Empowering Young People with Special Educational Needs to Recognize and Report Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: A Mixed-Methods Review

Young people with special educational needs (SEN), such as intellectual disability and/or autism, are particularly vulnerable to child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). This mixed-methods systematic literature review consolidates findings in respect to how young people with SEN are currently being taught about CSEA in the UK, incorporating empirical and practice-based findings to counteract publication bias. Key databases were searched, and relevant organizations were contacted regarding studies published between 2015 and 2022 (inclusive). Thirteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 10 adopted a qualitative methodology, and three a mixed-methods approach. The thematic synthesis of the qualitative studies identified the following themes: (a) beliefs and stereotypes about CSEA, vulnerability. and risk have led to young people with SEN being misinformed and misunderstood, and (b) anxiety about the topic of sex and abuse creates polarized views regarding CSEA education in adult guardians of young people with SEN. Themes are discussed in the context of societal biases in respect to vulnerability and risk, and these biases are considered to have a negative effect on how young people with SEN are supported. The findings of this review encourage providers of CSEA awareness education to be mindful of not endorsing harmful stereotypes, and to involve parent-carers as much as possible. This review additionally encourages services and organizations to increase focus on practitioner reflexivity and regular training to counteract potential biases in respect to gender, vulnerability, and risk.

Trust and Relationship Development Among Users in Dark Web Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Networks: A Literature Review From a Psychological and Criminological Perspective

The increased potential and speed of the Internet has changed the nature of sexual crimes against children. It enables individuals with a sexual interest in children to meet, interact, and engage in illegal activities. The literature review presented here aims to provide an overview of the current knowledge and understanding of trust and relationship development among users of online networks that are dedicated to the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. A systematic search using six databases was conducted to identify relevant literature from a psychological and a criminological perspective. Twenty-one studies met the inclusion criteria that centered around the key aspects of the literature review's research question, namely, (i) child sexual exploitation and abuse, (ii) Dark Web platforms, (iii) online forums and networks, and (iv) trust and relationship development. Our findings reveal that the engagement in interpersonal communication and interactions with like-minded others serves various functions, including validation, normalization, and support, as well as access to expert advice, information, and material. Dark Web networks are high-stake and risky environments, where users have to manage a continuous flow of threats, with information about others and their trustworthiness being limited. The establishment and maintenance of trust is of social and technical relevance, and users have to navigate a number of demands and commitments. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research.

Vicarious Post-traumatic Growth in Professionals Exposed to Traumatogenic Material: A Systematic Literature Review

Repeated exposure to traumatogenic material as part of work with traumatised individuals can have detrimental effects on professionals' well-being. Growing research has explored this phenomenon, known as 'vicarious traumatisation'. Nevertheless, little research has focused on the positive effects of this work on professionals, namely, 'vicarious post-traumatic growth'. This literature review aims to identify existing research demonstrating mental health professionals' experiences of growth, along with environmental and personal factors that facilitate this growth. Eight qualitative and seven quantitative articles were identified following a systematic search of six electronic databases and assessed for their quality using standardised checklists. Qualitative studies were assessed using the Quality Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Studies (NICE, 2012), and quantitative studies were assessed using the Appraisal Tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (Downes et al., 2016). Professionals described changes in the way they view themselves, the value they place on their relationships and their appreciation for life. Important organisational factors and personal traits were identified as significant predictors for professionals' growth. Our findings have the potential to inform practical recommendations and directions for future research.

An exploration of the personal experiences of digital forensics analysts who work with child sexual abuse material on a daily basis: "you cannot unsee the darker side of life"

Introduction

Digital forensics analysts are a specialist group of police officers who are involved in investigating cases of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA), and identifying and classifying child sexual abuse material (CSAM) according to levels of severity, respectively. The existing literature that has examined this phenomenon suggests that this group of police officers are at greater risk of psychological harm as a result of being exposed to CSAM, and that working with this type of material has the potential to significantly affect their mental health and wellbeing.

Methods

The study presented here used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore digital forensics analysts' personal experiences of working in this role, and with CSAM, on a daily basis, as well as how they feel this has impacted on them, and how they manage this. Seven digital forensics analysts from a specialist unit in the UK took part in semi-structured, in-person interviews.

