Online Child Sexual Exploitation: Policing and Prosecuting Child Pornography in Cyberspace

The advent of information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly the internet, has created immense mediums for the increasing availability and accessibility of child pornography. With the internet and the diverse forms of ICT, child pornography has escalated and become one of the most serious crimes in cyberspace. While child pornography is far from being a new phenomenon, its migration onto cyberspace is a contemporary element which has presented a whole range of new problems for law making and enforcement. This situation has created a novel form of child pornography, as well as a new dimension of child sexual abuse distinct from the traditional forms of child abuse. The nature of cyberspace, evident in jurisdictional issues, law making and enforcement, further adds to the difficulties of effectively prosecuting child pornography in this emergent world without borders. This article examines child pornography as a cybercrime. It evaluates the nature, characteristics and effects of child pornography and discusses the phenomenon as a contemporary dimension of child sexual abuse