P084. Perpetrators of child pornography-related crime in the Czech Republic

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Abstract

Not only globally, but also in the Czech Republic, vice crime, which includes the issue of child pornography, is on the rise. The annual number of crimes related to child pornography committed (and convicted) in the Czech Republic is certainly not negligible. In order to make the legal regulation of child pornography offences as effective as possible, it is necessary to know who are the most frequent perpetrators of this type of offence. To this end, it is advisable to carry out research valid for the territory of the Czech Republic.

The aim of my research is to describe the typical perpetrators of child pornography-related crime. I consider this research to be desirable, firstly because the issue is very topical and the frequency of this crime is certainly not negligible, and secondly because the last time similar research was carried out in the Czech Republic by Institute for Criminology and Social Prevention almost 20 years ago, which is quite a long time.

I plan to conduct my research by analysing court decisions that have convicted an offender of a child pornography offence. These decisions will be monitored for predetermined elements (e.g. age, gender, criminal history, sexual preference disorder, relationship of the offender to the victim, etc.). The analysis of the decision should then be directed towards answering the research questions: 1) Who is typically the perpetrator of child pornography-related crime? and 2) Where do perpetrators most often commit this crime? Similarly, clearly defined hypotheses will be set out.

As regards the importance of the research, it should contribute in particular to the creation of an up-to-date typology of the current perpetrator of child pornography offences. It should also provide a comparison with the above-mentioned research conducted almost 20 years ago.

Author

• Soňa Pospíšilová, Masaryk University