Description
An examination of the responses of society and law to child pornography and sexual grooming.
Suzanne Ost critically examines how society and law have responded to child pornography and sexual grooming, exploring the way in which the harms of child pornography and grooming are perceived and suggesting that the legal and societal reactions to these problems need to be more rational and considered.
Suzanne Ost critically examines how society and law have responded to child pornography and sexual grooming, exploring the way in which the harms of child pornography and grooming are perceived and suggesting that the legal and societal reactions to these problems need to be more rational and considered.
Child pornography and sexual grooming provide case study exemplars of problems that society and law have sought to tackle to avoid both actual and potential harm to children. Yet despite the considerable legal, political and societal concern that these critical phenomena attract, they have not, thus far, been subjected to detailed socio-legal and theoretical scrutiny. How do society and law construct the harms of child pornography and grooming? What impact do constructions of the child have upon legal and societal responses to these phenomena? What has been the impetus behind the expanding criminalisation of behaviour in these areas? Suzanne Ost addresses these and other important questions, exploring the critical tensions within legal and social discourses which must be tackled to discourage moral panic reactions towards child pornography and grooming, and advocating a new, more rational approach towards combating these forms of exploitation.
Introduction: Constructions, themes and critical tensions; 1. The modern day phenomena of child pornography and sexual grooming; 2. Criminalizing child pornography and behaviour related to sexual grooming; 3. Matters of harm and exploitation; 4. Moral panics and the impact of the construction of childhood innocence; 5. The law elsewhere and questions of individual rights; 6. Conclusions and implications; Appendix A. Details of dates of interviews with police officers.
'… uniquely well-informed … consistently deep coverage … she raises some uncomfortingly convincing arguments …' Family Law
'Ost puts forward a new approach to tackle the harms of child pornography and sexual grooming rationally and effectively. … a decidedly valuable contribution to the literature and debates on sex offending against children … It is the first British book to provide a balanced perspective by going beyond purely legalistic discourses … providing a detailed theoretical and critical account … readable and accessible … perhaps the greatest strength and contribution of this book are its important message …' British Journal of Criminology
'Suzanne Ost … pushes her materials in new directions to argue that we should be less concerned with child sexual abuse and also consider the various other ways that children are exploited. … Crucial in all of this is her contention that we need to abandon the dominant social construct of childhood vulnerability and, instead, empower children to let them explain how childhood should be understood and experienced. … Ost … was … able … to open up the space that we call 'childhood' and how that construction exploits children whether we are considering Norway or England.' The Howard Journal
'This book is a timely, rational antidote to the sex panic urging people to remove the naked body of a child fr
Chapter
Moral panics surrounding child pornography and stranger grooming
The vulnerability of individual rights
CHAPTER ONE: The Modern Day Phenomena of Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming
The Paedophile and the Child Sexual Abuser
Exploring Parallels Between Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming
The Internet and the Child: A Double Vulnerability?
CHAPTER TWO: Criminalizing Child Pornography and Behaviour Related to Sexual Grooming
Criminalizing Child Pornography
The offences under the Protection of Children Act 1978
The offence of possessing child pornography
Extending legal constructions of the 'child'
Widening the net: the creation of further child pornography offences
Criminalizing Behaviour Related to Sexual Grooming
The offence relating to grooming
The crucial question of ulterior intent and the practical utilization of the s. 15 offence
The criminalization of grooming under other statutory provisions
The Law's Framing and Construction of Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming
The impetus behind the introduction of the laws relating to child pornography and grooming and the law's construction of harm
The effects of the steady increase in criminalization
Problematic legal constructs
CHAPTER THREE: Matters of Harm and Exploitation
The Harms of Creating and Distributing Child Pornography
Creating child pornography causes direct, primary harm to the child
Creating and disseminating child pornography encourages the objectification of children as sexual objects
Disseminating child pornography exacerbates or underwrites the primary harm
The Harms of Possessing Child Pornography
Possessors of child pornography are actual or potential child sexual abusers
Possession encourages the market in child pornography: possession as a remote harm
Possession exacerbates the primary harm and enables the continued exploitation of the child
Possession threatens society's shared morality
Do these arguments legitimate criminalizing possession on the basis of harm?
Possession and viewing child pornography as therapy?
Pseudo-Images and Images of Naked Children: Criminalization Taken too Far?
The creation of morphed pseudo-images as harmful exploitation
Is criminalizing pseudo-images justified on the basis of the harm principle?
Are photographs of naked or semi-naked children harmful?
The Harms of Sexual Grooming
Can criminalization of behaviour related to grooming be legitimated?
Do prevailing constructions of grooming exacerbate the threat of harm?
Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming: Constructing Harm as Exploitation
CHAPTER FOUR: Moral Panics and the Impact of the Construction of Childhood Innocence
Moral Panics and Availability Cascades
Origins of moral panics and availability cascades
The case for a moral panic regarding child pornography and stranger grooming
Availability cascades: shaping the public discourse
How much of the reaction is disproportionate?
The question of volatility
The consequences of the moral panic
The Construction of Innocence: Protecting or Endangering Children?
The historical construct of childhood innocence
Childhood innocence as a contemporary construct
CHAPTER FIVE: The Law Elsewhere and Questions of Individual Rights
The Canadian and US Laws Surrounding Child Pornography
The law in Canada and the challenge brought under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The definition of child pornography under Canadian law: necessarily broad to prevent harm or harmful in itself?
The law in the United States and the First Amendment
The definition of child pornography under US law: protecting or sexualizing children?
The Criminalization of Grooming Through Communication Systems in Canada and the United States
Rights and Concerns Within the English Law Context
The impact upon those suspected and convicted of child pornography and grooming offences
The right to privacy and freedom of expression
The right to a fair trial and previous convictions
The matter of fair labelling
The International Community's Prioritization of Children's Rights and Protection
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
The Council of Europe's Conventions on Cybercrime and on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse
The European Council Framework Decision on Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography
Is there a need for an international law to protect children from acts related to child sexual abuse?
CHAPTER SIX: Conclusions and Implications
The Repercussions of the Current Societal and Legal Response for Children
Where a Continuation of the Current Response Will Take Us
Advocating a new Approach
A re-assessment of the harm(s) of child pornography and grooming and a reframing of the child pornography legislation
The incorporation of situational crime prevention techniques as an alternative strategy to ever-increasing criminalization
A move away from 'the sexual' and our fixation with childhood innocence
Appendix A: Details of Dates of Interviews with Police Officers
Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming
：Legal and Societal Responses
( Cambridge Studies in Law and Society )
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