Fighting child porn online
Date: March 01, 2005Source: Computer Crime Research Center
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2. Procuring: Encouraging or forcing a person under 18 years of age to become a prostitute.
3. Living off Avails (Pimping): Obtaining income by requiring a person under 18 years of age to surrender all or part of the earnings made through prostitution.
Child Pornography has different legal definitions in different countries. The minimum defines child pornography as a picture that shows a person who is a child and who is engaged in or is depicted as being engaged in explicit sexual activity.
A major concern is, therefore, the ease with which pornographic material can be accessed, stored and disseminated on the Internet.
Images in a range of file formats can be stored on and transmitted between computers using the Internet. Such images can be created through scanning of photographs/slides or digital-capture on video at relatively low cost, converted into a standard image file format and displayed or transmitted to other like-minded individuals.
The Possession, Manufacture, and Distribution of Child Pornography
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, any of the following amount to child pornography:
1. A visual representation of a person under the age of 18 engaged in explicit sexual activity; or
2. A visual representation, the dominant characteristic of which is the depiction of a sexual organ or the anal region of a person under 18 years of age for a sexual purpose; or
3. Any written material or visual representation that advocates a sexual offence involving a person under 18 years of age.
However, the court is required to find the person not guilty if the representation or written material has artistic merit or an educational, scientific, or medical purpose.
Sex Offender Statistics
• There are approximately 400, 000 registered sex offenders in the US alone.
• Convicted rapists report that two-thirds of their victims were under 18 and 58% of those said their victims were age 12 or under.
• In 1994 only one third of the victims said that they reported being raped to a law enforcement agency.
• In 90% of the rapes of children under 12 years old, the offender knew the victim.
• 8 out of 10 rapists are released prior to trial.
• 61% of violent sex offenders have a prior record.
• 8 out of 10 sex assaulters reported that their victim was under 18. The median age of victims of imprisoned sex offenders was 13 years old.
• 24% of those serving time for rape and 19% of the ones serving time for sex assault were on probation at the time of arrest for rape or sexual assault.
• 28% of released rapists were rearrested within 3 years and charged for a new violent crime.
• 8 % of those are charged with another rape.
• Released rapists were found to be 10.5 times as likely as non-rapists to be rearrested for rape and those who served time are found to be 7.5 times as likely as those convicted of other crimes to be rearrested for a new sexual assault.
The governments of developed countries have already realized the urgency of problem of child pornography. According to researches it is possible to state that there is a relation of child and adult pornography to other grave organized crimes, such as international terrorism. Child pornography industry can be a financial support for terrorist groupings and committing terrorist acts. The transnational nature of this crime is obvious.
In this connection it is very important to develop an effective system of cooperation between various law enforcement agencies in child pornography on line investigation.
Nowadays, only the Criminal Search Department (Ministry of Internal Affairs) is engaged in fighting child pornography in Ukraine. However, there is a necessity to create special divisions on detecting and fixing offenders in the Internet, on collecting information on these crimes, criminal intelligence units, and analytical departments.
Thus, criminal intelligence units would collect the information on preparing crimes and committed crimes. There would be plenty of sources of the information on these crimes:
- on-line chats;
- web-sites;
- other open and secret sources.
The special department on verifying information would check it and continue collect evidences on this crime and would search the offenders.
The special technical support units would examine porno photos, video and other materials involving children for the authenticity. Hence, it is necessary to create special units possessing information on details represented in photos and video (furniture, clothes, accessories, surroundings) and capable to detect the place of shooting (region, country, etc.), and suppose a circle of suspected in producing and distributing child pornography, and paedophiles as well.
The critical issue is a definition of child pornography in the current criminal law. Unfortunately, Ukrainian Penal Code doesn’t define a responsibility and prosecution for such crimes as intention to involve children in sexual relations, storage of child pornography materials, viewing child pornography, etc.
Current penal legislation of Ukraine has a very narrow definition of actions related to child sexual abuse. In spite of the fact that there are several articles dedicated to child abuse in Criminal Code of Ukraine it is still hard to prosecute offenders in this state.
Criminal Code of Ukraine has the following articles providing responsibility for sexual crimes against children.
Article 301 «Import, producing, sale and distribution of the pornography». The third part of this article provides responsibility for compulsion minors to participate in porno scenes (video, photos, and computer programs). These actions are punished with 3-7 years imprisonment.
It seems the most felicitous article of Ukraine’s Criminal Code from the point of criminalization of criminal activity on creating porno materials involving minors. Unfortunately, it doesn’t cover all ways of this crime committing.
Article 152 «Rape», i.e. copulation using violence, threatening to use violence or using helpless position of a victim.
The third part of the article provides responsibility for minors’ rape, and the fourth part – for child rape. However, a qualificatory sign of this crime is using force. Frequently, child pornography is produced in consent with children, because they don’t realize what they do in full measure.
The same situation is in use of Article 153 of Criminal Code of Ukraine. «Violent obtaining of sexual satisfaction in unnatural ways». The second and the third parts of this article provide responsibility for such actions towards children and minors, if they caused grave consequences. Besides, frequently, there is no assault, as well as grave consequences.
Article 155 «Sexual intercourse with the person under the age of puberty». This action is punished with 3 years of imprisonment, if it caused sterility or other grave consequences.
Article 156 «Deprave of minors», i.e. depraving persons under sixteen years old. These actions are punished with confinement of freedom for 3-5 years, that is not enough for such crimes.
Thus, one of the main qualificatory signs of crimes against children is using violence or threatening to use violence, and causing the grave hurt to health. However, the majority of pornographic photos and videos involving children show the free-will and desire of children to enter in sexual intercourse. But these photos and videos are evidence of criminal activity and it is hard to accuse offender of crime against children in full measure, seeing victims not suffering from these actions.
Moreover, Criminal Code of Ukraine doesn’t provide the responsibility for forcing minors to have sexual intercourse with each other.
It is necessary to note that the main aspect in fighting child pornography and paedophilia is to provide responsibility for possession of child pornography. It is known that “supply is resulted by demand”.
Resources
[1] Criminal Code of Ukraine
[2] http://www.pedowatch.org/
[3] Criminal Code of Canada
[4] National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (United Kingdom)
[5] National Criminal Intelligence Service (United Kingdom)
[6] Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
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