A Sea of Red Dots: The Explosion in Online Child Sexual Abuse

While the presence of child sexual abuse images in child sexual abuse cases is not new, the sheer scale and scope and ubiquity of it all is. The exponential growth in the trading of these images has created a sophisticated marketplace designed around exploiting children. Three guests join us today to discuss child sexual abuse materials online (CSAM): Elizabeth and Ted Cross and Stefan Turkheimer. 

What Liz and Ted set out to learn was the degree to which incest played into the production of this material, what types of sex acts those trading in CSAM were most interested in, and what ages were most common among the child victims. It’s terribly disturbing but also important for us to understand in order to properly combat it.  

We speak with Stefan about important policy implications. What can policy makers do to hold tech companies more responsible for preventing the proliferation of these materials? And how do we leverage the resources needed to serve victims? Please take a listen.

Topics in this episode:

• The scope of the problem (2:06)
• A sea of red dots (4:16)
• Research design (12:35)
• Findings (20:41)
• Severity of abuse (24:03)
• The link with incest (28:45)
• Public policy (30:25)
• Implications for practice (38:29)
• For more information (41:25)

Links:

Elizabeth Cross, Ph.D., Cross Associates Research & Evaluation Services, LLC, and adjunct professor of social work and child advocacy at Montclair State University

Theodore Cross, Ph.D., senior research specialist – research professor, Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Stefan Turkheimer, vice president for public policy, RAINN

NCMEC CyberTipline

Child Rescue Coalition 

Map and severity of abuse list from a presentation by Cross, Cross, Cooper, Turkheimer, and Bailey to the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Congress

Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC)

Camille Cooper

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

EARN IT Act

Project Safe Childhood Act

Child Rescue Act

For more information about National Children’s Alliance and the work of Children’s Advocacy Centers, visit our website at NationalChildrensAlliance.org. Or visit our podcast website at OneInTenPodcast.org. And join us on Facebook at One in Ten podcast.

Chapters

• 2:06 The scope of the problem
• 4:16 A sea of red dots
• 5:43 Not enough resources
• 9:57 Where this is produced
• 12:35 Research design
• 20:41 Research findings
• 24:03 Severity of abuse
• 28:45 The link with incest
• 30:25 Public policy
• 38:29 Implications for practice
• 41:25 For more information