Online Sexual Offending Studies

Men convicted of child sexual exploitation materials (CSEM; legally referred to as child pornography in Canada) now represents a large proportion of new sex offending cases in corrections. With COVID, these rates have only increased as we are isolated in our homes.

The lab conducts studies to examine the characteristics of individuals who commit online sexual offences with a particular focus on CSEM offending. We also research factors and assessment tools to predict future offending amongst individuals with CSEM offending.

Most CSEM datasets started in the early 2000s and so we just now have the follow-up to examine factors that predict the minority of individuals with child pornography offences that cross over and commit contact sexual offences. In the next few years, my collaborators and I will be writing up some neat trajectory studies and examine the applicability of risk tools for this population.