Open AccessPatterns of federal Internet offenders: A pilot study
Author(s) -
Burgess Ann W.,
Carretta Carrie M.,
Burgess Allen G.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of forensic nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.305
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1939-3938
pISSN - 1556-3693
DOI - 10.1111/j.1939-3938.2011.01132.x
Subject(s) - child pornography , the internet , pornography , possession (linguistics) , forensic nursing , psychology , criminology , law enforcement , internet privacy , federal law , psychiatry , legislation , poison control , medicine , political science , medical emergency , law , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , world wide web , psychoanalysis
Internet‐facilitated sexual offending is receiving increased forensic and clinical attention. Two issues confront this field. First, studies are equivocal as to whether (or not) the possession of Internet pornography can escalate to contact sexual offenses against a child, and second, federal judges have been questioning the length of sentences for users only of child pornography. The findings of this pilot study of 101 federal Internet offenders revealed over half of the men at the time of arrest were employed, educated, were in (or had been in) a relationship, had children, and did not have a prior criminal offense, suggesting a changing profile of a convicted sex offender. Forensic and psychiatric nurses who evaluate users of child pornography contraband need to be knowledgeable of Internet file transfer technology and the various types of contraband viewed specifically for the age of the preferred child, extreme acts to the child (e.g., bondage, S&M), and whether the user prefers images of adults with children or images of children only.