ANZAPPL Vic Annual Lecture - Prof. Jonathan Clough
Description
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.
About the speaker
Professor Jonathan Clough
Professor Jonathan Clough is a Professor of Law at Monash University and an internationally recognised researcher in cybercrime, with longstanding expertise in the legal and criminal justice responses to online child sexual exploitation. He is the author of Principles of Cybercrime (Cambridge University Press) and has led and contributed to major interdisciplinary research projects examining online child sexual exploitation, offender behaviour and criminal justice responses. His research brings together expertise from law, criminology, psychology and computer science, with a strong emphasis on international collaboration and practical impact. He currently leads an Australian Research Council Discovery Project examining the legal and practical challenges of investigating and prosecuting transnational online child sexual abuse. Professor Clough has provided expert advice to governments and international organisations, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and served on the Commonwealth Working Group of Experts on Cybercrime. He works closely with law enforcement agencies and policymakers to inform criminal justice policy and practice.
General event information
Time and location
This event will be held at the RACV City Club, 501 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia. We warmly invite you to join us for canapés and drinks from 5:30 pm. The lecture will follow at 6:45 pm.
Contact
Please email us at vic@anzappl.org for more information.
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