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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
Detection, prosecution and trial
In the previous chapters 3.4 and 3.5, detection, prosecution and trial were discussed in depth. There are
three reasons – that are further elaborated on in the present sub-section – as to why the initial contact with
the law constitutes an important phase of an integrated approach of after-care and supervision regarding
the offender. First of all, concentrating on (increasing) the chance of catching sex offenders who have
not yet been convicted forms a successful preventive strategy, see box ‘Perspective on offender-oriented,
tertiary prevention’. 583 Secondly, contact with the law may form a reason to implement further interventions
in the realm of after-care and supervision (see §3.6.2 above). Thirdly, digital and analogue data can
be collected during detection – as put forward below – that may be important for probation and after-care
services, in order to provide advice about the risk of re-offending, and/or important for those providing
treatment, to enable them to provide therapy or implement interventions that will influence behaviour. 584
Perspective on offender-oriented, tertiary prevention
The literature outlines a number of remarks on the extensive implementation of interventions that
are aimed at convicted sex offenders. Finkelhor 585 concludes that no research has yet been carried out
into the effectiveness of the current tertiary, offender-oriented preventive measures. Increasing the
chance of catching sex offenders should therefore produce a more effective preventive result than
placing the focus on the existence of re-offending. 586 According to Finkelhor, focusing too specifically
on offenders who have already been prosecuted only resolves a small part of the problem: “Thus even
strategies that are 100 percent effective in eliminating recidivism among known offenders would
reduce new victimizations only a little.” 587 For these reasons, Finkelhor proposes a number of areas
requiring special attention that are applicable to offender-oriented prevention strategies: detection
should focus on offenders who have not been previously detected and tertiary prevention strategies
directed at (the 25% of) high-risk offenders. 588 What is more, tools should be developed in order to
detect high-risk offenders and low-intensity strategies should be devised for low-risk offenders. 589
583 Posters on the BBS lead one to suspect that more experienced collectors of child abuse material perceive
themselves as being unassailable, estimate the chance of being caught as low and have a low
opinion of (the quality of ) detection institutions, see Jenkins, 2001, pp.14-15.
584 Finkelhor, 2009, pp.169-194.
585 Finkelhor, 2009, pp.169-194.
586 It is established that the majority of the sexual offences are committed by people who are not known
to the police. In the Netherlands, the police prioritise re-offending (for child pornography cases with
no indication of production and/or hands-on abuse). Those who view child abuse material who have
already been convicted for a sexual abuse offence are detected, prosecuted and stand trial sooner under
similar circumstances than viewers who do not have a criminal record, although hands-on abusers can
most certainly be found within this group of non-convicted offenders (see §1.4.2 and §3.4.3).
587 Finkelhor, 2009.
588 Uniformly applying interventions without differentiating between offenders is not a desirable strategy
in preventing the further victimisation of individuals. Providing intensive treatment to convicted offenders
with a low risk of re-offending may even be counterproductive, see Van Horn, 2007, pp.339-340.
The explanation for this is that those sex offenders who are treated intensively copied the behaviour of
the offenders with a high risk of re-offending, with whom they were in the same group for therapy.
589 Finkelhor also states that investments should be made in (the development of ) prevention programmes
that are aimed at (potential) victims who are minors (see §3.2).