I know my bibliography wasn't fully completed at the time of submission. A lot of my sources are peer reviewed but there are a few websites and articles that I have found online to submit online as well.
As for my title, I need to rethink it as I had trouble contemplating it to start. Maybe with a better title, it will help propel me into refining my research topic.
I do plan on spacing the topic of the history of child pornography within the research in itself, instead of under a separate statement.
Child Pornography and
the Internet: The Trials and Tribulations of Policing
A Research Proposal
Megan Osorio
English 202
Dr. Sherwood
Fall 2009
Abstract
With the
popularity of the internet and file sharing, more acts are becoming criminal,
in the efforts to keep up with the digital age. Social networking sites have
made it a lot easier for people to share information, and images - but sometimes;
these advancements are not innocently used. The debate as to whether or not
certain crimes occur via the internet is a too broad of a topic to touch base
on. The crime intended to be the focal point of this research is child
pornography. Do child pornography laws violate the first amendment rights? Does
the internet hinder or enable policing of child pornography laws? This paper
will begin with a description and history of child pornography before it gained
speed with the internet; then evolve into the issues that law enforcement is
facing when trying to police the internet and child pornography. We will
realize at the end of this research that policing child pornography has run
into some obstacles, a Supreme Court ruling stating the laws on child
pornography does not violate first amendment rights; but also look at the
advancements of law to protect us from the digital world.
Introduction
From the research that has been conducted,
this paper will reflect on the cheers and jeers of enforcing and applying child
pornography laws when dealing with internet offenders. As much as child
pornography is not a widely debated topic, there are numerous studies looking
at offenders, why they offend, and whether or not the internet has enabled
these pedophiles to hide from law enforcement.
In the most
recent years, a real crackdown on internet child pornography has increased and
heightened one's knowledge, and made aware of how many child predators are out
there in every kind of employment. The realization of the offenders being
everyday people, and not someone who looks like a Jeffrey Dahmer, has warranted
many people to be quick to judge a person a predator when some images may be
innocent. Such a case has happened recently with a couple who took pictures of
their two toddlers during bath time, went to get the film developed at a
Wal-mart but was turned in to police because of the images. From this
situation, could this happen with images on the internet?
By the
conclusion of this research, hopefully recommendations can be made, whether it
is to continue to progress with practices that have been effective, or to make
additional laws and/or methods of enforcement.
Fieldwork Statement
Child
pornography is not a widely spoken about, nor is it an issue in which a person
is willing to confess to, because of this, I would find it very hard to find an
offender who would be agree to an interview to help further my research.
Right now, I
am hoping to find a Criminology professor in my department who has done work
and research in the field of child pornography, knowledge of cybercrimes, and a
deep understanding of the laws applied. Just like the non-academic world, it
will be interesting to find a professor who has an extensive knowledge of
internet child pornography laws. It has been my experience from the many years
and many classes taken here at this university, this topic has never come up
for discussion.
Sample
questions for the interview will include: 1) Do you believe the internet has
created more criminals, 2) Do you believe internet child pornography is harder
to prosecute, 3) Are law enforcement agencies computer literate enough to be
able to catch these offenders, 4) Should there be more laws against internet
child pornography, 5) Would you have any recommendations to improve chances of
enforcing and prosecuting these laws, 6) What has law enforcement agencies
gotten right?
Source Review
For the
history section of my paper, I have one article that focuses on this topic alone.
A few of the other articles briefly touch base on the history of child
pornography in which I will incorporate into my research. With the overview of
child pornography's history, we will be able to see how the conversion into the
internet and digital age had occurred. There is a briefing as to how many
websites exist, how much of a following, and a write up of whom is typically a
victim.
The three
articles involved in the law section give two different perspectives. The first
article by Esposito, gives us a view of the current laws in placed for internet
child pornography, what is needed to improve the laws, how to keep up with the
ever evolving technology age, and the downfalls of policing. The second
article, by Nunziato, looks at the current child pornography laws and their
impact on decreasing the crimes. The third article by Wells, discusses the
trials and tribulations of policing internet child pornography, what has to
transpire in order to constitute it to be a crime.
