Child pornography

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Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn, or kiddie porn and child sexual abuse material[1] known by the acronym CSAM,[2] underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law[3]) is erotic material that depicts persons under the designated age of majority. The precise characteristics of what constitutes child pornography varies by criminal jurisdiction.[4][5]

Child pornography is often produced through online solicitation, coercion and covert photographing. In some cases, sexual abuse (such as forcible rape) is involved during production. Pornographic pictures of minors are also often produced by children and teenagers themselves without the involvement of an adult. Images and videos are collected and shared by online sex offenders.

Laws regarding child pornography generally include sexual images involving prepubescents, pubescent, or post-pubescent minors and computer-generated images that appear to involve them. Most possessors of child pornography who are arrested are found to possess images of prepubescent children; possessors of pornographic images of post-pubescent minors are less likely to be prosecuted, even though those images also fall within the statutes.[6]

Child pornography is illegal and censored in most jurisdictions in the world.[7][8][9] Ninety-four of 187 Interpol member states had laws specifically addressing child pornography as of 2008, though this does not include nations that ban all pornography.[7]

  1. ^ Lee, Hee-Eun; Ermakova, Tatiana; Ververis, Vasilis; Fabian, Benjamin (September 2020). "Detecting child sexual abuse material: A comprehensive survey". Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation. 34: 301022. doi:10.1016/j.fsidi.2020.301022. S2CID 225487613.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Keane, Sean (30 July 2024). "'Betrayal: A Father's Secret' documents the dark truth that shatters a family". ABC News. Archived from the original on 26 August 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024. We don't use that term, child pornography… [I]n adult pornography, those are willing participants who are consenting to that act. With child pornography, a child cannot consent.
  4. ^ Ly, Thanh; Dwyer, R. Gregg; Fedoroff, J. Paul (2018). "Characteristics and treatment of internet child pornography offenders". Behavioral Sciences & the Law. 36 (2): 216–234. doi:10.1002/bsl.2340. ISSN 0735-3936. PMID 29659072. Most studies do not provide an explicit definition of child pornography. Instead, it seems that the definition largely depends on what the law defines as child pornography. Because of this, the definition of child pornography can change based on the laws that govern the land in which an individual is found guilty. Most of the studies in this article define child pornography as stimuli that are sexual in nature that include persons under the age of 18.
  5. ^ Gillespie, Alisdair A. (2018). "Child pornography". Information & Communications Technology Law. 27 (1): 30–54. doi:10.1080/13600834.2017.1393932. ISSN 1360-0834. S2CID 261771447. There is no single definition of 'child pornography' and indeed the term itself remains controversial... The difficulty with this is that there are hundreds of many different definitions available. Even international law cannot agree...
  6. ^ Wells, Melissa; Finkelhor, David; Wolak, Janis; Mitchell, Kimberly J. (July 2007). "Defining Child Pornography: Law Enforcement Dilemmas in Investigations of Internet Child Pornography Possession 1" (PDF). Police Practice and Research. 8 (3): 269–282. doi:10.1080/15614260701450765. S2CID 10876828. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2018 – via University of New Hampshire.
  7. ^ a b Child Sexual Abuse Material: Model Legislation & Global Review (9th ed.). International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children. 2018.[page needed]
  8. ^ "World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children". 27 July 2002. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  9. ^ Malamuth, Neil M. (2018). ""Adding fuel to the fire"? Does exposure to non-consenting adult or to child pornography increase risk of sexual aggression?". Aggression and Violent Behavior. 41: 74–89. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2018.02.013. S2CID 149279109.