Q. My child has a MySpace account, is that dangerous?
A. No. Compared to instant messaging and chat rooms, social network services (such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, UrbanChat) have a low probability of victimization. (See study by Michele L. Ybarra and Kimberly J. Mitchell, How Risky Are Social Networking Sites?)
Q. What's the difference between child pornography and child erotica?
A. Child pornography is the depiction of the sexual exploitation of a child. Child erotica is also referred to as child modeling and is the depiction of a clothed or nude child in positions that could be considered age appropriate, i.e. without the direct focus on genitalia. A complicated topic that still is debated and is prosecuted on a case-by-case basis. There is plenty of reading available at sites such as Wikipedia.
Q. Does child pornography lead to child molestation?
A. Whether child pornography is a "gateway drug" or not is the topic of a constant debate. It's difficult to prove that people who possess child pornography also have molested a child (they are hesitant to confess to such crimes), but there seems to be a strong correlation when it comes to people who have molested a child also possessing child pornography. The images and movies are very often part of a "grooming phase" where the child is desensitized to the notion of sexual intercourse by being coerced to view sexually explicit media of other children being molested. A study conducted on that topic, by psychologists Andres Hernandez and Michael Bourke, was suppressed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons after the results were fairly alarming. The surrounding story was reported in an article by Julian Sher and Benedict Carey in The New York Times.
Q. Has the internet created more pedophiles?
A. Again, a topic of great debate, but it's unlikely. Many psychologists attribute sexual preference to a sort of hard-wiring which develops in puberty. What the internet has been able to do is validate the urges that pedophiles have. Through collecting/viewing child pornography and chatting with other pedophiles, they get a reinforced belief that they are normal and that their tastes are acceptable.
Q. What is the description of a typical offender of online sexual solicitation?
A. When dealing specifically with direct solicitation of children (teens), a study shows the offender characteristics as: Male, 20's, 95% of the time is truthful about his age, 75% of the time is truthful about his intentions. Targets 13-15 year old females and gay males. (Wolak, Finkelhor, Mitchell, & Ybarra: Online "Predators" and Their Victims)
Q. What is the profile of a typical child molester or child pornography collector?
A. Quite different than the online solicitor, but without a "typical" profile known to us at this time. Within our task force, we have arrested people of different economic layers of society, including professions such as lawyers, college students, a law dean, retiree, and a delivery driver. It appears to be primarily males, but not exclusively.
Q. Wouldn't it be better to let pedophiles watch child pornography instead of "needing" to abuse a real child to satisfy their needs?
A. If the child pornography "industry" has shown anything, it is that people are never satisfied with status quo, they want new and more. As a result, child pornography is still being created each day.
Q. I've never seen child pornography, so it can't really be that "rampant".
A. There are several places where it is readily available. For obvious reasons we will not list those sites here.
Q. I think I accidentally downloaded a picture from an email that might have had child pornography, what do I do?
A. If you or your child has received material that you suspect may be child pornography, or your child is the victim of solicitation, you may report the incident at NCMEC's CyberTipline.
Q. Is it possible to accidentally download child pornography onto a computer?
A. If file sharing programs were used, it certainly is possible that search terms could have overlapped with contraband files. We would encourage two things, don't abuse the copyrights of legitimate vendors and don't keep contraband files just because it was accidental. You should question anyone who would leave such material on their personal computer.
