Online child sexual exploitation: An investigative analysis of offender characteristics and offending behavior

- 251 resolved FBI online child sexual exploitation cases were analyzed.
- Offenders were all male, predominately Caucasian with diversity in age, occupation, and marital status.
- Many offenders had committed both child pornography and contact offenses.
- Law enforcement should consider other types of sexual offending in Internet-related child sex crime investigations.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) III - Crimes Against Children analyzed 251 resolved FBI online child sexual exploitation investigations which included possessing, distributing, or producing child pornography, traveling to have sex with a minor, and/or contact offending against a child(ren). Analysis revealed that the all male convenience sample was predominately Caucasian with relative diversity in age, occupation, and marital status. The majority did not have a prior criminal arrest history. In addition many offenders exhibited a pattern of behavior involving both child pornography material and/or contact offending indicative of their sexual preference for children. The co-occurrence of offending behaviors among this sample is consistent with the characteristics of the preferential child sex offender, a sub-type of an investigative model initially developed by the FBI in the early 1980s. The authors highlight the motivations and behaviors among individuals who sexually abuse children, and how distinctions can impact the investigations and prosecutions of these types of offenders.