413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

downloading other material, such as adult pornography. This group cited curiosity as their initial motive
for viewing child pornography, but often did not elaborate upon why they continued this behavior.
Aside from satisfying curiosity, three offenders (14 percent) described viewing child pornography as a
rush, aided by the illegality of the act:
More the collecting, the rush of doing something wrong without feeling like you’re
hurting someone. … I was a good boy, doing something naughty felt nice. (A12)
With child pornography—it’s that it’s illegal. Same with drugs. Don’t tell me not to do
something, and I’ll do it. Don’t you ever speed You get a little rush and mine was just a
little deeper. (F4)
Two offenders (10 percent) reported methamphetamine use as a stimulus for seeking child pornography,
with another acknowledging that “a lot of guys into meth are also into sexually extreme things” (C7). One
methamphetamine dealer believed that a third of child pornography offenders are using drugs:
About 25–35 percent of people involved in child pornography are involved in drugs—
producing, selling, consuming. Into meth—crystal meth, ice. It has to do with increasing
your sexual libido. It also has to do with, nothing to do at 3:00 a.m. except looking at
pornography and then it mushrooms from there. (F4)
An investigator in Kansas City described the link between methamphetamine use and consumption of
child pornography, but a lack of resources to fully investigate these cases:
There has always been this correlation between meth users and child pornography so it
would be interesting to go with them to their meth warrants and ask for consent to go on
their computers and see what comes up, but that would be a perfect world with lots of
time and people. (Kansas City Law Enforcement Official)
Five offenders (24 percent) used the word “addiction,” “sickness,” or “obsession” to describe their
relationship with child pornography.
Things like child pornography is an addiction—like alcohol, drugs—but I didn’t realize I
was poisoning my mind. (B2)
In one case, an offender described his “addiction” to the Internet, as he felt lost when his computer was
confiscated by law enforcement:
My whole life was online. I was a computer generation. I didn’t know how to do anything
without a computer. I wasn’t thinking I need to go download again. I just needed to have
a computer because it was like missing my arm. (E9)
Two offenders shared that they were creating collections of all types of pornography. One of these
offenders sought out child pornography because of the challenge it posed in collecting:
I collected all different types of porn—gay, vintage, and other subcategories, not of child
porn, but other types … The child pornography was more about the chase because it was
harder to come by. I knew it was the rarest … almost the rarest, there is the snuff [film
that depicts a murder]. I didn’t necessarily know about the risk and illegality. (G2)
A local law enforcement investigator from Kansas City, with years of experience investigating child
pornography offenders, described different subcategories of offenders:
There’s a couple different types of offenders. There’s the ones who can say they were
abused as a child … they were abused so they’re abusing. That’s the first idea … and there
are some like that. There are some that … it is a sexual preference. … We have bad guys
who will sit and tell you once you get to a certain point in an interview, they will sit and
tell you … I’m only attracted to five-year-old, five- to eight-year-old girls. That’s a sexual
preference … and then I have one more bad guy. And I call him the “Everything Bad Guy.”
In the realm of pornography he likes, he’ll try everything and anything so he may have
had an addiction to just pornography, but all of a sudden, that’s not working for him, so
then he might try gay pornography, and then that’s not working so then he’ll try bestiality
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