Policing online child sexual abuse - the British experience

Incidents of child sexual abuse (CSA) are frequently documented and have recently attracted intense police, public scrutiny and efforts of social control across the Western world. This paper aims to explore the very concerning issue of online CSA and the way in which the police is responding to this growing problem. It will present some of the challenges the police in the United Kingdom face daily in dealing with the threats to children’s online safety. It argues that although proactive undercover policing has helped police forces to unmask sex offenders(1) who predate innocent victims online, the advancement of technology is making the work of police officers more and more challenging. The findings presented have been collected over the last decade (2003-2013) during two exploratory, grounded theory studies, which involved the interviews with 21 police officers and forensic examiners and the observation and analysis of three police operations at the London Metropolitan Police Paedophile Unit in London

Exploring the removal of online child sexual abuse material in the United Kingdom: processes and practice

This paper explores the processes involved in the removal of online child sexual abuse material. It specifically focuses on the work of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in the UK who are partially responsible for the removal of this content. The empirical work was carried out between May 2017 and September 2017 and explored whether the IWFs processes at removing online child sexual abuse material were both useful and effective to the police and the wider communities. The research applied a mixed methods approach: Semi-structured interviews with employees (N=10) and key stakeholders (N=9), seeking to explore the strengths and challenges of both the task and the IWFs remit. Both employees and stakeholders saw the value in the original and innovative ‘space’ and ‘approach’ the IWF took in removing child sexual abuse material. This included the evolving nature of their tools, from the original URL list filter, to the more adaptable image hashing process. However, challenges around transparency, visibility and partnership were also raised. With online child sexual abuse ever evolving, it is important to consider novel ways in which intervention and prevention of victimization and offending can take place. Where a multi-disciplinary approach is needed in supporting victims, this research provides and insight into how one such organisation uses tools and techniques, different to traditional statutory services or law enforcement responses

“Lucky Boy!”; Public perceptions of child sexual offending committed by women

This exploratory study addresses the existing gaps on the public perceptions of child sexual offending committed by women. Using thematic analysis, the study extracted, coded and analysed the comments (N=1651) made by the general public to nine Daily Mail online newspaper articles published from 2018 – 2019, reporting the sentencing decisions of female sex offenders, who have been charged and found guilty with the offence of sexual activity with a child. From those comments, 170 coded themes were identified, and this amounted to 3394 coded incidences. Unlike previous research, this study cross examines public responses to different typologies of offending behaviour; teachers, mothers, same sex offenders, co-offenders and finally those who offended for financial gain. The impact of these typologies was analysed through key descriptive case variables, which were quantitively evaluated against the prominent themes that emerged. It found that while people demand equal sentencing decisions between male and female child sex offenders, this is limited by public perception when the abuser is an attractive female and, as a result, perceived as less harmful to the child, who is not seen no longer as a victim but as a ‘Lucky Boy’. Such preconceptions fuel shame, social stigma and stereotyping towards sexual exposure and prevents victims to disclose their abuse and achieve closure and justice

Intervento presentato in occasione della tavola rotonda su "Libertà di informazione e giustizia tra lodo Alfano e recenti disegni di leggi sulla pubblicità degli atti processuali", tenutasi a Trieste il 18 dicembre 2008

Gianni Martellozzo "Intervento presentato in occasione della Tavola Rotonda su 'Libertà di informazione e giustizia tra lodo Alfano e recenti disegni di legge sulla pubblicità degli atti processuali', tenutasi a Trieste il 18 dicembre 2008" in: Tigor: rivista di scienze della comunicazione. A.I (2009) n.1 (gennaio-giugno), pp. 69-7

Protecting children from sex offenders online: when strangers become 'virtual friends'

This article describes findings from research funded by the Metropolitan Police and Crimestoppers which aimed to explore children's online experiences. A non-random, stratified sample of 200 London school children aged 10- 13 participated in focus groups. Preliminary findings are also presented from unpublished ongoing PhD research, which seeks to explore sex offender behaviour online and the policing of the internet (Martellozzo, 2005 ongoing). The findings are discussed in the context of sex offender's use of the internet. This research indicates that children do have some basic knowledge about 'stranger danger' but are not necessarily applying these lessons to cyberspace. The children in this study had sufficient awareness to not give personal details to strangers on the internet, and would not arrange to meet them. However, they made a distinction between 'strangers' and 'virtual friends' and this is an important point. Preliminary findings also highlight the difficulty of policing the internet and serve to illustrate the manner in which the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is applied to internet sexual offending in practice

Correspondences for the Forest of Fiemme. Multispecies Relations in the Aftermath of Vaia Disaster

This paper explores the multispecies relations that characterise a specific temporal conjuncture of the Fiemme Valley: the aftermath of Vaia, a storm that crossed Italy in 2018 and whose repercussions continue to affect this Alpine territory. The Vaia disaster resulted from the cultural remodelling of two landscapes: the forest one, implemented on a local scale through silvicultural practices; the atmospheric one, implemented on a global scale with the emission of greenhouse gases. I aim to demonstrate that the emergence of a new landscape through encounters between multiple forms of life and agencies is irreducible to the anthropocentric perspective

How the pandemic has made young people more vulnerable to risky online sexual trade

Young women become compelled to share more of their bodies on social media and “act sexy” to maintain their subscribers’ interest and earn money. In this blog, Elena Martellozzo and Paula Bradbury of the Centre for Abuse and Trauma Studies at Middlesex University examine the impact that social media platform OnlyFans has had on vulnerable young people during ... Continue

Online child sexual abuse by female offenders: an exploratory study

The expansion of the Internet and the proliferation of information technologies have created new opportunities for the sexual abuse of children. Sex offenders use the Internet to access and distribute indecent images of children and to select victims to groom for the purpose of abuse (Davidson & Gottschalk 2010; Martellozzo, 2010; Martellozzo & Taylor, 2009; Quayle, Erooga, Wright, Taylor, & Harbinson, 2006). It is a commonly held assumption, stated implicitly or explicitly in both public debates and scholarly research, that child sexual abuse is a typically male crime, in so far as offenders are generally held to be men and the level of sexual aggression involved in their offences is seen as closely related to masculine behaviour. This article aims to increase knowledge and understanding of the problem of online child sexual abuse by female offenders. As rehearsed in the literature (Martellozzo, 2011; Webster, Davidson, Bifulco, Pham, & Caretti, 2009), online child sexual abuse is predominantly a crime committed by men and only a small percentage of females sexually abuse children through the Internet. This article presents findings from analysis of qualitative data collected at the Paedophile Unit at the London Metropolitan Police