International and Internet Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
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International and Internet Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Research Report By Bernard Gallagher Claire Fraser Kris Christmann Beth Hodgson Centre for Applied Childhood Studies Copyright © Bernard Gallagher First published in 2006 Published by Bernard Gallagher: Centre for Applied Childhood Studies, Harold Wilson Building, University of Huddersfield. HD1 3DH. England Tel: 0780 133 4847 email: [email protected] Printed by the University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, England. www.hud.ac.uk/ ISBN 186 218 061X This report may be copied at will but must not be changed in any way. International and Internet Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Research Report By Bernard Gallagher Claire Fraser Kris Christmann Beth Hodgson Centre for Applied Childhood Studies University of Huddersfield The authors Bernard Gallagher (B.Sc. MSc.) (Research Director) is Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Applied Childhood Studies, where his special areas of interest are child protection and childcare. He is the director of this study and has, in addition, directed studies into, among others, organised child sexual abuse, stranger abuse and the attrition of cases of child abuse and neglect in the criminal justice system. Further details of his work can be found at www.hud.ac.uk/hhs/research/acs/staff/bg.htm Claire Fraser (B.Sc. M.Sc.) has over six years experience of undertaking research for the academic, statutory and voluntary sectors and is now working as an independent, freelance researcher. She has worked on a number of projects in her positions as Research Fellow at the universities of Huddersfield and York, and the Nationwide Children’s Research Centre. She has undertaken research with the NSPCC, local authorities, Children’s Fund teams, paediatric oncology teams and a children’s cancer charity, specialist addiction services, police, probation, HM Revenue and Customs and organisations representing survivors of child sexual abuse. She has a particular interest in research regarding child protection, survivors of abuse, children, young people and families, and also evaluation studies. Kris Christmann (B.Sc. M.Sc.) is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Applied Criminology and has been carrying out work on short-term offenders and their re-settlement back into the community and desistance in criminal careers, partly using survival analytic techniques. He has participated in a variety of projects concerning situational crime prevention, and the present study, the first major UK study into how new technologies are impacting upon child sexual abuse. In addition to criminology, his academic background is in philosophy, and social and political thought, and he has further research interests in the policing of political protest and political obligation. Beth Hodgson (B.Sc. M.Sc.) is currently employed as a Research Consultant for York Consulting Limited, a firm of economic and management consultants based in Leeds. Previously, she worked as a Research Fellow for the Applied Criminology Group at the University of Huddersfield and was involved in a number of research projects funded by criminal justice agencies, and the Economic and Social Research Council. She is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Huddersfield, exploring the nature and extent of co-offending. The Nuffield Foundation ‘The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established by Lord Nuffield. Its widest charitable object is the advancement of social well-being . The Foundation has a special programme of grant-making in Child Protection, and Family Law and Justice, and has supported this project to stimulate public discussion and policy development. The views expressed are, however, those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation.’ International and Internet CSA “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” Desiderius Erasmus (1466 - 1536) i International and Internet CSA Contents_______________________________________ page Acknowledgements (iv) Executive Summary (vii) Background Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Research aims 5 Chapter 3 Methodology 7 Findings Chapter 4 Typology of international and Internet child sexual abuse 13 Chapter 5 International child sex abuse victims 15 Chapter 6 International child sex abusers 23 Chapter 7 International movement of child abuse images 29 Chapter 8 Internet-initiated grooming of children for sexual abuse 37 Chapter 9 Internet-initiated incitement or conspiracy to commit CSA 45 Chapter 10 Internet-based child abuse images 55 ii International and Internet CSA Recommendations Chapter 11 Key policy and practice recommendations 65 Chapter 12 Further policy and practice recommendations 77 - International policy