Child exploitation and pornography
[Student Names Removed for Privacy]
Abstract
Child exploitation has been used by pedophiles for many years, from as early as the 1880’s. In
the US alone there is close to half a million teenage prostitutes. They can used as workers by their
parents to supplement household income, especially teenage girls and clients will often pay a
premium fee—this is more likely if the girl is a virgin. It is cu
ently, according to recent estimates, a
product of a 40 billion dollar industry. Globally, more wealthy perpetrators are attracted to low
income or third world countries to indulge in these acts because of the lax law enforcement or even
co
uption that would allow sexual solicitation from minors—this is called sex tourism. Major hubs
of sex tourism are South-East Asia, Eastern Bloc countries, and South America. It is estimated that
oughly forty percent of Thailand’s prostitutes are under the age of eighteen, while still child
exploitation, the focus of this paper will be on the more heinous crime of inappropriate relationships
with children who are pre-pubescent.
We are seeing much more sex offenders with the rapid advancement of technology and the
expansion of child pornography. They use social networking websites to conceal their identities in
attempt to get close to a possible victim and then exploit them. The distribution of child
pornography can be ca
ied out through various forms of media on the internet, such as video
formats which can be downloaded from various peer to peer networks, forums, CD-ROMs or DVDs.
Aside from the traumatic aftermath that the victims go through, the entire process that the
perpetrator or pedophile goes through is one that plays on the fragile emotions of their young
victims. There is a grooming process with steps to desensitize the victim to their liking. They will
attempt to
eak down personal ba
iers by becoming their friend and trying to gain their trust. The
predator will then advise the child to keep the relationship secret, convincing them that the parents
may not approve of the relationship and thus will signal the end of their friendship. Once they
establish an emotional bond, they will move on to the “physical contact” phase and lastly the
pornography phase where the predator will take pictures or recordings of the victims in suggestive
poses and ultimately it will escalate to sexual intercourse. This paper will expand and examine child
exploitation in modern times.
Child Exploitation and Pornography
The exploitation of minors has been an ongoing moral issue for at least a century. It includes
forced or dangerous labor, trafficking, child pornography and/or prostitution. In many situations the
children are abused – physically, ve
ally, or sexually. Many of the children who suffer from
exploitation do so because they have no other choice – their parents may need the added income or
they are coerced by a sexual predator. They may also have been forced into slavery, either in their
own country or somewhere in another country and may be living a life of poverty within the
community. It is believed that up to one million children around the world or trafficked annually (U.S
Dept of Justice, CEOS, www.juctice.gov, 2003).
The desire to have a relationship with a minor, specifically one who is pre-pubescent, is known
as pedophilia. Normally, the attraction is non-violent and sexual. The contact would mostly consist
of fondling, genital viewing and other forms of sexual contact. This increasing desire to engage
minors in sexual relationships or view them depicted in sexual situations has led to the
manufacturing and distribution of child pornography. Despite there being many laws protecting
minors today, the production of said material has steadily increased, especially with the advent and
advancement of technology. The pedophile online forums often contain advice from more
experienced child porn offenders assisting new users with protecting themselves from being
detected.
http:
www.juctice.gov
All countries have become feeding grounds for child pornographers. In July of 2010, Kenneth
Klassen, a Canadian, was taken into custody and sentenced to 11 years in jail for having sexual
encounters with underage girls in Colombia and Cambodia and then importing child pornography.
(“Kenneth Klassen to 11 years in federal prison”, vancouvorsun.com, XXXXXXXXXXHe was a
ested after a
Customs officer suspected that a package Klassen mailed himself from the Philippines contained
pornography. In fact, it contained 65 DVDs with images of girls as young as six and homemade
videos of Klassen’s sexual encounters with girls as young as eight.
The facilitation provided by the increasing technology has also allowed the delivering of such
material in a fraction of the time that it took to make it. The file formats that are used to depict the
sexual activities are jpeg, avi and mpeg. Encrypted videos and pictures can be downloaded from
peer to peer networks, portals, and bit to
ents and are transfe
ed to CD-ROMs and DVDs. Child
porn distributors sometimes use a freely available program called “Gmask” to distort pornographic
images in such a way that only the intended party can remove the distortion and see the original
picture, thereby thwarting authorities who intercept and try to view the images. Electronic formats
are superior because they are easier and faster to reproduce and share. These materials may aid in
the grooming processing to getting a minor or child closer to the pedophile.
