Free Essay: Sexual Exploitation-Child Pornography

Discuss at least two (2) factors that make a child more vulnerable to this type of exploitation? For example, why would an offender select this particular child v. some other child?

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Child pornography entails child sexual exploitation, and it has been defined by federal law as any visual depiction form of sexual conduct that explicitly involve the minors. The child pornography image entail child sexual abuse. As a result, the federal law prohibits the child pornography production, distribution as well as importation as they have increased in the modern society. Child pornography is used to describe the form of sexual exploitation in children as well as the real horror the children face every year. Child pornography production has increased thus creating a record of child sexual abuse with most of these images found on the internet for free (Es, van, 2016). The dissemination of the child sexual abuse materials online contributes to the continued victimization of the children. Experts and victims of child pornography have agreed to the fact that child pornography contributes to the suffering of children. Various factors make children more vulnerable to child pornography with some children more at risk of becoming victims as compared to others.

One of the factors that contribute to child pornography that exposes some child to the risk of being victims as compared to others includes the socioeconomic status of the child. The socioeconomic status entails a variety of risk factors in the families, communities as well as the societies that create vulnerability. Children that are at high risk of child pornography include the runaways, those children that come from the dysfunctional families as well as the homeless children, the orphans and the migrant children.

Besides, the children from ethnic minorities and out of school children are affected. It has been found that children involved in various forms of child labor such as child domestic labor, street vending, as well as scavenging, are at high risk of being victims of sexual exploitation. Others include the adolescents who have been trafficked or migrated on their own. The common family-related risks factors include poverty, absence of the parental figures as well as the history of sexual abuse within families. Also, tolerance of prostitution at the community level and the existence of sex tourism has contributed to the increased risk of child pornography victims.

Another factor includes the advanced technology as well as internet in the digital society. The digital technology has led to the explosion of child pornography in the market with images on child sexual exploitation readily available through every technology such as mobile apps, the gaming devices as well as the websites for social networking. The child pornography on the social networking platforms give the offenders a chance to connect and share their sexual exploitation interests as well as the desires and experiences for abusing the children. They also sell, share and trade the child pornography images. The online communities have therefore promoted communication as well as collaboration between children offenders, thus leading to shared sexual interest in children. As a result, the advancement in technology has helped erode the shame that accompanies the behavior of child pornography that involves physical as well as psychological damage caused to the child victims.

Since the information and communication technology has become an integral part of modern life, it has contributed to the social development of the children. As a result, they expose the children to the various forms of sexual exploitation that are evolving in the community with the increased production as well as the distribution of child sexual abuse materials by the perpetrators. Apart from the circulation of the child sexual abuse materials, other practices such as sexting which entail self-production and sharing of sexualized messages have increased the risk of sexual abuse and exploitation of the children.

Provide at least two (2) strategies that could prevent this type of victimization from occurring.

Preventing child pornography from occurring requires embracing various strategies both at the Community and national level. Firstly, there is a need to create awareness on the issue of sexual exploitation, especially child pornography. Through moral guidance and advice, the people in the community will feel comfortable discussing issues of sexual exploitation, thus ready to use the information on sexual abuse to provide guidance capable of breaking the taboos and open up a conversation about sexual abuse and exploitation. Creating awareness, therefore, can prevent children from being exploited.

The process of raising awareness entails planning a number of public talks accompanied by small group meetings that involve both children and adult members with open and safe discussion on sexual exploitation. It has that ability to help parents, as well as the caregivers, understand the violence against children and adolescents as it teaches them on how to prevent physical, sexual as well as emotional abuse (Harrison, 2015). It helps address issues of parent neglect as well as family violence, bullying as well as online sexual exploitation which are the common risks factors that contribute to child exploitation.

Creating awareness on child pornography helps oppose traditions that expose children to harmful practices such as early marriage of children. Religious communities should focus on raising awareness to prevent children from becoming offenders. The offending thus find a safe place to share their struggles. Raising awareness on online child exploitation prevents victimization of children as well as viewing of the child sexual abuse material. Besides, creating awareness on actions of crime action and the potential repercussion such as breaking a culture of silence and communicating the cases in the Community can prevent the victimization from occurring.

