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

Too much to lose? Why OnlyFans fails to censor its explicit content

Online content subscription platform OnlyFans attracted a good deal of attention at the end of August when it announced that it would be banning sexually explicit content, and then reversed the decision within days. In this blog, Elena Martellozzo and Paula Bradbury of the Centre for Abuse and Trauma Studies at Middlesex University write about the risks that the platform poses and what more it could do to protect its users

Online sexual grooming: children as victims of online abuse

This chapter offers an overview of the nature of online sexual grooming, the types of online groomers that have been identified and ‘classified’ in the latest studies. It also highlights some of the risk factors that affect the likelihood of children and young people becoming victims of online grooming. It indicates that online sexual solicitation through social networking sites has become increasingly concerning in recent years, with the Internet offering opportunities for sex offenders to engage in grooming behaviour. Furthermore, children and young people’s increased use of information communication technologies, their risk-taking behaviour and their frequent silence around sexual abuse, have presented serious safety concerns for the most vulnerable users online

Urbanization and Security: Moving Forward, Key Themes, and Challenges

[Summary quoted from the beginning of the chapter:] This chapter provides a concluding summary of the key themes arising from the 14th annual International Police Executives Symposium (IPES) held in Dubai on April 8-12, 2007. It is clear from the contributions in this book that ongoing urbanization willl continue to present security challenges in much of the world, not least in engaging with disaffected communities and at the same time addressing global organised crime. This chapter begins with a short section describing the law-enforcement work of the host city of Dubai: "a city that easily combines on the one hand both modernity and progress, and on the other hand, security and safety" (Abdulla, 2007, p. 5). This chapter is a tribute to the Dubai Police. [Publisher's description of the book this chapter is in:] In terms of raw numbers, the amount of world urban dwellers have increased four-fold, skyrocketing from 740 million in 1950 to almost 3.3 billion in 2007. This ongoing urbanization will continue to create major security challenges in most countries. Based on contributions from academics and practitioners from countries as diverse as Nigeria, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and the US, Urbanization, Policing, and Security: Global Perspectives highlights the crime and disorder problems associated with urbanization and demonstrates police and private security responses to those problems. Examines responses to urban problems The book draws on the practical experiences of police officials and the academic insights of researchers from around the world to detail the consequences of urbanization — crime, terrorism, disorder, drugs, traffic crashes — as well as modern responses to those problems. Covering studies on major cities in more than 18 countries, this text explores topics such as the role of urbanization in security and global concerns including transnational crime, racial profiling, and information sharing. The book also examines responses to urban problems associated with police and security, including human rights activism and police reform. The tools to devise sophisticated solutions The problems confronting policing in these times are quite daunting, providing plenty of challenges for police leaders and requiring them to devise increasingly sophisticated solutions. With more than 100 photos and illustrations, the book tackles issues from a different angle. It examines the resources required to solve problems and those necessary to build a knowledge base of policing and the professionalism for police forces