Children being viewed as sexual objects is an issue that has persisted throughout history and so has erotic literature as well as art depicting children in a sexual manner. Pornography as the modern world defines it, however, did not truly exist until the camera debuted in the 1800’s. Once this invention was introduced, images of children with sexual connotations were distributed and swapped. Although child pornography definitely existed, it remained a covert crime that often remained under the radar through most of the 1900’s because it was difficult to procure, not of exceptional quality and possessed a very high price tag.
When censorship regulations were altered in the 1960’s the incidence of child pornography rose and by the late 1970’s roughly 250 child pornography publications were available for purchase in the United States, but these magazines were mainly created in Europe (Tate, 1990). Police departments were certainly concerned about investigating and prosecuting child pornography distributors. These actions, however, were much easier to perform when pornography existed in only hard copy formats. With the rise of the Internet, in the 1980’s, it is completely altered the size, scope and scale of child pornography. It has also made prosecution for this crime much more difficult as these images and the means to procure them may develop many miles away from the perpetrator’s residence.
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"Child Pornography and the Internet".
Child pornography is not like many of the crimes many police departments manage. Due to the Internet, images can produced in a myriad of different forms, by many unique individuals all over the world. Police can commence an investigation in their own district, only to be presented with circumstances with “cross-jurisdictional boundaries” (Taylor and Quayle, 2001). “Therefore, most of the major investigations of Internet child pornography have involved cooperation among jurisdictions, often at an international level” (Taylor and Quayle, 2001).
AS access to a computer or even the Internet is so wide spread and pervasive, nearly all police organizations will contend with Internet child pornography. ”Therefore, it is important that all police departments develop strategies for dealing with the problem. It would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of local police in detecting and preventing Internet child pornography” (Wortley and Smallbone, 2006).
- Taylor, M., G. Holland, and E. Quayle (2001). “Typology of Paedophile Picture Collections.” Police Journal 74(2):97–107.
- Taylor, M., G. Holland, and E. Quayle (2001). “Typology of Paedophile Picture Collections.” Police Journal 74(2):97–107.
- Wortley, Richard and Smallbone, Stephen. (2006). “Child Pornography on the Internet.” Popcenter.org. Web. Retrieved from http://www.popcenter.org/problems/child_pornography/print/.
