Law Enforcement Challenges in Internet Child Pornography Crimes
Melissa Wells, David Finkelhor, Janis Wolak, Kimberly J. Mitchell · University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository (University of New Hampshire at Manchester) · 2004
Law enforcement agencies have been investigating child pornography crimes since the mid-1970s. Until the emergence of the Internet, it was believed that police were a step ahead of child pornography offenders. (See P. Jenkins, Beyond Tolerance: Child Pornography on the Internet (2001).) While there have been few empirical attempts to quantify the amount of child pornography on the Internet, there is a general consensus that the Internet has increased the accessibility and availability of this material. The Internet allows offenders to be deceptive about intentions, personal history, and even their true identities.