Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Adult-Child Sex Advocacy Websites as SocialLearning Environments: A Content Analysis

2009; International Journal of Cyber Criminology; Volume: 3; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

0974-2891

Rob D’Ovidio, Tyson Mitman, Imaani Jamillah El-Burki, Wesley Shumar,

Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies

This study reports on a content analysis of 64 websites that promote, advocate, and convey information in support of sexual relationships between adults and children to determine whether these sites were structured as learning environments for crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. The findings indicate that the adult-child sex advocacy websites examined are criminogenic in that they contain a myriad of communication tools (e.g. chat rooms, instant messengers, and message boards) to foster interaction among site users and expose users to rationalizations for offending and, in turn, definitions favorable to sexual violations against minors. Given the present findings, the courts and community corrections officials should consider expanding restrictions put on the Internet use of offenders released on parole and defendants on probation to include adult-child sex advocacy websites. Additionally, companies offering website hosting services should modify their terms of service agreements to ban content advocating sexual relationships between adults and children.