Internet child pornography : an examination of attachment and intimacy deficits

This study found that Internet child pornographers (ICP) reported significantly less optimal attachment than non-offenders, matched child and matched adult sexual offenders. ICP also reported a more negative view of self than non-offenders and the matched sexual offender groups. Finally, the ICP group reported more social avoidance and distress than non-offenders. The portfolio explores the influence of treatment readiness on the best practice principles when working with violent offenders in relation to their assessment, and subsequent treatment recommendations. The importance of treatment readiness and its utility in relation to these principles is highlighted in four case studies.

The Internet and child sexual offending : a criminological review

This paper outlines the current literature on what is known about the processes by which individuals utilize the Internet for child sexual abuse. First, three ways in which the Internet is utilized are outlined: (1) by dissemination of sexually abusive images of children for personal and/or commercial reasons; (2) by communication with other individuals with a sexual interest in children: and (3) by maintaining and developing online pedophilic networks. Second, content and availability of abusive images are described, and the difficulties faced by criminal justice agencies in both the definition of abusive images and their prohibition is discussed. Third, the potential for offenders to ‘cross-over’ from online offenses to contact sexual victimization of children is examined and placed within a context of various Internet offender typologies that have been developed. Finally, implications of this body of research for law and public policy are considered.

Police officers' perceptions of the challenges involved in internet child exploitation investigation

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore police officers’ perceptions of the challenges and work stressors of working in Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) investigation.

Design/methodology/approach
Participants were a heterogeneous sample of 32 ICE investigators across nine Australian jurisdictions. Officers’ perceptions of ICE work were elicited via individual, open-ended, anonymous, telephone interviews, which focused on both the nature and impact of work-related stressors and challenges.

Findings
Thematic analysis revealed that viewing ICE material was not perceived to be a major stressor or particularly traumatic facet of ICE investigation. Rather, the challenges related to three areas; work relationships, workload and resources and the physical environment. Participants also suggested some improvements to their work environment which could reduce the impact of these challenges.

Practical implications
The stressors identified by ICE investigators in this study place physical, psychological and social restrictions on investigative capacity. Modifications to the workplace environment that facilitate more effective professional collaboration, reduce workload and enhance investigator efficiency and functionality of the physical work environment would likely reduce the potential for harm associated with ICE investigation and improve ICE investigators’ capacity to perform their role.

Originality/value

Police officers' strategies for coping with the stress of investigating internet child exploitation

Research shows that Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) investigators cope well with the range of stressors their work exposes them to, but little is known about how they manage to cope. The current study attempts to expand knowledge and address the limitations of prior research by using a broad, open-ended anonymous interviewing strategy that differentiates between individual and organizational coping resources in the first study conducted with Australian investigators. Participants were 32 ICE investigators from all nine Australian jurisdictions. Results were organized thematically in the following headings: selection of ideal applicants, indicators of poor coping and coping strategies. The overriding conclusions and their implications for police managers are discussed. © 2014 American Psychological Association.

Crime risks of three-dimensional virtual environments

Three-dimensional virtual environments (3dves) are the new generation of digital multi-user social networking platforms. Their immersive character allows users to create a digital humanised representation or avatar, enabling a degree of virtual interaction not possible through conventional text-based internet technologies. As recent international experience demonstrates, in addition to the conventional range of cybercrimes (including economic fraud, the dissemination of child pornography and copyright violations), the 'virtual-reality' promoted by 3dves is the source of great speculation and concern over a range of specific and emerging forms of crime and harm to users. This paper provides some examples of the types of harm currently emerging in 3dves and suggests internal regulation by user groups, terms of service, or end-user licensing agreements, possibly linked to real-world criminological principles. This paper also provides some directions for future research aimed at understanding the role of Australian criminal law and the justice system more broadly in this emerging field.

Constructing meanings and identities in child protection practice

Examines a contemporary and contentious social problem, child maltreatment, and the policy and practice in response to it, child protection.

The development of the comprehensive child maltreatment scale

In this paper, data are presented from four studies that describe and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Comprehensive Child Maltreatment Scale (CCMS). This is a new measure that assesses five separate types of maltreatment experienced during childhood (sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, neglect and witnessing family violence) and the existence of multi-type maltreatment. This scale is the only paper-and-pencil research scale available that assesses all five types of child maltreatment separately. In Studies 1 and 2, the CCMS for Adults was used to assess retrospective reports of adults' own childhood experiences (N=313). The parallel version of the CCMS for Parents was used in Studies 3 and 4 to assess parent reports of the experiences of children from 5 to 12 years of age (N=100). Adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency were found for each of the scales of the CCMS for Adults and the CCMS for Parents. As well as performing an exploratory factor analysis, a criterion validity check on the CCMS for Adults revealed high correlations with appropriate subscales from the Child Abuse Trauma Scale. These preliminary data on the CCMS for Adults and Parents show that they are psychometrically sound and useful research tools in the study of multiple forms of child abuse and neglect. The CCMS for Adults and the CCMS for Parents allow for a simple yet comprehensive assessment of multi-type maltreatment.

