Child Pornographers

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Please see response below, as well as one supporting article, from which some of this response is drawn.

RESPONSE:

Interesting question! Let's take a closer look at some the methods discussed in the Internet and legal literature, which you can draw on for your final copy.

Q1. I could use some help finding methods of detecting, catching and prosecuting child pornographers on the net or otherwise. References would be a plus.

By the mid-1980's, the trafficking of child pornography within the United States had been almost completely eradicated through a series of successful campaigns waged by law enforcement (e.g., sex offenders lists, trained children to say no to strangers, etc.). Child pornographers had become lonely and hunted individuals. Producing child abuse images was both difficult and expensive, and reproducing images was equally difficult and expensive. Purchasing and trading such images was extremely risky. Anonymous distribution and receipt was not possible and it was difficult for pedophiles to find and interact with each other. Unfortunately, technology has changed the situation. However, with the inscription of the Internet, producing child abuse images has now become easy and inexpensive. The Internet allows images and digitized movies to be reproduced and disseminated to tens of thousands of individuals at the click of a button. The distribution and receipt of such images can be done almost anonymously. As a result, child pornography is readily available through virtually every Internet technology (web sites, email, instant messaging/ICQ, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), newsgroups/bulletin boards, and peer-to-peer). The technological ease, lack of expense, and anonymity in obtaining and distributing child pornography has resulted in an explosion in the availability, accessibility, and volume of child pornography (Source: excerpted from http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/childporn.html).

Methods to detect, catch and persecute on the Internet include:

1. First, most agree that child pornographer should be liable to imprisonment.

For example, both the Budapest Convention and the Canada's Criminal Code (the two models analyzed in the article attached) agreed that a child pornographer should be liable to imprisonment. As stated by Article 13 of the Convention, "each Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to ensure that the criminal offences established in accordance with Articles 2 - 11 are punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, which include deprivation of liberty". (From ...