and practice - National (UK) policy and practice - Police - Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) - Police and HMRC - Industry - Other agencies Additional findings Chapter 13 Broad policy and practice findings 105 Chapter 14 Other international and new technology-related sexual offences 127 Chapter 15 Future research 135 ___________________________________________________________________________ References 141 Bibliography 147 Appendices Appendix A Abbreviations and terminology 149 Appendix B Further information on the background to the research 153 Appendix C Further information on research methodology 157 Appendix D Internet CAIs - additional case study 165 Appendix E Policy and practice issues - CSA in general 169 iii International and Internet CSA Acknowledgements We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the individuals and organisations that participated in this research, whether this was through granting access, completing questionnaires, participating in interviews or allowing record searches. The information and views they provided form the bedrock of this report. In the interests of confidentiality, individual participants are not named but we would, however, like to acknowledge the organisations from which they were drawn. These were as follows: All the police services of England Avon and Somerset Constabulary Staffordshire police Bedfordshire Police Suffolk Constabulary Cambridgeshire Constabulary Surrey Police Cheshire Constabulary Sussex Police City of London Police Thames Valley Police Cleveland Police Warwickshire Police Cumbria Constabulary West Mercia Constabulary Derbyshire Constabulary West Midlands Police Devon and Cornwall Constabulary West Yorkshire Police Dorset Police Wiltshire Constabulary Durham Constabulary Essex Police All the police services of Scotland Gloucestershire Constabulary Greater Manchester Police Central Scotland Police Hampshire Constabulary Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary Hertfordshire Constabulary Fife Constabulary Humberside Police Grampian Police Kent Police Lothian and Borders Police Lancashire Constabulary Northern Constabulary Leicestershire Constabulary Strathclyde Police Lincolnshire Police Tayside Police Merseyside Police Metropolitan Police Service All the police services of Wales Norfolk Constabulary Northamptonshire Police Dyfed-Powys Police Northumbria Police Gwent Police North Yorkshire Police North Wales Police Nottinghamshire Police South Wales Police South Yorkshire Police The Police Service of Northern Ireland Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) AOL (UK) (America Online) Childnet CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) COPINE (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe) ECPAT (UK) (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking) Foreign and Commonwealth Office Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (formerly Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise) Home Office Internet Watch Foundation Interpol National Crime Squad National Criminal Intelligence Service iv International and Internet CSA National High Tech Crime Unit NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) UNICEF (UK) (United Nations Children’s Fund) World Vision We would like to highlight the role of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and its lead officer on child protection, Mr. Terry Grange, his staff officers, DI Mark Bleasdale and DI Lynn Rees, along with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), without all of whose support this research would not have been possible. We wish to express our immense gratitude to all the members the advisory committee for the very considerable assistance and support they gave to this project. They are as follows: Ms. Chris Atkinson CEOP DCI Stan Bates West Yorkshire Police Ms. Chris Beddoe ECPAT UK Ms. Cathy Cobley Cardiff University Law School Ms. Gill Connors HM Revenue and Customs Mr. Robin Cooper HM Revenue and Customs Mr. David Ford Home Office Mr. Mark Fuchter HM Revenue and Customs Ms. Eleanor Groat CEOP Dr. Zoe Hilton NSPCC Det. Supt. Michael Hopwood (retd.) West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Carole Howlett Norfolk Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hyde West Midlands Police Det. Chief Supt. Sharon Lemon NHTCU Prof. Allyson MacVean The John Grieve Centre for Policing and Community Safety, London Metropolitan University Mr. Peter Robbins Internet Watch Foundation DI Ray Robins Metropolitan Police Services Mr. Stephen Ruddell Home Office Ms. Carron Somerset ECPAT UK Det. Chief Supt. Peter Spindler Metropolitan Police Service Mr. Mark Storti HM Revenue and Customs DI Stuart Trail National Crime Squad Mr. Colin Turner NSPCC Mr. David Ware Home Office Det. Supt. Jim Warnock POLIT (Paedophile On-line Investigation Team) A number of other people very kindly read and made valuable comments upon drafts of this