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Responding to Sexual Offending pp 72–92Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

New Technologies, ‘Risk’ and Sexual Offending

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society ((PSRCS))

Abstract

Rapid and evolving technology has revolutionized our daily lives. The Internet is no exception, having advanced from being a specialized communication tool for around 20 years to something that is common place in the workplace, school, and in the home (Davidson and Gottschalk, 2011). According to Internet World Stats (2012) there are over 2.4 billion Internet users globally, with 96% of connected individuals accessing the Internet daily (Global Internet User Survey, 2012). The Internet has altered many aspects of human activity, including how we communicate and interact with one another; however, like any other public space, the online environment reflects the behaviour of its users, with positive and negative aspects evident (Whittle et al., 2013). It is the negative aspects that tend to dominate the media headlines, particularly how this new technology has allowed predatory child sex abusers to target vulnerable children and young people for sexual exploitation. This is particularly significant as empirical research suggests that child sex abusers have developed and established a strong link with emerging technologies (Wolak and Finkelhor, 2011 McCartan and McAlister, 2012). The availability and affordability of computing devices, and mobile phones with camera and video-streaming technology have provided new opportunities for the production of indecent images of children with such images frequently shared by sex offenders in the online environment (Jenkins, 2001; Mitchell et al., 2005; McCartan and McAlister, 2012), resulting in the increasingly large and lucrative online availability of indecent images of children (Wyre, 2003; Johansson, 2004).

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Authors
  1. Ruth McAlister
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of the West of England, UK

    Kieran McCartan (Associate Professor in Criminology) (Associate Professor in Criminology)

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© 2014 Ruth McAlister

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McAlister, R. (2014). New Technologies, ‘Risk’ and Sexual Offending. In: McCartan, K. (eds) Responding to Sexual Offending. Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137358134_4

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