Howitt and
Sheldon touch on as to who typically is the offender in child pornography
crimes. These offenders are broken down into internet and contact offenders. Though
it seems as if they are only talking about pedophilia, child pornography is
considered a form of pedophilia. With this article, and hopefully with more
articles for the final paper, I will be able to debate as to whether or not
child pornography voyeurism is a form of pedophilia.
The academic
portions of this research presently take a look at two articles, with hopes to
expand further. The first article by Middleton and others takes a look at a specific
model of research to see why an offender commits a crime, but what trait in
this person's life was the causation to do such crimes. The research done in
this article takes a look at the Ward and Siegert Pathways Model of sexual
offending, but applied it to internet offenders. The second academic article by
Quayle and Taylor is a case study of multiple men who were convicted of
downloading child pornography. Within this research, the authors looked at the
transcripts of their interviews to determine the psychological affect these
offenders have when they view such photographs. This article will help aid as
determining what actions or at what point a crime is committed.
Working Bibliography
History:
Casanova, Manuel F., et al. "The History of Child
Pornography on the Internet." Journal of Sex Education & Therapy
25.4 (2000): 245-251. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Nov. 2009.
Law:
Esposito, Lesli C. "Regulating the Internet: The new
battle against child pornography." Case Western Reserve Journal of
International Law 30.2/3 (1998): 541. International Security & Counter
Terrorism Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 1 Nov. 2009.
Nunziato, Dawn C. "Technology and Pornography." Brigham
Young University Law Review 2007.6 (2007): 1535-1584. International
Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.
Wells, Melissa, et al. "Defining Child Pornography: Law
Enforcement Dilemmas in Investigations of Internet Child Pornography
Possession." Police Practice & Research 8.3 (2007): 269-282. International
Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 8 Nov. 2009.
Who Offends:
Howitt, Dennis, and Kerry Sheldon "The role of cognitive
distortions in paedophilic offending: Internet and contact offenders
compared." Psychology, Crime & Law 13.5 (2007): 469-486. International
Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.
Academic:
Middleton, David, et al. "An investigation into the
applicability of the Ward and Siegert Pathways Model of child sexual abuse with
Internet offenders." Psychology, Crime & Law 12.6 (2006):
589-603. International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center.
EBSCO. Web. 3 Nov. 2009.
Quayle, Ethel, and Max Taylor "Child Pornography and the
Internet: Perpetuating a Cycle of Abuse." Deviant Behavior 23.4
(2002): 331-361. International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference
Center. EBSCO. Web. 8 Nov. 2009.
With the popularity and easy access to the internet now days, we should start to question our safety. Social networking sites have made it more easy for us to all become a victim or a victimizer. As much as we don't realize it, we invest ourselves wholly into our virtual image while being naive to the dangers in the cybersphere.The debate as to whether or not certain crimes occur via the internet, is a too broad of a topic to touch base on. Because of how much we use the internet, if and when we fall victim to an online crime, are we just as psychologically altered as we are when the crime occurs face to face? The focus of this paper will be centered around pedophilia, beginning with a description and history of this crime in the real world and then how it has crossed over into the cybersphere. With this all described, we will look at the severity of the crime, then look at the invasion of the psychological affects for a victim in each of the atmospheres to determine if one is more evasive than the other. We find the effects and severity of pedophilia in each atmosphere are very much the same in every aspect. The conclusion of psychological affects on a child in the physical world are just as damaging in the cybersphere.
* Establish currency, importance, or reference of the topic at hand ~ line 1 * move towards specific, narrower case or example -- with a hint of why this is a good choice ~ line 2 * Orient reader towards the specific case,; everything you wanted to know in 10 words ~ line 3 * names or lays out key elements of the topic for this study (leaves out others) ~ line 4 * Articulates a key question ~ line 5 * Preview the major steps towards answering the question ~ lines 6 & 7 * this is the answer ~ lines 8 & 9 * convey the importance of what we've learned or what it leads to ~ line 10
1. Describe your topic: 2. What are some of the most interesting conversations taking place surrounding this topic? 3. Can you imagine any relevant conversations you have missed? 4. If you could get representatives of just two groups into a room, what pair would make for the most interesting matchup? 5. Of these, which one has the fewest limitations for a student researcher
like myself(ex. Theoretical Physics is fascinating but hard to break
into)? 6. Of these, which best lend themselves to first-hand research? 7. Of these, which best lend themselves to discussion in terms of the
assignment theme--digital culture-- exposing the unfamiliar or
surprising dimensions? 8. Based on these answers, the most relevant conversations are: 9. Based on the answers above, an interesting, relevant research question would be:
I think I will continue with the research topic of Psychological Effects of Virtual Crime vs. Real Crime. I believe that this topic was just a blip on what could be said and branch into a justice system; whether or not one should be formed. The only issue I may come into is if there is any valid research into the psychological effects or if a study has been formed for a possible justice system of such "crimes".