Use of religious assets is another strategy for preventing the victimization from occurring. The religious communities around the globe have unique assets that can contribute to preventing child sexual exploitation from occurring. The assets can be used for preventing and addressing child sexual exploitation. The spiritual leaders offer the emotional, spiritual as well as physical support and care of the believers while encouraging them to follow the right directions (Houtepen et al., 2014). The moral assets as a religious asset are uniquely positioned, thus influence mutual understanding as well as respect for human dignity within the Community.

Through religious assets, the followers are guided to follow the right direction with the resources helping them deal with the pain, loss and gain joy. It has the ability to harness the behavioral change through words and actions. Besides, the religious assets work to develop the recognized standards basing on religious teaching as well as established moral consensus that protect the children (Seto et al., 2017). Through extensive networks, religious leaders mobilize believers to seek support while engaging them in seeking justice.

The social assets that comprise of religious entities have social structures and represent the significant channels for communicating the issues of sexual abuse and child pornography. As a result, religious believers function as agents of change in protecting children from sexual exploitation while promoting collective well-being. Religious communities influence legitimacy, thus help in overcoming barriers and shaping new behaviors and social norms while curbing suspicious behavior. The respect of the spiritual assets enables the communities to speak out for justice and protection of the children, thus developing linkages as well as strategies to tackle the particular challenges from the global perspective.

Finally, describe at least two (2) strategies for reintegrating these victims back into the community. For example, what do we do with these child victims to help them move forward from the experience of exploitation?

Integrating the victims of sexual abuse, child pornography back into the Community and allow them to move forward from the experience of exploitation is a difficult task and requires effective strategies. Restorative justice is one strategy of integrating the victims into the Community. The restorative justice focuses on the victims’ rights as well as needs and the offenders’ motivation while elaborating the roles of the local community (Nair, 2018). Also, the restorative justice entails effective approaches for mediation between the victims and the offenders basing on accountability and support.

The approach is more significant than the punitive approach as it is based on the legal principle and takes place in the process of the criminal justice and forms an integral part of reintegrating the victims in the community. Restorative justice involves the victim as well as other individuals harmed from sexual exploitation and enable everyone affected by sexual exploitation, especially child pornography, from repairing and finding a positive way forward.

The approach facilitates the efficient approach for preventing harm while ensuring the people in the community are responsible for actions and choice of life being aware that they can be held accountable for their choices (Seto et al., 2017). Use of restorative justice has been embraced as an alternative to the traditional justice option with the growing evidence showing it as an essential approach to integrate the affected individuals back into the Community.

Through its specific conditions as well as programs, it improves the well-being of the victims while ensuring they are satisfied. Some of the best practices found from the therapeutic approach are used for survivors of sexual violence both children and adults with the perpetrators agreeing to stay away from victims and more ready to offer apologies. Restorative justice contributes to other justice policies and programs that promote the well-being of the victims.

Another strategy is ensuring that the relevant services for the medical care, social integration as well as physical and psychological recovery of the victims are accessible and free of cost for all children who need them. The individuals providing the services have to be certified. Developing a comprehensive continuum of care and support for the victims with close monitoring as well as reintegration services help the victims integration in the Community. Besides, there is a need for careful compensation for each victim based on the various situations and the prospect for life.

Providing compensation in the form of financial support as well as education could benefit the victim in the long term. Improving the chances of the victims to receive compensation base on identifying and attaching the defendant's assets in the amend money laundering, thus allowing the victims to be paid. Enforcement of the compensation measures in line with the international standards ensures remedies are granted (Seto & Eke, 2015). Besides, it will enable investigation and prosecution of the offender who also serves as the mean of rehabilitation of the victims who require justice and prevention of other similar offences such as deterrence—the measures all individuals to demonstrate political will, thus ensuring accountability for offences and fight against impunity.

References

Es, van, L. (2016). Virtual child pornography as potential remedy against child sexual abuse. MaRBLe, 6(3), 1123-1282. https://doi.org/10.26481/marble.2015.v6.374Harrison, K. (2010). Managing high risk sex offenders in the community.