Offenders' approaches to overcoming victim resistance in technology-assisted child sexual abuse

Katie Thomas; Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis; Pat Branigan; Elly Hanson

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106143

Offenders' approaches to overcoming victim resistance in technology-assisted child sexual abuse

Katie Thomas, Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis, Pat Branigan, Elly Hanson

NSPCC

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Perpetrators of technology-assisted abuse use an abundance of strategies to manipulate and sexually abuse children online, however victim resistance during and post abuse has yet to be explored in detail.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the strategies perpetrators use to overcome direct victim resistance and the strategies victims use to resist perpetrators' demands.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The sample was recruited through Childline, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). This consisted of 10 semi-structured interview transcripts of 1 male and 9 female victims of technology-assisted sexual abuse, who were aged between 9 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse (M = 13.09, SD = 2.0).

METHOD: This study qualitatively analysed secondary data collected by Hamilton-Giachritsis et al. (2020). The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis.

RESULTS: The thematic map consisted of two key themes and six sub-themes. Results identified how all perpetrators appeared to adapt their strategies of overcoming victim resistance using a variety of approaches. These ranged from isolating victims and depriving them of sleep, to more extreme approaches such as threats to share sexual images of the victims. Victims also used a range of strategies to resist and de-escalate the abuse, such as feigning ignorance and complying with some but not all requests.

CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the key strategies used by offenders to overcome victim resistance, and the strategies young people used to resist, de-escalate and end the abuse.

Original language	English
Article number	106143
Journal	Child Abuse and Neglect
Volume	141
Early online date	12 May 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106143
Publication status	Published - 31 Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Despite the growing wealth of knowledge surrounding online grooming tactics, limited literature has explored the strategies employed by victims in their attempts to end the abuse. Chiang and Grant suggested this might have resulted from research using decoy victim data instead of data featuring genuine victims ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; Schneevogt et al., 2018 ). This was supported by their study which examined online sexual abuse transcripts featuring an offender and their victims. These genuine transcripts featured victim resistance significantly more than transcripts featuring victim-decoys ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; Schneevogt et al., 2018 ). Congruent with these findings, victim resistance has predominantly been identified within the research that has analysed genuine victim and offender statements. Genuine victims displayed resistance using strategies such as a questioning the offender's identity and their motivation for ‘adding them’, or merely ignoring and blocking the offender ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; De Santisteban et al., 2018 ; Smahel et al., 2020 ; Webster et al., 2012 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023

Keywords

Child sexual abuse
Child sexual exploitation and abuse
Offender behavior
Online child sexual abuse
Online sexual grooming

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Psychiatry and Mental health
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106143Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Offenders' approaches to overcoming victim resistance in technology-assisted child sexual abuse",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: Perpetrators of technology-assisted abuse use an abundance of strategies to manipulate and sexually abuse children online, however victim resistance during and post abuse has yet to be explored in detail.OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the strategies perpetrators use to overcome direct victim resistance and the strategies victims use to resist perpetrators' demands.PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The sample was recruited through Childline, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). This consisted of 10 semi-structured interview transcripts of 1 male and 9 female victims of technology-assisted sexual abuse, who were aged between 9 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse (M = 13.09, SD = 2.0).METHOD: This study qualitatively analysed secondary data collected by Hamilton-Giachritsis et al. (2020). The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis.RESULTS: The thematic map consisted of two key themes and six sub-themes. Results identified how all perpetrators appeared to adapt their strategies of overcoming victim resistance using a variety of approaches. These ranged from isolating victims and depriving them of sleep, to more extreme approaches such as threats to share sexual images of the victims. Victims also used a range of strategies to resist and de-escalate the abuse, such as feigning ignorance and complying with some but not all requests.CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the key strategies used by offenders to overcome victim resistance, and the strategies young people used to resist, de-escalate and end the abuse.",

keywords = "Child sexual abuse, Child sexual exploitation and abuse, Offender behavior, Online child sexual abuse, Online sexual grooming",

author = "Katie Thomas and Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis and Pat Branigan and Elly Hanson",

note = "Funding Information: Despite the growing wealth of knowledge surrounding online grooming tactics, limited literature has explored the strategies employed by victims in their attempts to end the abuse. Chiang and Grant suggested this might have resulted from research using decoy victim data instead of data featuring genuine victims ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; Schneevogt et al., 2018 ). This was supported by their study which examined online sexual abuse transcripts featuring an offender and their victims. These genuine transcripts featured victim resistance significantly more than transcripts featuring victim-decoys ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; Schneevogt et al., 2018 ). Congruent with these findings, victim resistance has predominantly been identified within the research that has analysed genuine victim and offender statements. Genuine victims displayed resistance using strategies such as a questioning the offender's identity and their motivation for {\textquoteleft}adding them{\textquoteright}, or merely ignoring and blocking the offender ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; De Santisteban et al., 2018 ; Smahel et al., 2020 ; Webster et al., 2012 ). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023",

