The More Things Change: Online Child Exploitation and the Limits of Criminal Law

One of the most tragic consequences of the internet and digital technology has been their use in the sexual exploitation of children. Over three decades, the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material and the online grooming of children have grown rapidly and evolved constantly. These are truly borderless crimes: offenders, victims and evidence may be in different parts of the world.

The criminal law has responded with some of its most robust offences, revised repeatedly as the offending changes. Yet each new development tests those responses again. Drawing on four contemporary examples (organised dark-web networks, the live-streamed abuse of children overseas, AI-generated abuse material, and online groups that extort young people into sexual and self-harm), this lecture explores what the law can and cannot do, and why so much remains to be understood about both offenders and the harm to victims.

The lecture also asks a broader question. While the law's response to child sexual abuse material is extensive, its response to other forms of harmful online material, ranging from image-based abuse to graphic violence and animal cruelty, is reactive and piecemeal. What is the harm in such material, and what standards should we as a community expect online? These are questions the criminal law can raise but cannot answer alone.

Contact the host of ANZAPPL Vic Annual Lecture - Prof. Jonathan Clough

There were 0 errors found in the information you submitted: