Applying Offending Trajectory Analyses to Men Adjudicated for Child Sexual Exploitation Material Offenses

• Author: Kelly M. Babchishin,Angela W. Eke,Seung C. Lee,Nicole Lewis,Michael C. Seto
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548211040849
• Published date: 01 August 2022
• Date: 01 August 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2022, Vol. 49, No. 8, August 2022, 1095 –1114.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548211040849

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2021 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1095

APPLYING OFFENDING TRAJECTORY

ANALYSES TO MEN ADJUDICATED FOR CHILD

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION MATERIAL OFFENSES

KELLY M. BABCHISHIN

Carleton University

ANGELA W. EKE

Ontario Provincial Police

SEUNG C. LEE

Public Safety Canada

NICOLE LEWIS

Ontario Provincial Police

MICHAEL C. SETO

Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research

We applied offending trajectory analyses to 387 men adjudicated for child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) offenses.

After an average of 20 years, we found two trajectories of sexual offending and violent offending: one that peaked in late

adolescence and was associated with higher rates of crimes, and one that peaked in the 30s and was associated with a lower

rate of crime. We found four trajectories when modeling any crime. The findings highlight the heterogeneity of men with

CSEM offenses. Although lifelong patterns of numerous sexual crimes were uncommon, men with more sexual crimes had

greater indicators of sexual interest in children and a younger age of first contact with police. CSEM offenses were rarely the

first offense in their criminal trajectories. As such, early intervention targeting youth before they are further advanced in their

criminal careers may also reduce future CSEM offending.

Keywords: child pornography; child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) offending; indecent images; offending

trajectories

Child sexual exploitation material offenses (CSEM; legally referred to as child pornog-

raphy in Canada and United States) are now a substantial proportion of sexual crimes

(Adams & Flynn, 2017; Department of Justice Canada, 2019; McManus & Almond, 2014).

Systematic reviews of individuals with CSEM offenses show that these individuals are

generally less antisocial, have less criminal history, but have more issues in the sexual

AUTHORS’ NOTE: We would like to thank Detective Sergeant Bill Gofton, Detective Sergeant Kristina Truax,

and Staff Sergeant Tanya Sampson for their comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We also thank

Kimberly Mularczyk for coding some of the additional data for this study. The views expressed in this article are

that of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations. Correspondence concerning

this article should be addressed to Kelly M. Babchishin, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Carleton

University, 1125 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa, Ontario, K1S5B6, Canada; e-mail: Kelly.Babchishin@carleton.ca.

1040849CJBXXX10.1177/00938548211040849Criminal Justice and BehaviorBabchishin et al. / CSEM Trajectory

research-article2021

1096 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

domain (e.g., pedophilia) than men with contact sexual offenses (Babchishin et al., 2011,

2015). Individuals with both contact sexual offenses and CSEM offenses (mixed CSEM

offending) are riskier and reoffend more than individuals with exclusively CSEM offenses,

and no other types of sexual offenses (CSEM-exclusive offending; Babchishin et al., 2015;

Elliott et al., 2019; Henshaw et al., 2018).

There has been an influx of research on the characteristics of individuals with CSEM

offenses (Babchishin et al., 2018; Seto, 2013), and some research examining future offend-

ing and risk factors for recidivism among this group (e.g., Elliott et al., 2019; Seto & Eke,

2015; Wakeling et al., 2011). There has yet to be a study that applies offending trajectory

analyses to individuals with CSEM offenses, in line with developmental life course per-

spective on offending (see Lussier & McCuish, 2020). This is an important gap that could

highlight different criminal career pathways, including age of onset, generalization versus

specialization in offending, and escalation or desistance in offending.

Age and crime typically have a curvilinear relationship (Quetelet, 1831/1984) that

emerges in early adolescence, peaks in early adulthood, and reduces with time (Loeber &

Farrington, 2014), likely due to changes in the circumstances and resources of the individu-

als (e.g., psychological maturity, marriage, employment; Brandt, 2006; see Loeber &

Farrington, 2012, for review). Although the age–crime curve is a robust finding in criminol-

ogy, the peak has been found to vary based on offense type, cohort, and gender (Farrington,

1986; Kim & Bushway, 2018; Piquero et al., 2012). Some research has looked at the crimi-

nal trajectories of men who have sexually offended (e.g., Lussier et al., 2010), but there is a

lack of this kind of research with men who have committed CSEM offenses.

Criminal trajectory research of individuals who commit sexual offenses categorizes most

as generalists (both sexual and nonsexual offenses) and few as specialists (i.e., their crimi-

nal behaviors are restricted to sexual offenses; for example, Cale et al., 2016; Harris et al.,

2009; Lussier & Blokland, 2014; Soothill et al., 2000). There is also little consistency across

characteristics of sexual crime within an individual (Saramago et al., 2020). Rates of cross-

over in victim age for individuals with multiple sexual offenses range from 7% to 70%

(median [Mdn] = 36%, samples [k] = 10), rates of crossover in relationship with victim

(e.g., intrafamilial vs. extrafamilial) range from 7% to 80% (Mdn = 25%, k = 12), and rate

of victim gender crossover range from 9% to 36% (Mdn = 17%, k = 8; see Saramago et al.,

2020; see Saramago et al., 2020, for review1). The lack of consistency across type of sexual

offense and characteristics of sexual offenses suggests that men with CSEM offenses may

be similarly inconsistent.

Knowing more about the trajectory of offending within individuals who commit CSEM

offenses could inform management and intervention strategies. Trajectory studies suggest

at least two sexual offending trajectories, with crime rates peaking in adolescence and then

middle-adulthood, likely due to victim opportunity changes (from peers in adolescence to

children and their friends as middle-aged individuals; for example, Smallbone et al., 2008).

A proportion of individuals with CSEM offenses will exclusively commit CSEM offenses

(these offenses are mainly committed online with the material being accessible from a vari-

ety of devices) and, thus, a differential opportunity for access to in-person victims may be

less relevant to their offending trajectories. In addition, individuals with CSEM offenses are

different from those with typical contact sexual offenses (Babchishin et al., 2015) and, thus,

it would not be surprising if different offending trajectories were identified.