Results

Three themes were identified, namely: (i) Once you know you cannot unknow, (ii) Constant struggle to decompress, and (iii) The ups and downs of working as a digital forensics analyst. Participants talked about the difficulty of escaping the reality of the sheer prevalence of CSEA, and that working as a digital forensics analyst ultimately takes a toll on one's mental health and wellbeing.

Discussion

As a result of undertaking this work on a daily basis, participants reported experiencing symptoms comparable to compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout, and reflected about the long-term or irreversible psychological effect that working in this role may have. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research.

Assessing and Responding to Suicide Risk in Children and Young People: Understanding Views and Experiences of Helpline Staff

INTRODUCTION

Suicide is a key issue impacting children and young people. Helplines offer unique benefits, such as anonymity, varied communication avenues and low cost, which help to promote help-seeking behaviour. The aim of this study was to explore the views and experiences of helpline organisations of identifying, assessing, and managing suicide risk among children and young people.

METHODS

Thirteen professionals from three UK-based helplines and online counselling services took part in semi-structured interviews between November 2020 and January 2021 via Zoom. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Thematic Analysis.

RESULTS

Three superordinate themes were identified: (i) Starting conversations about suicide; (ii) Identifying and responding to "imminent" suicide risk; and (iii) Responses to suicide risk in relation to safeguarding.

LIMITATIONS

Recruitment was limited by COVID-19 due to the demands needed from helplines at this time.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings highlight not only the different types and range of services helpline organisations offer to young people who might be at risk of suicide, but most importantly the distinct role they have in young people's help-seeking pathway.

Diagnostic Features for Human Categorisation of Adult and Child Faces

Knowing how humans differentiate children from adults has useful implications in many areas of both forensic and cognitive psychology. Yet, how we extract age from faces has been surprisingly underexplored in both disciplines. Here, we used a novel data-driven experimental technique to objectively measure the facial features human observers use to categorise child and adult faces. Relying on more than 35,000 trials, we used a reverse correlation technique that enabled us to reveal how specific features which are known to be important in face-perception - position, spatial-frequency (SF), and orientation - are associated with accurate child and adult discrimination. This showed that human observers relied on evidence in the nasal bone and eyebrow area for accurate adult categorisation, while they relied on the eye and jawline area to accurately categorise child faces. For orientation structure, only facial information of vertical orientation was linked to face-adult categorisation, while features of horizontal and, to a lesser extent oblique orientations, were more diagnostic of a child face. Finally, we found that SF diagnosticity showed a U-shaped pattern for face-age categorisation, with information in low and high SFs being diagnostic of child faces, and mid SFs being diagnostic of adult faces. Through this first characterisation of the facial features of face-age categorisation, we show that important information found in psychophysical studies of face-perception in general (i.e., the eye area, horizontals, and mid-level SFs) is crucial to the practical context of face-age categorisation, and present data-driven procedures through which face-age classification training could be implemented for real-world challenges.

The challenges of identifying and classifying child sexual exploitation material: Moving towards a more ecologically valid pilot study with digital forensics analysts

BACKGROUND

When child sexual exploitation material is seized, digital forensics analysts are required to manually process all "unknown" digital material by determining (a) whether a child is present in the image, and (b) whether the image is of an indecent nature (i.e., illegal).

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to (a) assess the reliability with which CSEM is classified as being of an indecent nature, and (b) examine in detail the decision-making process by analysts.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Five analysts from a specialist unit at a UK police force took part in the study.

METHODS

Participants coded a set of 100 images in order to (i) determine the presence of a child, (ii) estimate the approximate age of the child, and (iii) establish the level of severity depicted in accordance with the UK's legal classification system. Qualitative interviews were conducted to develop a better understanding of analysts' decision-making during the process of identifying and analyzing child sexual exploitation material.

RESULTS

Inter-rater reliability analyses revealed that the level of agreement among analysts was moderate to good in terms of age estimation, and very good in terms of image classification. Using thematic analysis, three superordinate themes were identified, namely (i) establishing the presence of a child, (ii) ambiguity of context, and (iii) coding within legal parameters.

CONCLUSIONS

A number of specific aspects and features were identified to play a key role in analysts' decision-making process which may be used to inform current developments that aim to partially automate this process.