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AU - Thomas, Katie

AU - Hamilton-Giachritsis, Catherine

AU - Branigan, Pat

AU - Hanson, Elly

N1 - Funding Information: Despite the growing wealth of knowledge surrounding online grooming tactics, limited literature has explored the strategies employed by victims in their attempts to end the abuse. Chiang and Grant suggested this might have resulted from research using decoy victim data instead of data featuring genuine victims ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; Schneevogt et al., 2018 ). This was supported by their study which examined online sexual abuse transcripts featuring an offender and their victims. These genuine transcripts featured victim resistance significantly more than transcripts featuring victim-decoys ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; Schneevogt et al., 2018 ). Congruent with these findings, victim resistance has predominantly been identified within the research that has analysed genuine victim and offender statements. Genuine victims displayed resistance using strategies such as a questioning the offender's identity and their motivation for ‘adding them’, or merely ignoring and blocking the offender ( Chiang & Grant, 2019 ; De Santisteban et al., 2018 ; Smahel et al., 2020 ; Webster et al., 2012 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2023

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N2 - BACKGROUND: Perpetrators of technology-assisted abuse use an abundance of strategies to manipulate and sexually abuse children online, however victim resistance during and post abuse has yet to be explored in detail.OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the strategies perpetrators use to overcome direct victim resistance and the strategies victims use to resist perpetrators' demands.PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The sample was recruited through Childline, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). This consisted of 10 semi-structured interview transcripts of 1 male and 9 female victims of technology-assisted sexual abuse, who were aged between 9 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse (M = 13.09, SD = 2.0).METHOD: This study qualitatively analysed secondary data collected by Hamilton-Giachritsis et al. (2020). The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis.RESULTS: The thematic map consisted of two key themes and six sub-themes. Results identified how all perpetrators appeared to adapt their strategies of overcoming victim resistance using a variety of approaches. These ranged from isolating victims and depriving them of sleep, to more extreme approaches such as threats to share sexual images of the victims. Victims also used a range of strategies to resist and de-escalate the abuse, such as feigning ignorance and complying with some but not all requests.CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the key strategies used by offenders to overcome victim resistance, and the strategies young people used to resist, de-escalate and end the abuse.

AB - BACKGROUND: Perpetrators of technology-assisted abuse use an abundance of strategies to manipulate and sexually abuse children online, however victim resistance during and post abuse has yet to be explored in detail.OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the strategies perpetrators use to overcome direct victim resistance and the strategies victims use to resist perpetrators' demands.PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The sample was recruited through Childline, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). This consisted of 10 semi-structured interview transcripts of 1 male and 9 female victims of technology-assisted sexual abuse, who were aged between 9 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse (M = 13.09, SD = 2.0).METHOD: This study qualitatively analysed secondary data collected by Hamilton-Giachritsis et al. (2020). The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis.RESULTS: The thematic map consisted of two key themes and six sub-themes. Results identified how all perpetrators appeared to adapt their strategies of overcoming victim resistance using a variety of approaches. These ranged from isolating victims and depriving them of sleep, to more extreme approaches such as threats to share sexual images of the victims. Victims also used a range of strategies to resist and de-escalate the abuse, such as feigning ignorance and complying with some but not all requests.CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the key strategies used by offenders to overcome victim resistance, and the strategies young people used to resist, de-escalate and end the abuse.

KW - Child sexual abuse

KW - Child sexual exploitation and abuse

KW - Offender behavior

KW - Online child sexual abuse

KW - Online sexual grooming

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DO - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106143

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SN - 0145-2134

VL - 141

JO - Child Abuse and Neglect

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M1 - 106143

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Offenders' approaches to overcoming victim resistance in technology-assisted child sexual abuse

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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