Inter-agency collaboration in preventing and responding to online child sexual abuse
julia Davidson
Middlesex University, London
Julia Davidson, PhD is Professor of Criminology at Middlesex University and is Co-Director of the Centre for Abuse and Trauma Studies (CATS www.cats-rp.org.uk) , she is also Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. She is one of the UKs foremost experts on online child victimisation. She plays an active role in key committees such as the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (Chairs the Evidence Group) and provides expert advice to organisations such as UNICEF , the US Sentencing Commission, the US Department of Justice and the UN ITU, she is a member of the Interpol Specialist Crimes against Children Group and of the Europol Cybercrime (EC3) Centre Academic Advisory Network. She is also a member of the Academic Advisory Board to the UK Inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse and has recently joined the Advisory Board of the International Criminal Court Hague Justice Portal. She has directed a considerable amount of research spanning 30 years in the criminal justice area and is known for her work with serious offenders, child victims of abuse the police and the judiciary, over the past 10 years her work has focused on online child abuse.
Abstract
The EC ISEC funded study ‘an exploration of policing and industry practice in the prevention of online child abuse’ has recently successfully concluded . The project was led by Professor Julia Davidson Middlesex... [ view full abstract ]
The EC ISEC funded study ‘an exploration of policing and industry practice in the prevention of online child abuse’ has recently successfully concluded . The project was led by Professor Julia Davidson Middlesex University, UK with partners from University of Tilburg, Netherlands; University of Kore, Enna, Italy; Cyberpsychology Research Centre, Royal College of Surgeons; and the Geary Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland; and FDE Institute of Criminology, Mantova, Italy. The project sought to draw together the evidence base on online offender and victim behaviour including :online grooming; possession, collection and distribution of indecent child images and the identification of policing and industry best practice in prevention. The project also sought to promote cooperation between law enforcement and industry in developing and disseminating good practice models in the area of online CSA. The project had the following primary and interdependent objectives, the Creation of victim typologies of cyber-grooming to assist with identification of vulnerable individuals and groups and the development of ‘Best Practice’ guidelines for industry and law enforcement in the identification and prevention of online childhood sexual abuse.
The research design incorporated a range of methods including : A series of industry case studies exploring child protection practice; national online police surveys in 4 EU countries and national online youth victimisation surveys in 3 EU countries; stakeholder interviews and depth interviews with young people victimised online. This paper will draw upon the findings from this study which suggest that children are most likely to seek support from peers when they are victimised and that practitioners often lack basic training in understanding and responding to online child sexual abuse. The findings also suggest that industry should play a much more central and proactive role in awareness raising with children and their families and in supporting practitioner training in this area.
Authors
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julia Davidson
(Middlesex University, London)
Topic Area
Emerging Issues
Session
Oral 31 » Session 1-Child Sexual Abuse (09:00 - Wednesday, 4th October, South America Room)
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