Online paedophiles and the criminal justice experience: A qualitative perspective

Background: Online forums provide a conduit for anonymous communication within deviant subcultures, such as online paedophiles. This helps to build virtual communities of support. Objective: This study explores the experience of paedophiles in the criminal justice system as reported by those who experienced it on such a forum. By analysing and understanding the experiences disclosed by these individuals, we may be able to design more targeted prevention strategies and treatment options. Participants and Setting. Data are from one online forum discussion thread that includes 595 online forum posts by 212 unique usernames ranging over 11 years from 2012 to 2023. This forum claims to be an anonymous “therapeutic community” for paedophiles and does not allow the sharing of media (e.g., videos or images). Methods: This study uses an inductive approach to analyse the posts and discover the perspective and concerns of users who have experienced or are faced with prosecution and punishment. Results: Seven main themes emerged from the posts on this thread: support and praise, techniques of neutralisation, life in prison, anxiety and mental health, relationships, therapy, and difficulties post-prison. Conclusions: The forum provided an important source of support among a virtual community of people who shared similar sexual interest in children and feel rejected and demonised by mainstream society. The thread functioned like an “echo chamber” that reinforced a positive view of users' deviant interest. Individuals who had been prosecuted for their offending were returning to the forum, which may encourage reoffending. Parole boards and probation officers may need to consider limiting or restricting access to the Internet, particularly the Tor network, when setting release conditions. Implications for treatment focus on challenging the justifications and excuses used by paedophiles.