Citation

Arumugham S, Shekhar B. Indian J. Criminol. 2022; 50(1): 43-61.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, University of Madras, Department of Psychology)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

A retrospective study on the cases of online Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) also known as Child Pornography from the year 2014 to 2020 was carried out to construct epidemiological profiles of the cases, offenders and their victims. The data were collected from reported cases in various online English news media in India. As many as 67 cases of CSAM all over India have been collected in which there were more than 100 victims and 382 accused persons. Victims were identified only in 14 cases (20%) where the incidents were reported by the victim or their parents. The rest of the cases where victim identification was not made are those cases that were reported by the International Police (INTERPOL) and National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The profiles of the victims and offenders in this study were analyzed concerning the modus operandi of offenders and criminogenic opportunities of the internet. The research highlights the issue of forgotten victims and suggests the need for a standard and stringent investigation protocol for CSAM cases.

KEYWORDS Victim-Offender Profiling, Child Pornography, Newspaper Analysis, Child Sexual Abuse.

Language: en