Room for Improvement
How does the Media Portray Individuals Who Engage in Material Depicting Child Sexual Abuse
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12467100 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Larissa S Christensen (0000-0003-3852-3686, corresponding author), Katarina Pollard (University of the Sunshine Coast) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1326-1338 |
| Publication date | 2022-03-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sexuality & Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1095-5143 • E-ISSN: 1936-4822 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12119-022-09945-x |
| PMID | 35283619 |
| OpenAlex | W4220973650 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 35 |
The media has a powerful ability to shape public perceptions. Given the current disjuncture between social attitudes and the law in relation to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) it is important to explore the representation of CSAM offenders in the media. The aim of this exploratory study was to identify how CSAM offenders are depicted in the print media. Newspaper articles published from 1 August 2019 to 31 August 2020 on CSAM offenders in Western countries were searched. A qualitative content analysis was employed, revealing three themes across the 56 articles: (1) the headings of the articles downplayed the abusive offending; (2) offender's motivations indicate heterogeneity in offending; and (3) sentencing remarks communicated denunciation and the harms of offending. While the first theme identified that there is still space for improvement in the reporting of these crimes, the second theme indicates the various motivations portrayed should assist the public in identifying that these offenders are heterogenous in their motivations, thus potentially countering some previously held stereotypes. Finally, the denunciation and the harms taken from the messages delivered by the judiciary in the sentencing remarks could offer a positive educational tool for some members of the public. These findings should be valuable for media, law enforcement, and psychology disciplines
Child sexual abuse · Content analysis · Criminalization · Criminology · Denunciation · Law enforcement · Media studies · Newspaper · Poison control · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Sexual abuse · Social science · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Theme (computing · Child Abuse and Trauma · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Social Psychology
News Framing Effects
Why internet users’ perceptions of viewing child exploitation material matter for prevention policies
Sexuality and the Internet
Social Media Sentiment Analysis
Media coverage and public understanding of sentencing policy in relation to crimes against children
Media dependencies in a changing media environment
The New Portrayal of Female Child Sexual Offenders in the Print Media
The Characteristics of Virtual Child Sexual Abuse Material Offenders and the Harms of Offending
Coming Clean” on Duty of Care
Predicting hands-on child sexual offenses among possessors of Internet child pornography
Children at Risk
Online Child Pornography Offenders are Different
A Dependency Model of Mass-Media Effects
Reflections
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |