as child sexual abuse material and by more informal terms such as kiddie porn, is erotic material that involves or depicts persons under the designated age of majority. The precise characteristics of what constitutes child pornography vary by criminal jurisdiction.
Child pornography is often produced through online solicitation, coercion, and covert photography. Sexual abuse is often involved during its production. Pornographic pictures of minors are also often produced by children and teenagers themselves without the involvement of an adult. CSAM images and videos are frequently collected and shared online.
Laws regarding child pornography generally include sexual images involving prepubescents, pubescent, or post-pubescent minors and computer-generated images that appear to involve them. Most individuals arrested for possessing child pornography are found to have images of prepubescent children. Those who possess pornographic images of post-pubescent minors are less likely to be prosecuted, even though such images also fall within the scope of the statutes.
Child pornography is illegal and censored in most jurisdictions. Ninety-four Interpol member states had laws specifically addressing child pornography as of 2008, not including nations that ban all pornography.
Terminology and definitions
The precise definition of the term "child pornography" varies by jurisdictions and there is no consensus in international law regarding the precise meaning of the term.In the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court has defined child pornography as material that "visually depicts sexual conduct by children below a specified age". In Canada, child pornography can also entail depictions of fictional minors. In the United Kingdom, the law does not use the term "child pornography", though it does define a series of illegal sexual materials that are commonly regarded as child pornography. Some English jurisdictions use the COPINE scale to sort potentially sexual media involving minors.
In the 2000s, use of the term child abuse images increased by both scholars and law enforcement personnel because the term "pornography" can carry the inaccurate implication of consent and create distance from the abusive nature of the material. A similar term, child sexual abuse material, is used by some official bodies, and similar terms such as "child abuse material", "documented child sexual abuse", and "depicted child sexual abuse" are also used, as are the acronyms CAM and CAI. The term "child pornography" retains its legal definitions in various jurisdictions, along with related terms such as "indecent photographs of a child" and others. In 2008, the World Congress III against the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents stated in their formally adopted pact that "Increasingly the term 'child abuse images' is being used to refer to the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in pornography. This is to reflect the seriousness of the phenomenon and to emphasize that pornographic images of children are in fact records of a crime being committed."
Production
The methods of creating child pornography vary; some forms involve coercion, seduction, or coaxing. Other erotic images depicting childhood nudity involve covert filming and surveillance. Violent "hands-on" offenses are rare in criminal cases of child pornography production; instead, most of such cases involve online solicitation, the exchange of gifts, and promises of romance. In many cases, minors produce child pornography by themselves without the participation of adults.In April 2018, The Daily Telegraph reported that of the sexually explicit images of children and teenagers found on the internet, 31 percent were made by children or teenagers from November 2017 to February 2018, with 40 percent in December 2017; 349 cases in January 2017 and 1717 in January 2018. The images were made by children or teenagers photographing or filming each other or as selfies, without adults present or coercing, by unwittingly imitating adult pornographic or nude images or videos that they had found on the Internet. The report said that sex offenders trawled for and amassed such images.
A 2007 study in Ireland, undertaken by the Garda Síochána, revealed the most serious content in a sample of over 100 cases involving indecent images of children. In 44% of cases, the most serious images depicted nudity or erotic posing, in 7% they depicted sexual activity between children, in 7% they depicted non-penetrative sexual activity between adults and children, in 37% they depicted penetrative sexual activity between adults and children, and in 5% they depicted sadism or bestiality. A 2012 study reported that, in a sample of child pornography production arrest cases from 2009, 37% of the reviewed material was adult-produced and 39% was produced by minors with some involvement of an adult; the remaining items were produced by minors only.
