Child Pornography: - Center for Problem-Oriented Policing

victims are being recruited, seduced, molested, and let go ("dumped"). 96 Offenders are most
likely to use blackmail, including sexually explicit notes, audio- or videotapes, or photographs,
when a victim is trying to leave the group or the offender is trying to push a victim
out. 97 Child pornography that depicts acts the victims are most concerned about—such as
bizarre sex acts, homosexual acts in which they were active participants, or sex with other
victims—is most likely to ensure a victim's silence through blackmail. 98
Child pornography may also play a different role in different types of sex rings. 99 In a ring
in which one offender consecutively abuses one child or a small group of children at a time,
the offender does not usually exchange or sell the pornography to others but uses it for his
own personal gratification. 100 In rings involving one or more offenders who are sexually
involved with several children at one time, the offenders may exchange or sell the child
pornography they produce. 101 Child victims may also be pressured and recruited to participate
in more structured rings consisting of several offenders and numerous sexually abused
children. 102 Large amounts of child pornography are produced, sold, or exchanged within
such rings, 103 although they are exceptionally rare.
The Victims of Child Pornography
Because the children depicted in child pornography are often shown while engaged in sexual
activity with adults or other children, 104 they are first and foremost victims of child sexual
abuse. Children who appear in pornography generally fall into several categories including
• older children who are involved in prostitution and photographed or filmed by their
customers or become involved in commercial pornography
• younger children, usually prepubescent, who are coerced or manipulated into posing
for pornographic videotapes or photographs often in conjunction with actual molestation
105
• children of any age who are molested by acquaintances or family members and are
photographed or videotaped 106
Research indicates that children used in pornography are generally younger than those
exploited in other ways (e.g., through prostitution). One study of law-enforcement responses
to child-sexual-exploitation cases revealed no prostitution cases involving victims younger
than 11 in the sample, while approximately 20 percent of the pornography cases involved
children between 6 and 10 years of age. 107 In the same study the median age of child pornography
victims was 13 years old with a range from 6 1/2 to 17 years of age. Nearly half the
cases involved only girls and about one-half involved at least one boy victim. Fourteen percent
involved both boys and girls. Unlike prostitution cases, pornography cases tended to
involve multiple victims. 108
Law enforcement may learn of a child's involvement in pornography in various ways as
officers seek either to substantiate charges of sexual abuse or identify all depicted victims.
Evidence of pornography may surface in the course of a child-sexual-abuse investigation, or,
alternatively, children may be brought to the attention of law-enforcement officials as additional
victims in a child-pornography investigation. 109
The identification of child victims and/or establishment of their age in visual depictions
are also important when cases are presented in court. 110 Successful prosecution may often
8 - CHILD PORNOGRAPHY: THE CRIMINAL-JUSTICE-SYSTEM RESPONSE