Developing a typology of child sexual exploitation offenders
Master of Forensic Psychology student Elsemiek Griemink has spent the past year working with the Department of Internal Affairs to help provide better data on individuals who access, produce, and distribute sexually exploitative material featuring children in New Zealand.
“There is currently a big lack of empirical typologies, which will help classify these types of individuals,” Elsemiek says. “The work I have done aims to help provide a better understanding of the characteristics of this group in New Zealand, which will have implications for assessing these individuals and addressing their behaviour.”
Elsemiek worked with the Censorship Compliance Unit at the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). This unit works with local and overseas agencies to track down and catch individuals using the Internet to share objectionable material. Elsemiek was able to work with their inspectors to analyse their data and investigate whether unique subgroups exist in the wider population of individuals accessing this type of objectionable material.
Elsemiek found that individuals who engage in this type of offending can be classified into four unique groups, and that each group offended in a distinct way.
The first three groups—the Low-Level Underage, Medium-Level Child, and High-Level Child groups—all showed a specific interest in sexually exploitative material involving children and young adults but could be grouped together based on their level of engagement with the material, their technical capability, the severity of their offenses, and the specificity of their search terms. For example, Elsemiek explains, the High-Level group showed higher rates of previous offenses and had greater access to children, indicating that this group may present a more chronic and higher risk.
The final group—the General Sexual Deviance Group—was an outlying group characterised by an interest in ‘sexually deviant’ materials in general, not just in materials that exploited children. They were the group most likely to distribute offensive materials, Elsemiek says, but their behaviours indicated an interest in extreme materials in general, rather than specifically an interest in children.
“This analysis has implications for assessment and treatment of these individuals,” Elsemiek says. “For example, the re-offending rates of the High-Level offenders suggests more resources may be required to address their offending, while the General Sexual Deviance group may need a broader approach that considers their broader method of offending. I hope this data will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the role that individual differences and online behaviour play in this type of offending.”
“Further research is required to validate these groups and gain a better understand of the risks they pose, and the resources needed to address their offending.”
Elsemiek hopes to continue working in this area in the future, working to better refine the information available about these types of individuals and help address this type of offending in New Zealand and around the world.
Elsemiek’s work was supervised by Dr Russil Durrant.