Characteristics and Behaviors of Anonymous Users of Dark Web Platforms Suspected of Child Sexual Offenses

International law enforcement have noted a rise in the use of the Dark Web to facilitate and commit sexual offenses against children, both prior to and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study presented here therefore aimed to investigate the characteristics and behaviors of anonymous users of Dark Web platforms who were suspected of engaging in the sexual abuse of children. Naturally-occurring data on 53 anonymous suspects, who were active on the Dark Web and had come to police attention in the United Kingdom (UK), were sampled. Analysis of the data yielded 462 features that could be coded reliably. Analysis of these features provided novel insights into suspects’ characteristics, their motivations for using the Dark Web, the nature of the offending behavior they reported engaging in, their technical and security precautions, sexual interests, and the content of their interactions with one another. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research.

How do young people who have experienced parental intimate partner abuse make sense of romantic relationships? A qualitative analysis

BACKGROUND

Approximately one in five children in UK have experienced parental intimate partner abuse (IPA). Research suggests that this is one of the strongest predictors of interpersonal aggression within adult relationships, as well as having significant negative impacts on mental and physical health. Both Attachment Theory (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970; Bowlby, 1969) and Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977) attempt to explain this intergenerational cycle of abuse.

OBJECTIVE

In line with Birmingham City Council's Domestic Abuse Prevention Strategy 2016-2020, the present study aimed to qualitatively explore the way in which young people who have experienced parental IPA make sense of romantic relationships.

PARTICIPANTS

Six young people (females = 4, males = 2), aged between 10-13 years (M = 11.16, SD = 1.17), participated in the study.

METHOD

Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the data were analysed using Framework Analysis to generate themes both inductively and deductively.

RESULTS

Three superordinate themes were identified, namely 'Recipe for a Healthy Relationship', 'When Things Go Wrong', and 'What is a Romantic Relationship?'. Concepts of equality and respect were frequently referenced by participants as part of the interviews. Findings are discussed in relation to practical implications and directions for future research.

Young People's Experiences of Attending a Theater-in-Education Program on Child Sexual Exploitation

Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) has grave implications for the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. It has been linked to a wide range of difficulties which may extend into adulthood. School-based prevention programs that aim to raise awareness (and thereby have the potential to prevent CSEA) are popular, however, have historically lacked robust and consistent evaluation. The purpose of the present study was therefore to explore young people's experiences of attending a school-based theater-in-education program, and the impact this had on their awareness and understanding of CSEA. Four focus groups of between four to six participants each were conducted with young people from two co-educational State schools in the United Kingdom. The approach of Template Analysis was used to analyze the data, and revealed a number of themes related to the superordinate themes of "Information and Detail Delivered" and "Format and Timing." The results suggest that participants gained new awareness and understanding of aspects related to CSEA, including other forms of (criminal) exploitation, as well as how to avoid harm and what to do "if bad things happen." Participants further reported that the theater performance/live element of the program was particularly impactful, feeling that this was delivered to them at the right time, but suggesting that younger people would also benefit from the important messages. In addition, areas for improvement were identified in terms of the delivery of the program, and the issue of victim blaming. Findings are discussed with a view to practical implications and directions for future research.

Case Studies of Men's Perceptions of Their Online Sexual Interactions With Young People: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

The aim of the present study was to gain an understanding of the perspectives of men who were convicted of committing a sexual offense that included online sexual grooming. It explores their experiences of illegal interactions with young people via Internet communication platforms, which progressed to physical meetings. Semistructured interviews were conducted with two men and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), providing in-depth accounts of their personal experiences. These are presented in a case study format. Three dominant themes emerged from the analysis: (a) fulfilling an unmet need, (b) spiraling cycle of use, and (c) confrontation with reality. Narrative tones employed by the two men were "being trapped in a lie," analogous to a problem narrative through which their Internet use was presented as a poor and/or failed coping strategy to deal with life stress. Through a process of habituation, their Internet use spiraled out of control. A progression was described in terms of time spent on the computer, frequency and intensity of online interactions, and the impact this had on the men's personal lives, highlighting the "compulsive" nature of such interactions for them. A consideration of individual and situational vulnerability factors provides new insight into the progression of online sexual behavior and contributes to our understanding thereof.

