Grooming, Child Abuse, & Child Sexual Exploitation

Open Access: No.

Abstract

Recent research on a risk assessment tool for child pornography offending suggests that admission of sexual interest in children is a risk factor for any sexual recidivism. Admission is easily vulnerable to lying, however, or to refusals to respond when asked about sexual interests. This may become a particular issue when individuals are concerned about the potential impact of admission of sexual interest on sentencing and other risk-related decisions. In this study, we identified the following behavioral correlates (coded yes/no) of admission of sexual interest in children in the risk tool development sample of 286 men convicted of child pornography offenses: (a) never married (54% of sample), (b) child pornography content included child sexual abuse videos (64%), (c) child pornography content included sex stories involving children (31%), (d) evidence of interest in child pornography spanned 2 or more years (55%), (e) volunteered in a role with high access to children (7%), and (f) engaged in online sexual communication with a minor or officer posing as a minor (10%). When summed, the average score on this Correlates of Admission of Sexual Interest in Children (CASIC) measure was 2.21 (SD = 1.22, range 0-6) out of a possible 6, and the CASIC score was significantly associated with admission of sexual interest in children, area under the curve (AUC) = .71, 95% CI [ .65, .77]. The CASIC had a stronger relationship with admission in a small cross-validation sample of 60 child pornography offenders, AUC = .81, 95% CI [.68, .95]. CASIC scores may substitute for admission of sexual interest in risk assessment involving those with child pornography offenses.

Relevance

The study found six variables “that significantly predicted  admission/diagnosis of sexual interest in children: (a) never  married, (b) child pornography content included videos, (c) child  pornography content included sex stories involving children, (d) evidence of  interest in child pornography spanned 2 or more years, (e) volunteered in a  role with high access to children, and (f) engaged in online sexual communication with a minor or officer posing as a minor.”

“Most of our sample (90%) also had adult pornography, though as stated earlier, we were often missing details such as total number of images because this material is not illegal and thus police may not record this information. Many individuals (87% of the 240 cases where we could review the  collection) had pornography depicting paraphilic themes such as sadism,  masochism, or bestiality” as well as fetishism and urophilia/coprophilia.

Citation

Seto, M. C., & Eke, A. W. (2017). Correlates of admitted sexual interest in children among individuals convicted of child pornography offenses. Law and human behavior, 41(3), 305–313. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000240