Child porn sites double
The number of websites that carry indecent images of children have doubled according to a report from the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) published today.
The NCIS published its Threat Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime 2003 (the UK Threat Assessment), which describes the threats to the UK from organised and serious crime.
The study highlights that the advent of the internet has enabled the rapid growth in the publication of indecent images of children. The internet has also enabled paedophiles to network exchanging images, fantasies and techniques for grooming.
The police claim that the internet has now replaced largely replaced printed materials.
The number of websites containing images of child abuse reported to the Internet Watch Foundation increased substantially in 2002. The number of reports to the IWF increased by 57% in 2002.
The report points out that the production of images normally involves actual abuse and demand for new images encourages producers to find new victims or to repeat the abuse of existing victims.
Home Office Minister, Hazel Blears highlighted that the Government has introduced a new offence for ‘grooming’ where offenders prepare their victims for abuse.
Ms Blears stated, ‘As part of our commitment to protecting children on the internet we have introduced a new grooming offence in the Sex Offences Bill and made the maximum penalty for possession of child pornography five years. At the same time a Home Office task force has produced guidance for web, chat and messaging services and run public awareness campaigns to inform parents and children of the risks posed by child internet crime.’
The NCIS warned that the serious profits to be made from producing a child pornography website have attracted serious and organised criminals.
It claimed that whilst the introduction of new measures to tackle re-offending by sex offenders through treatment orders and the sexual offences register there is a need to treat these crimes as a priority. It must remain a priority because some child sex offenders deliberately set out to frustrate control measures, for example by non-registration, the use of false identities and by traveling abroad to offend.
The report highlights that most child sex offenders act alone and organised groups are very rare. However, online guides to all aspects of child sex are available on the internet, some with hyperlinks to bulletin boards and chatrooms, plus more secretive password-controlled areas where members pass information and images.
