Assessing the risk of users of child sexual exploitation material committing further offences: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

The aims of this scoping review were to determine: how practitioners assessed the risk from CSEM users; the tools commonly used; the populations these tools were designed for and the evidence-base for them. Digital databases and websites were examined to identify sources published in English from January 2000 onwards. In total 36 studies were identified conducted in the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain. Few studies examined or evaluated risk assessment practice. Most tools have not been validated with CSEM users, nor females, ethnic minority populations, or individuals with Autism, mental health conditions or disabilities. Although some tools could be used cautiously, with men convicted of both CSEM and contact sexual offences, they should be used only to rank individuals, as normed probabilities are not applicable. These findings pose challenges for professionals; work is urgently needed to develop and appropriately validate tools for this population.

Practice impact statement: This scoping review provides practitioners internationally, in particular those responsible for the risk assessment or case prioritisation of CSEM users, with an overview of the international, English language, evidence-base for risk assessment tools and processes for CSEM users. It should assist practitioners in the identification of the tools and processes that are most appropriate for their work and provide information that will be useful in reports, e.g. to justify the use of the tool(s) and note the limitations. Since the review highlights the urgent need for the development of and validation of tools, particularly those with dynamic variables, it is also important for practitioners, managers, and researchers responsible for developing tools and processes in this area.

KEYWORDS:

• Risk assessment
• child sexual exploitation material
• child pornography
• child abuse image
• internet sexual offending
• IIOC

Acknowledgements

I would like to sincerely thank all the researchers and authors who answered my calls for assistance with the review, sharing their work and that of others.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This was 48.7% of the men who were originally invited to complete the study and 82.7% of those who began the survey.

2 The measure has since been updated (OGRS4; Howard, 2015).

3 Scores from STABLE 2000 can be adapted to STABLE 2007 by dropping and modifying items (see Hanson et al., 2007).

Additional information

Funding

This scoping review was commissioned and funded by GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters, which is the UK's intelligence, security and cyber agency), who reviewed the protocol, independently screened the titles and abstracts of 10% of the sources, reviewed a draft report and approved the final report.