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Child Pornography and Online Sexual Solicitation

  • Sexual Disorders (LE Marshall and H Moulden, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

This review highlights recent literature regarding online sexual offending, including the prevalence, characteristics, a brief review of recent typology literature, victimization risk factors, risk factors of being a “crossover” offender, rates and risk factors for recidivism, and a discussion of prevention efforts.

Recent Findings

Online sexual offenders are overwhelmingly White men with relationship problems who were rarely previously arrested for felonies. They score lower on measures of antisocial behavior, compared to offenders who commit contact sexual offenses against children. Individuals who commit pornography offenses are at lower risk to commit contact offenses and their risk factors include having sexual interest in children and antisocial attitudes.

Summary

Online offenders are different from contact sexual offenders and from offenders who commit both types of offenses. Recidivism in online noncontact offenders is difficult to assess due to the lack of empirically supported tools and the inappropriateness of using popular actuarial tools that lack norms on these offenders, but a new measure (CPORT) is being studied for use with this population.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Community and Public Safety Psychiatry Division, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    Emily D. Gottfried, Emily Knight Shier & Abby L. Mulay

Authors
  1. Emily D. Gottfried
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  2. Emily Knight Shier
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  3. Abby L. Mulay
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Correspondence to Emily D. Gottfried.

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Conflict of Interest

Emily D. Gottfried, Emily Knight Shier, and Abby L. Mulay declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Sexual Disorders

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Gottfried, E.D., Shier, E.K. & Mulay, A.L. Child Pornography and Online Sexual Solicitation. Curr Psychiatry Rep 22, 10 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-020-1132-y

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