Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, this volume explores contemporary knowledge regarding the online sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, and challenges prevailing myths perpetuated by society and the media concerning this form of violence, the offenders, and their victims.

Drawing on a wealth of data collected from real cases in Quebec, the book introduces readers to explanatory models of online offending and victimization, the criminal trajectories and characteristics of online offenses, the individual attributes of offenders and victims, issues pertaining to virtual identities and anonymity preservation techniques, and considerations for prevention and intervention practices.

Online Sexual Crimes, Offenders, and Victims will be of interest to students, researchers, and professionals in the fields of criminal justice and public health, including criminologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, social workers, police investigators, probation officers, magistrates, and lawyers.

Autorentext

Sarah Paquette is senior lecturer in Forensic Psychology at the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Previously, she worked as a Scientific Researcher specializing in sexual violence within the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit of the Sûreté du Québec, Canada. Her research focuses on evidence-based approaches to preventing child exploitation and enhancing justice system responses.

Julien Chopin is senior criminology researcher at the University of Lausanne and an adjunct professor at Laval University and Simon Fraser University. He specializes in statistical methods for analysing criminal behaviour and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles on topics such as sexual offending, homicide, victimology, and criminal justice systems.

Francis Fortin is professor at the School of Criminology at the Université de Montréal and a researcher at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology (ICCC). He has significant experience as a criminology expert with the Sûreté du Québec, particularly as a criminal intelligence analyst and cyber-surveillance team leader.