Deterrence of viewing child sexual abuse images online: a grounded theory study

Nikolaos Koukopoulos; Ethel Quayle; Anke Kossurok; Emily Newman; Tom Squire; Richard Wortley; Klaus Beier

Abstract

Child sexual abuse image (CSAI) offending is a severe problem for modern societies. In the UK and elsewhere, the number of individuals arrested for possession of CSAI is growing. Although there is a vast amount of literature regarding CSAI, little is known about how CSAI viewing could be earlier detected and deterred. This grounded theory study aimed at investigating how individuals who have viewed CSAI make sense of their online offending, how the offending process developed over time, what disrupted the viewing activity or what could have potentially disrupted it. Intensive interviews were conducted with individuals charged with CSAI possession (and in some cases convicted), which were analysed following a constructivist grounded theory approach. Findings suggest different pathways to CSAI viewing and various levels of engagement with the material. Rational thinking, affect, sexual arousal, as well as opportunities created by the Internet, all seemed to contribute to CSAI viewing. Despite disengagement from the material from time to time, participants would usually go back to viewing, until their arrest. The study was funded by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Original language	English
Pages	52
Number of pages	1
Publication status	Published - 13 Feb 2019
Event	European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry - Edinburgh, United Kingdom Duration: 13 Feb 2019 → 15 Feb 2019 https://kuleuvencongres.be/ecqi2019

Conference

Conference	European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
Abbreviated title	ECQI
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Edinburgh
Period	13/02/19 → 15/02/19
Internet address	https://kuleuvencongres.be/ecqi2019

Keywords

child sexual abuse images
Internet
deterrence
grounded theory
CSAI

Access to Document

Koukopoulos-etal-ECQI-2019-Deterrence-of-viewing-child-sexual-abuse-images-onlineFinal published version, 643 KBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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title = "Deterrence of viewing child sexual abuse images online: a grounded theory study",

abstract = "Child sexual abuse image (CSAI) offending is a severe problem for modern societies. In the UK and elsewhere, the number of individuals arrested for possession of CSAI is growing. Although there is a vast amount of literature regarding CSAI, little is known about how CSAI viewing could be earlier detected and deterred. This grounded theory study aimed at investigating how individuals who have viewed CSAI make sense of their online offending, how the offending process developed over time, what disrupted the viewing activity or what could have potentially disrupted it. Intensive interviews were conducted with individuals charged with CSAI possession (and in some cases convicted), which were analysed following a constructivist grounded theory approach. Findings suggest different pathways to CSAI viewing and various levels of engagement with the material. Rational thinking, affect, sexual arousal, as well as opportunities created by the Internet, all seemed to contribute to CSAI viewing. Despite disengagement from the material from time to time, participants would usually go back to viewing, until their arrest. The study was funded by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).",

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author = "Nikolaos Koukopoulos and Ethel Quayle and Anke Kossurok and Emily Newman and Tom Squire and Richard Wortley and Klaus Beier",

year = "2019",

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language = "English",

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TY - CONF

T1 - Deterrence of viewing child sexual abuse images online

T2 - European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry

AU - Koukopoulos, Nikolaos

AU - Quayle, Ethel

AU - Kossurok, Anke

AU - Newman, Emily

AU - Squire, Tom

AU - Wortley, Richard

AU - Beier, Klaus

PY - 2019/2/13

Y1 - 2019/2/13

N2 - Child sexual abuse image (CSAI) offending is a severe problem for modern societies. In the UK and elsewhere, the number of individuals arrested for possession of CSAI is growing. Although there is a vast amount of literature regarding CSAI, little is known about how CSAI viewing could be earlier detected and deterred. This grounded theory study aimed at investigating how individuals who have viewed CSAI make sense of their online offending, how the offending process developed over time, what disrupted the viewing activity or what could have potentially disrupted it. Intensive interviews were conducted with individuals charged with CSAI possession (and in some cases convicted), which were analysed following a constructivist grounded theory approach. Findings suggest different pathways to CSAI viewing and various levels of engagement with the material. Rational thinking, affect, sexual arousal, as well as opportunities created by the Internet, all seemed to contribute to CSAI viewing. Despite disengagement from the material from time to time, participants would usually go back to viewing, until their arrest. The study was funded by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

AB - Child sexual abuse image (CSAI) offending is a severe problem for modern societies. In the UK and elsewhere, the number of individuals arrested for possession of CSAI is growing. Although there is a vast amount of literature regarding CSAI, little is known about how CSAI viewing could be earlier detected and deterred. This grounded theory study aimed at investigating how individuals who have viewed CSAI make sense of their online offending, how the offending process developed over time, what disrupted the viewing activity or what could have potentially disrupted it. Intensive interviews were conducted with individuals charged with CSAI possession (and in some cases convicted), which were analysed following a constructivist grounded theory approach. Findings suggest different pathways to CSAI viewing and various levels of engagement with the material. Rational thinking, affect, sexual arousal, as well as opportunities created by the Internet, all seemed to contribute to CSAI viewing. Despite disengagement from the material from time to time, participants would usually go back to viewing, until their arrest. The study was funded by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

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