Psychological Effects of Virtual
Crime vs. Real Life Crime
This is a brief look at the world of
crime in the context of whether or not crime can occur on a person to person
basis or through a computer by looking at the psychological effects. The question
asked is: Do crimes committed in "virtual reality" have the same or
less psychological intrusiveness compared to "real life" crimes?
There are many definitions as to
what "virtual crimes" are, and in most cases they will point you
toward "in-game" crime with the only description of crimes committed
via a computer. We could say virtual crimes have all the aspects of real life
crimes without the personal interaction/altercation. There is a great debate as
to whether or not this is true. Does virtual crime meet the same criteria as
real life crimes?
What is the criterion of an act to
make it a crime? First of all, a crime is when an act is deemed unlawful and
against commonly shared social norms, set up by a governing body who
keep the community safe. These crimes can be physically, mentally, and
emotionally taxing on the victim or victims. Crimes can also directly or
indirectly occur against a person, place, animal or property.
There are only two pieces of
criteria we can rule out for virtual crime; crimes against animals and physical
crimes - although, we associate virtual crimes with the physical repercussions.
These crimes we associate with the physical, tangible harm are fraud and
identity theft - only because we see our credit score plummet, or we see our
bank accounts being depleted, and we start to receive calls from debt
collectors. The crimes we definitely know occur and are prosecuted in the
virtual world are fraud, identity theft, and child pornography.
Since the creations of Myspace and
Facebook along with a plethora of cyber cities cropping up everywhere, we start
to have "new" crimes being committed and new questions arise. With
the recent current events, such as the Megan Meier case, we wonder if a person
who deceptively entices or draws a person into a "relationship" that
only occurs online, does that person become an offender when comments they send
to their prey become hurtful enough to push the prey to cause harm against
themselves?
Megan Meier was 13 year old girl who
committed suicide after an ex-friend's parents started a Myspace account under
a fictitious name and identity of a 16 year old boy by the name of Josh Evans.
Later on in their correspondence, they ambushed Megan Meier with nasty words,
such as the last correspondence being, "You're a shitty person, and the world
would be a better place without you in it" (Collins 10),to set the teenager off into a very fast
downward spiral that resulted in her death. Tina Meier was quoted as saying, "I
know that they did not physically come up to our house and tie a belt around her
neck, but when adults are involved and continue to screw with a
thirteen-year-old--with or without mental problems--it is absolutely vile"
(Collins 3).
The parents who created Josh Evans
were never prosecuted in the death of Megan Meier. The author of Friend Game, Lauren Collins stated the
district attorney's reasoning for not prosecuting the parents "are conclusively
guilty of little except egregious judgment that set off a chain of horrible
events, and deep insensitivity in their aftermath" (Collins 13).
With this one case, we can see words
are just as powerful as actions, especially when it is an assault against our
self-esteem. But not all who are violated are going to be children. There have
been numerous cases where adults who participate in some virtual cities to live
out fantasies, have been victimized.
The cases of adults who have been
victimized has brought up the question of, can virtual rape occur? In each
instance, critics have come to the question of, how can it be rape if you are
not physically affected like those who experienced a non-virtual rape?
A virtual rape is by definition
sudden, explicit and often devastating. If you've never immersed yourself in online life, you might not
realize the emotional availability it takes to
be a regular member of an internet community. The psychological aspects of
relating are magnified because
the physical aspects are (mostly) removed (Lynn 2).
This one statement, by Lynn, alone
should be on everyone's mind when they hear about virtual crimes and believe
them to be impossible. Each person should put themselves in the position of
such vulnerability - no one is immune to such victimization when it comes to our psychological state.
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