The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction

States Postal Inspection Service, 80 percent of child pornography purchasers are active abusersand almost 40 percent of the child pornographers investigated during the past several years havesexually molested children in the past. Moreover, a study completed in 2000 by the Director ofthe Sex Offender Treatment Program at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in NorthCarolina revealed that of 54 inmates convicted of child pornography offenses, 79.6% of themadmitted that they had also molested significant numbers of children. Child sexual abusersfrequently use pornographic images to groom child victims prior to committing sexual abuse.Repeated exposure to pornographic images involving children serves to normalize child sexualabuse and desensitize the child to such behaviors. Evidence gathered from law enforcementinvestigations has indicated that offenders who have collections of child pornography are oftenalso actively engaged in child sexual abuse with the children depicted in the pictures. As such, itis clear that owning and viewing child pornographic pictures extends beyond merely looking atpictures and most often involves the actual sexual abuse of children in the past, present, andfuture of the offender. Therefore, perpetrators who possess child pornography should bevigilantly pursued by law enforcement as likely child sexual abusers.The Internet and Family and Acquaintance Sexual Abuse.Mitchell, Kimberly J.; Finkelhor, David; Wolak, Janis.Child Maltreatment, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 49-60, Feb 2005.Abstract: This article explores the dynamics of cases involving family and acquaintance sexualoffenders who used the Internet to commit sex crimes against minors. Although the stereotype ofInternet crimes involves unknown adults meeting juvenile victims online, Internet use can alsoplay a role in sexual crimes against minors by family members and acquaintances. Data werecollected from a national sample of law enforcement agencies about arrests for Internet-relatedsex crimes against minors. Family and acquaintance offenders were nearly as numerous asoffenders who used the Internet to meet victims online. They used the Internet in various ways tofurther their crimes including as a tool to seduce or groom, store or disseminate sexual images ofvictims, arrange meetings and communicate, reward victims, or advertise or sell victims.Prevention messages and investigation approaches should be revised to incorporate awareness ofsuch cases and their dynamics.Commercial And Sexual Exploitation Of of Children And Young People(CSEC) in the UK—AReview.Chase, Elaine; Statham, June.Child Abuse Review, Jan/Feb2005, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p4-25, 22p.Abstract: This paper reviews recent information and data relevant to the commercial sexualexploitation of children and young people in the UK. Three main aspects of exploitation areaddressed: abuse through prostitution; abuse through pornography; and the trafficking ofchildren and young people to and through the UK for the purposes of commercial sexualexploitation. Most published research in this area relates to young people exploited throughprostitution. The review explores the range of vulnerability factors, the processes used to engageyoung people in prostitution and the types of support strategies for those being exploited. Ratherless information is currently available on the scale of child pornography, or the links between theuse of pornography and other forms of sexual abuse. The internet as a modern technology forproliferating child pornography is discussed, alongside its role in providing opportunities forpaedophiles to access and ‘groom’ children for sexual purposes. Finally, the review provides aF-39