The Challenges of Identifying and Classifying Child Sexual Abuse Material

The aim of the present study was to (a) assess the reliability with which indecent images of children (IIOC) are classified as being of an indecent versus nonindecent nature, and (b) examine in detail the decision-making process engaged in by law enforcement personnel who undertake the difficult task of identifying and classifying IIOC as per the current legislative offense categories. One experienced researcher and four employees from a police force in the United Kingdom coded an extensive amount of IIOC (n = 1,212-2,233) to determine if they (a) were deemed to be of an indecent nature, and (b) depicted a child. Interrater reliability analyses revealed both considerable agreement and disagreement across coders, which were followed up with two focus groups involving the four employees. The first entailed a general discussion of the aspects that made such material more or less difficult to identify; the second focused around images where there had been either agreement (n = 20) or disagreement (n = 36) across coders that the images were of an indecent nature. Using thematic analysis, a number of factors apparent within IIOC were revealed to make the determination of youthfulness and indecency significantly more challenging for coders, with most relating to the developmental stage of the victim and the ambiguity of the context of an image. Findings are discussed in light of their implications for the identification of victims of ongoing sexual exploitation/abuse, the assessment and treatment of individuals in possession of IIOC, as well as the practice of policing and sentencing this type of offending behavior.

Offense Processes of Online Sexual Grooming and Abuse of Children Via Internet Communication Platforms

The aim of the present study was to provide an inclusive and realistic account of the offense processes of naturally occurring, sexually exploitative interactions between offenders and victims that took place via Internet communication platforms, and develop an offense process diagram of online sexual grooming and abuse. Five case series, comprising 29 transcripts of 22 interactions, were analyzed using the qualitative approach of thematic analysis. Police reports were reviewed for descriptive and case-specific information. The five offenders were men aged between 27 and 52 years ( M = 33.6, SD = 5.6), and the number of children they communicated with ranged from one to 12 ( M = 4.6, SD = 4.5). Victims were aged between 11 and 15 ( M = 13.0, SD = 1.2), and were both female ( n = 17) and male ( n = 6). Findings revealed that offenders employed either an indirect or a direct approach to conversations with victims and initiating contact with them. The approach offenders employed was also reflected in the types of strategies they used. Only two offenders were found to engage in aspects of sexual grooming as part of an indirect approach; the majority of the interactions by the other three offenders, that lacked features of sexual grooming altogether, were found to be of a direct approach. These findings are discussed in relation to current issues surrounding terminology and definition of sexual grooming, as well as theoretical and practical implications, concluding with suggestions for future research.

A Qualitative Analysis of Offenders' Modus Operandi in Sexually Exploitative Interactions With Children Online

Transcripts of chat logs of naturally occurring, sexually exploitative interactions between offenders and victims that took place via Internet communication platforms were analyzed. The aim of the study was to examine the modus operandi of offenders in such interactions, with particular focus on the specific strategies they use to engage victims, including discursive tactics. We also aimed to ascertain offenders' underlying motivation and function of engagement in online interactions with children. Five cases, comprising 29 transcripts, were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis with a discursive focus. In addition to this, police reports were reviewed for descriptive and case-specific information. Offenders were men aged between 27 and 52 years ( M = 33.6, SD = 5.6), and the number of children they communicated with ranged from one to 12 ( M = 4.6, SD = 4.5). Victims were aged between 11 and 15 ( M = 13.00, SD = 1.2), and were both female and male. Three offenders committed online sexual offenses, and two offenders committed contact sexual offenses in addition to online sexual offenses. The analysis of transcripts revealed that interactions between offenders and victims were of a highly sexual nature, and that offenders used a range of manipulative strategies to engage victims and achieve their compliance. It appeared that offenders engaged in such interactions for the purpose of sexual arousal and gratification, as well as fantasy fulfillment.

Online child sexual exploitation: prevalence, process, and offender characteristics

This review provides an overview of current knowledge and understanding of the process of sexual grooming and exploitation of children via the Internet. Specifically, the prevalence of online sexual grooming and exploitation is explored as well as associated challenges relating to the identification of its occurrence. This is complemented by a detailed outline and discussion of the process, both online and in the physical world, and legal responses to this phenomenon. A number of factors are examined to provide an explanation of the facilitating and contributing role they may play in offense processes online. Finally, current typologies are discussed in relation to characteristics of Internet offenders in general and "groomers"/chat room offenders specifically. This review concludes by offering suggestions for future research.