Artificially generated or simulated imagery
Simulated child pornography produced without the direct involvement of children in the production process itself includes modified photographs of real children, non-minor teenagers made to look younger, fully computer-generated imagery, and adults made to look like children.Sexting and filming among minors
Sexting is sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or images, primarily between mobile phones, of oneself to others. It may also include the use of a computer or any digital device. Such images may be passed along to others or posted on the Internet. In many jurisdictions, the age of consent is lower than the age of majority, and a minor who is over the age of consent can legally have sex with a person of the same age. Many laws on child pornography were passed before cell phone cameras became common among teenagers close in age to or over the age of consent and sexting was understood as a phenomenon. Teenagers who are legally able to consent to sex, but under the age of majority, can be charged with production and distribution of child pornography if they send naked images of themselves to friends or sex partners of the same age. The University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center estimates that 7 percent of people arrested on suspicion of child pornography production in 2009 were teenagers who shared images with peers consensually. Such arrests also include teenage couples or friends with a small age disparity, where one is a legal adult and the other is not. In some countries, mandatory sentencing requires anybody convicted of such an offense to be placed on a sex offender registry.Legal professionals and academics have criticized the use of child pornography laws with mandatory punishments against teenagers over the age of consent for sex offenses. Florida cyber crimes defense attorney David S. Seltzer wrote of this that "I do not believe that our child pornography laws were designed for these situations ... A conviction for possession of child pornography in Florida draws up to five years in prison for each picture or video, plus a lifelong requirement to register as a sex offender."
In a 2013 interview, assistant professor of communications at the University of Colorado Denver, Amy Adele Hasinoff, who studies the repercussions of sexting has stated that the "very harsh" child pornography laws are "designed to address adults exploiting children" and should not replace better sex education and consent training for teens. She went on to say, "Sexting is a sex act, and if it's consensual, that's fine... Anyone who distributes these pictures without consent is doing something malicious and abusive, but child pornography laws are too harsh to address it."
Cybersex trafficking
Child victims of cybersex trafficking are forced into live streaming, pornographic exploitation on webcam which can be recorded and later sold. Victims are raped by traffickers or coerced to perform sex acts on themselves or other children while being filmed and broadcast in real time. They are frequently forced to watch the paying consumers on shared screens and follow their orders. It occurs in 'cybersex dens', which are rooms equipped with webcams. Overseas predators and pedophiles seek out and pay to watch the victims.Distribution and receipt
notes that there is "overwhelming evidence that is all but impossible to obtain through nonelectronic means." The Internet has radically changed how child pornography is reproduced and disseminated, and, according to the United States Department of Justice, resulted in a massive increase in the "availability, accessibility, and volume of child pornography."Digital cameras and Internet distribution facilitated by the use of credit cards and the ease of transferring images across national borders has made it easier than ever before for users of child pornography to obtain the photographs and videos.
In 2019, the New York Times reported that child pornography was now a crisis. Tech companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Dropbox reported over 18 million cases of child sexual abuse material, which includes over 45 million images and videos.
In 2023, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline received 36.2 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation, an increase of 12% from 2022.
Offender characteristics
Child pornography offenders are predominantly white, male, aged between 25 and 50 years and, in relation to "hands on" child sex abusers, more likely to be employed. On multiple studies, they have been reported to have higher education at a rate of 30%. Research has also shown that around 50% of child pornography offenders were single either at the time of their offences or after they were prosecuted. Child pornography offenders are also less likely to be parents compared to contact offenders. Scholars have also found that while "hands-on" offenders are relatively likely to transition into pornography offenders, the opposite is rarely the case.In a study conducted by Michael Seto in 2010, 33–50% of a sample of child pornography offenders reported having sexual interest in children. Another 2009 study diagnosed 31% of its sample of online child sex offenders with pedophilia. Aside from a predominant sexual interest in children, other reasons for online child pornography offending include indiscriminate sexual interest, pornography addiction and accidental access to child pornography material. Having a history of child pornography offending has been stated by some researchers to be a valid diagnostic indicator of pedophilia.
A meta-analysis of nine studies conducted by Seto in 2011 reported a sexual recidivism rate of 5% for follow-up periods ranging from one to six years. Another paper published by Seto in 2015 reported a sexual recidivism rate of 11% in a 5-year follow-up period. Research has also shown that offenders that measure high on antisociality and atypical sexual interests are most likely to sexually reoffend. Other studies have also reported rates of recidivism for child pornography offenders that are inferior to those of contact child sex offenders. People who have committed both pornography and contact offences have a higher recidivism rate for contact offences than child pornography offenders.