In the UK in 2007, a large pedophile ring was taken down by the authorities after undercover
officers infiltrated a chat room that was dedicated to pornographic movies images of minors, from
teenagers to babies. (Pedophile ring smashed by Police, news.
c.co.uk, 2007) Timothy Cox, who
an the ring, hosted the website using the alias "Son of God" - a reference to "G.O.D", an owner of
another pedophile website shut down by police the prior year. He pleaded guilty to 27 counts,
including making, possessing and distributing the material.
Pedophiles, when attempting to establish a sexual relationship with the child, will
initiate what is called the grooming process. The pedophile will try to
eak down ba
iers that he or
she may have to the relationship and attempt to gain the child’s trust. He or she may try to
ainwash the child then initiate physical contact that will ultimately lead to sexual relations.
Grooming will allow for the predator to go undetected. The friendship phase begins after identifying
a possible victim who generally seems vulnerable. (Pedophiles, victimsofviolence.on.ca, 2011)
They will attempt to foster a fake predatory relationship based on the idea that the child is
lacking attention and will try to empathize with the child’s feeling of being misunderstood by their
parents or peers, for example. He or she may buy the child expensive toys. Once the child becomes
comfortable, and move on to the secrecy phase. The predator now tries to convince the child to try
and keep the relationship secret for fear that others may not approve of the relationship, thus
signifying its end. They may say that the parents might become jealous of the relationship and
ecome upset the child was receiving gifts. The pedophile may even threaten the child’s or a family
member’s safety.
The next phase is the physical contact phase, where the pedophile will begin to the touch the
child inappropriately such as ru
ing, hand-holding, hugging, or “accidental” contact. At this point, it
is only a matter of time before the last phase is reached—the pornography phase. The pedophile
will try to convince the child that sexuality is natural in expressing feelings and introduce
pornographic media to the child. Then he or she will attempt to have sexual intercourse with the
child.
In combating child pornography, the power does not only lie within law enforcement agencies.
Unfortunately, there is no surefire way to abolish it entirely and personnel are already stretched
thin with security and national issues that plague us today. However, many consider the power to
estricting these immoral activities lies in educating users on the internet, especially the children or
the potential victims. Teaching children and parents in how to identify these situations and dangers
lessens the power these pedophiles have. Anti-child pornography agencies hold seminars and
inform the public about these dangers so that fewer children are victimized. Monitoring the internet
and making sure children aren’t accessing certain websites will also keep predators at bay. Shows
such as To Catch a Predator have
ought pedophilia to mainstream attention. While the show does
get results by apprehending the casual pedophile, and possibly dissuading others from being in
inappropriate relationships, the perpetrators on these shows are novice pedophiles. There is still a
large majority of predators who are very skilled at what they do, and will not be caught as easily. We
must also remember that a large portion of child molestation is often committed by relatives or
close family friends. These close-relationship predators typically have a shorter grooming process as
the child may already know or trust them. However, most predators who prey on children they are
close to would not risk the chance of incriminating themselves by documenting or filming their
actions.
References
Department of Justice XXXXXXXXXXChild Exploitation and Obscenity Section. Retrieved April 13, 2011, from
http:
www.justice.gov/criminal/ceos/index.html
Vancouver Sun XXXXXXXXXXKenneth Klassen sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. Retrieved April 15,
2011, from
http:
www.vancouversun.com/news/Kenneth+Klassen+sentenced+years+federal+prison/3332
815/story.html
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children XXXXXXXXXXGet Involved. Retrieved March 12, 2011,
from
http:
www.ncmec.org/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=245
Victims of Violence XXXXXXXXXXResearch-Pedophiles. Retrieved April 11, 2011, from
http:
www.victimsofviolence.on.ca
ev2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&
Itemid=45
BBC XXXXXXXXXXPedophile Ring Smashed By Police. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from
http:
news.
c.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/ XXXXXXXXXXstm
http:
www.justice.gov/criminal/ceos/index.html
http:
www.vancouversun.com/news/Kenneth+Klassen+sentenced+years+federal+prison/3332815/story.html
http:
www.vancouversun.com/news/Kenneth+Klassen+sentenced+years+federal+prison/3332815/story.html
http:
www.ncmec.org/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=245
http:
www.victimsofviolence.on.ca
ev2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=45
http:
www.victimsofviolence.on.ca
ev2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=45
http:
news.
c.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/ XXXXXXXXXXstm
Neil M. Cohen: Political Figure and Child Exploite
Running head: NEIL M. COHEN: POLITICAL FIGURE AND CHILD EXPLOITER 1
Neil M. Cohen: Political Figure and Child Exploite
[Student’s Name Removed for Privacy]
NEIL M. COHEN: POLITICAL FIGURE AND CHILD EXPLOITER 2
Abstract