Presentation
Operation Child Pornography: How Organized is the Distribution of Child Sexual Exploitation Material?
American Society of Criminology
(2016)
Abstract
The global reach of cyberspace coupled with the mass availability of media recording devices and high-speed connections, has facilitated growth in the online distribution of child sexual exploitation material. This research explores the distribution of child sexual exploitation in cyberspace. Unlike some other types of cybercrime, the proportion of child pornography material being distributed by organized crime is not increasing. In fact, the largest area of growth in dissemination is of the self-produced variety. Of course, this is not to say that the influence of organized crime in content production is not prominent in some areas of the world. Thanks to corruption, child sexual exploitation is still heavily dominated by illicit enterprises within poor and developing countries. The lack of jurisdictional authority for outside law enforcement agencies and cooperation from local government impedes the ability to target organizations working in those countries. Within developed countries, the lack of organization impacts law enforcement efforts as removal of key players occurs at the individual level rather than the organizational level, resulting in a poor return on impact to the distribution network for amount of resources required. Avenues for subsequent research and combat efforts are discussed.
Disciplines
Publication Date
November 18, 2016
Location
New Orleans, LA
Citation Information
Bryce Garreth Westlake. "Operation Child Pornography: How Organized is the Distribution of Child Sexual Exploitation Material?" American Society of Criminology (2016) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/bryce_westlake/16/