Multiple forms of child abuse and neglect: adult retrospective reports

There are few research reports of the experience of multiple forms of child abuse and neglect (multi-type maltreatment). A critical review is presented of 29 studies in which adult retrospective reports of more than one form of child maltreatment (sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, neglect, or witnessing family violence) are assessed. Empirical investigations of the extent and impact of multi-type maltreatment are identified. Data on the relationship between the different forms of maltreatment and the adjustment problems associated with each type of maltreatment are critiqued. As well as using dichotomous measures of maltreatment, an important methodological problem was the failure of researchers to assess all child maltreatment types, the relationship between multi-type maltreatment and adjustment, and the role of variables influencing the occurrence or impact of maltreatment. Considerable overlap was found in the occurrence of maltreatment types. The compounding or interacting effects of experiencing multi-type maltreatment were ignored in many studies. Where an assessment was made of the specific impact of multi-type maltreatment, it was associated with greater impairment than single forms of abuse or neglect. A multi-dimensional approach to prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect is required in which children's vulnerability to multi-type maltreatment is addressed.

Constructing the identities of `responsible mothers, invisible men` in child protection practice

Social constructionism offers valuable insights into the study of social problems for example, poverty, homelessness, crime and delinquency, including how social phenomena 'become' social problems, through social processes of interaction and interpretation. The social construction of child maltreatment has recently emerged as a site of scholarly inquiry and critique. This paper explores through three case studies how 'responsibility for child maltreatment' is constructed in child protection practice, with a specific focus on how 'responsibility' may also be gendered. In particular, how is gender associated with responsibility, such that the identity-pair, 'responsible mothers, invisible men', is a highly likely outcome as claimed in feminist literature? What other assumptions about 'identities of risk' or 'dangerousness' articulate with patriarchy and influence how responsibility is constructed? The case studies explore normally invisible processes by which social categories become 'fact', 'knowledge' and 'truth'. Furthermore, the social construction of 'responsibility for child maltreatment' is extended by a reflexive analysis of my own constructionist practices, as researcher/writer in claims making. The analysis offers an insight into the dynamic and dialectical relationship between professional and organisational knowledge and practice, allowing for a critique of knowledge itself, the basis for the claims made and possible alternative ways of knowing.

Is domestic violence learned? The contribution of five forms of child maltreatment to men's violence and adjustment

On the basis of a learning-theory approach to the intergenerational transmission of violence, researchers have focused almost exclusively on violent men's childhood experiences of physical abuse and witnessing family violence. Little consideration has been given to the coexistence of other forms of child maltreatment or the role of family dysfunction in contributing to violence. This study shows the relationships between the level of child maltreatment (physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and witnessing family violence), childhood family characteristics, current alcohol abuse, trauma symptomatology, and the level of physical and psychological spouse abuse perpetrated by 36 men with a history of perpetrating domestic violence who had attended counseling. As hypothesized, a high degree of overlap between risk factors was found. Child maltreatment, low family cohesion and adaptability, and alcohol abuse was significantly associated with frequency of physical spouse abuse and trauma symptomatology scores, but not psychological spouse abuse. Rather than physical abuse or witnessing family violence, childhood neglect uniquely predicted the level of physical spouse abuse. Witnessing family violence (but not physical abuse) was found to have a unique association with psychological spouse abuse and trauma symptomatology. These results present a challenge to the understanding of domestic violence obtained from learning theory.

Guidelines for interviewing children during child custody evaluations

This paper offers a brief review of the current literature related to the interviewing of children during child custody evaluations. In particular, the paper highlights several key issues and concerns, and provides a series of recommendations for professionals working in this area. These recommendations (which apply to children aged 3 to 12 years) are organised under the following headings: (a) establish rapport using broad open-ended questions, (b) make the purpose and ground rules of the interview clear to the child, (c) allow the child's perspective be heard without expecting an outright custody preference, (d) demonstrate a willingness to consider all reasonable perspectives or hypotheses about what has occurred, (e) try not to exacerbate the child's stress or guilt, (f) pursue all possible explanations for a child's report, irrespective of whether there are clear signs of “coaching” or contamination, (g) obtain appropriate training in the use of forensic interviewing techniques, and (h) engage in research on the impact of children's participation in custody cases.

Child maltreatment, family characteristics and adult adjustment: mediating and moderating processes

Two alternate processes that may explain the relationship between child maltreatment, childhood family characteristics and adult adjustment (mediation and moderation) were tested using retrospective data from a community sample (N = 175). The levels of five different types of child maltreatment did not mediate the relationship between childhood family variables and adult adjustment. In contrast, family background played a mediating role in the relationship between maltreatment and adjustment. Evidence of moderation was found in the interactions between different maltreatment types in predicting adjustment. Partial support was found for the moderating influence of family factors on the relationship of maltreatment to adjustment.