Citation

Elliott IA, Findlater D, Hughes T. J. Sex. Aggress. 2010; 16(2): 237-248.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13552601003686870

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There are currently around 32,300 registered sex offenders in the United Kingdom for whom recent years have seen the implementation of extensive supervision strategies, such as Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and licence conditions. Concurrently, the last two decades have also seen heightened alertness to the use of communications technologies in the commission of child sexual abuse. This paper describes a 6-month pilot project investigating the management of computer use for registered sex offenders using e-Safety software, which examines PCs for specific inappropriate words and phrases, the results of which are monitored remotely by risk-management officers. The findings of the pilot project are discussed in the context of both the potential benefits for the detection of future inappropriate computer-related behaviour and also the potential benefits for promoting and identifying positive computer use by offenders. Finally, we discuss further development of the use of this software in sex offender management.