use the internet to research the following: What is child pornography? What is pedophilia? How does grooming play a role in child pornography? Define some methods used for grooming process. How does...

use the internet to research the following:

1. 
   What is child pornography?
   


2. 
   What is pedophilia?
   


3. 
   How does grooming play a role in child pornography?
   
   
   
   1. 
      Define some methods used for grooming process.
      
   
   
   
   


4. 
   How does law enforcement verify the content confiscated is the real victim.
   


5. 
   How do we fight child pornography?
   
   
   
   1. 
      What can people do?
      
   
   
   
   


6. 
   Can sexting be considered as child pornography?
   




1. 
   Who can be held liable?
   

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 currently, 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 corruption 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 roughly 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 carried 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 break down personal barriers 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, verbally, 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, 2010). He was arrested 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 torrents and are transferred 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.bbc.co.uk, 2007) Timothy Cox, who ran 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 break down barriers that he or she may have to the relationship and attempt to gain the child’s trust. He or she may try to brainwash 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 become 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 rubbing, 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 restricting 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 brought 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. (2011). Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. Retrieved April 13, 2011, from http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ceos/index.html Vancouver Sun. (2010). Kenneth 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. (2011). Get Involved. Retrieved March 12, 2011, from http://www.ncmec.org/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=245 Victims of Violence. (2011). Research-Pedophiles. Retrieved April 11, 2011, from http://www.victimsofviolence.on.ca/rev2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355& Itemid=45 BBC. (2007). Pedophile Ring Smashed By Police. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6763817.stm 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/rev2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=45 http://www.victimsofviolence.on.ca/rev2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=45 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6763817.stm Neil M. Cohen: Political Figure and Child Exploiter Running head: NEIL M. COHEN: POLITICAL FIGURE AND CHILD EXPLOITER 1 Neil M. Cohen: Political Figure and Child Exploiter [Student’s Name Removed for Privacy] NEIL M. COHEN: POLITICAL FIGURE AND CHILD EXPLOITER 2 Abstract