Resumen de Child pornography and other sexual offenses: a criminological study
The aim of this thesis is to provide a criminological analysis of sexual offending, with a special emphasis on child pornography offenses. To this end, an in-depth study is proposed, offering a scientific and interdisciplinary approach−devoid of emotional biases and moral panics that have penetrated the public consciousness−to a criminal phenomenon that keeps attracting the attention of the scientific community.
First, focus is placed on the global study of sex offenders. Specifically, the differences and similarities between sexual and non-sexual offenders were analyzed in Study 1, focusing on two factors identified in the literature as closely related to criminal behavior: impulsivity and empathy. In addition, the existing meta-analytical evidence regarding the effect of treatment on sex offenders’ recidivism was reviewed in Study 2.
Next, the scope of the study narrows to focus on sex offenders who physically contacted with their victims (i.e., contact sex offenders). First, their personality characteristics were analyzed in Study 3; second, distinctive characteristics of contact sex offenders were explored in Study 4, based on the age of their victims (i.e., adults or minors).
Finally, a differentiated and detailed analysis of online child sexual exploitation is provided; in particular, the study of child pornography offending is approached from different perspectives. First, the literature, historical and present-day, regarding the mechanisms by which offenders obtain and distribute child sexual exploitation materials was synthesized in Study 5. Second, a general description of the legal regulation of child pornography offenses in Spain is provided in Study 6, analyzing in detail the problem raised by the criminalization of pornography that alludes to children, in which no real minors appear (i.e., technical and virtual child pornography). Third, the criminological profile of arrested child pornography offenders in Spain was analyzed in Study 7, using an empirical approach. Fourth, a qualitative study of interview findings with child pornography offenders is provided in Study 8, providing an empirical validation (independent of language/cultural context) of Bartels and Merdian’s theoretical model on the implicit theories of child pornography offenders. Fifth, a cross-cultural validation of a specific risk assessment tool for these individuals (Child Pornography Offender Risk Tool; CPORT) was conducted in Study 9. Finally, focus is placed on the need for an early therapeutic approach for this type of offender, analyzing the verbalizations of individuals under treatment in Study 10, and describing a pilot experience of individualized treatment in prison in Study 11.
