NCJ Number
87733
Journal
Police Magazine Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1983) Pages: 52-60
Date Published
1983
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Harsh Federal and State laws have stemmed the tide of commercial child pornography, but secretive networks of pedophiles still sexually exploit children by producing and circulating their own pornographic material.
Abstract
A recent Federal study confirmed a steep decline in commercially available child pornography across the United States. Factors contributing to this decline are new laws, stricter enforcement, the recent banning of 'kiddie porn' in Sweden and Denmark, and the tendency of juries to convict child pornographers more readily than adult pornographers. Still, the number of children involved in pornography is believed by State law enforcement officials to have increased in recent years largely due to the making of 'homemade' pornography by close-knit networks of pedophiles. Such pornography is believed to compose about 90 percent of the current market of child pornography. Police report that the typical pedophile has a position in the community that brings him into contact with children, whom he manipulates for his own sexual ends. Pedophiles do not advertise the sale of their pornography in commercial magazines but through letters and newsletters circulated among fellow pedophiles. Local police depend upon tips from parents, neighbors, and postal and customs inspectors to identify persons in the underground child pornography network. Mailing lists obtained from pedophiles can also be valuable leads.