Offense-Supportive Cognitions Expressed by Men Who Use Internet to Sexually Exploit Children: A Thematic Analysis

• Author: Sarah Paquette,Franca Cortoni
• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20905757
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20905757

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(6-7) 647 –669

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20905757

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Article

Offense-Supportive

Cognitions Expressed by

Men Who Use Internet to

Sexually Exploit Children:

A Thematic Analysis

Sarah Paquette1,2 and Franca Cortoni3

Abstract

Although offense-supportive cognitions are related to the maintenance of contact

sexual offending behavior, it is unknown whether this finding also applies to online

sexual offending behavior. A few studies have examined the cognitions of men

convicted for using child sexual exploitation material, but findings remain limited due

to important methodological limitations. Furthermore, fewer studies have investigated

the cognitions of men who use the internet to solicit sexual activities with children.

The objective of this study was to examine the nature of the cognitions that support

online sexual offending against children. The content of police interviews was analyzed

using a thematic analysis to identify the cognitive themes present in the offense-related

views expressed by 20 men who consumed child sexual exploitation material, 15 who

sexually solicited children, and 18 who committed both types of online offenses.

Results revealed eight cognitive themes that reflected four underlying themes related

to interpersonal relationships, the sexualisation of children, perceptions of the self,

and perceptions of the virtual environment. Findings indicate that while the cognitive

themes of the three groups are similar, their specific content varies according to the

types of offenses. Implications for future research are discussed.

Keywords

child sexual exploitation material user, child luring, sexual solicitation of children,

offense-related cognitions, cognitive distortions

1Université Laval, Québec City, Quebec, Canada

2Sûreté du Québec, Montréal, Canada

3Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Sarah Paquette, Internet Child Exploitation Unit, Sûreté du Québec, 1250 Nobel, Boucherville, Quebec,

Canada J4B 5H1.

Email: sarah.paquette.1@ulaval.ca

905757IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20905757International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyPaquette and Cortoni

research-article2020

648 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 66(6-7)

It is well established that men who sexually abuse children exhibit cognitions that sup-

port or excuse their offending behavior. While some set of cognitions expressed by

these men, like the denial or minimisation of the offenses—often conceptualized as

post hoc justifications—appear unrelated to the maintenance of sexual offending

behaviors (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005), other types—frequently described as

offense-supportive cognitions—have a small but significant association with sexual

reoffending (Helmus et al., 2013). Given this association, much research has focused

on developing a better understanding of the nature of these cognitions among men

who have committed contact sexual abuse of children.

With the advent of the internet, there has been an emerging empirical interest on men

who use virtual platforms to sexually exploit children. Comparative meta-analyses

indicate that the offense-related cognitions of these men differ, at least at some level,

from those of men who commit offline contact sexual abuse of children (Babchishin

et al., 2011, 2015). This finding suggests that the knowledge on the offense-related

cognitions of men with contact offenses may not apply to men with online sexual

offenses. Although there have been initial investigations of such cognitions, this field of

research is still in its infancy and suffers from several limitations due to, among others,

methodology limitations, such as using information based on knowledge obtained from

men convicted of only contact offenses. Thus, the thematic nature of the online offenses-

related cognitions remains unclear. To fill this gap in the scientific literature, this study

examines the themes found among the offense-related views of men with online sexual

offenses against children.

Cognitions That Support the Sexual Abuse of Children

Abel et al. (1984) introduced the concept cognitive distortion into the field of sexual

abuse to describe cognitions that minimize and justify offending behavior of men who

had sexually abused children. Since then, the term has been generically used by

researchers to refer to various and very different cognitive phenomena such as atti-

tudes, beliefs, defensiveness, justifications, rationalisations, and denial and minimisa-

tion (Abel et al., 1989; Blumenthal et al., 1999; Bumby, 1996; Murphy, 1990; Neidigh

& Krop, 1992; Rogers & Dickey, 1991; Ward et al., 1997). Offense-supportive cogni-

tions can be understood as “cognitions that most probably contribute to the facilitation

and the maintenance of sexual offending or general criminality” (Ó Ciardha & Gannon,

2011, p. 131).

Ward (2000; Ward & Keenan, 1999) hypothesized that men who commit sexual

offense hold an interrelated set of specific cognitions that include entitlement, chil-

dren as sexual objects, nature of harm, dangerous world, and uncontrollability, which

he calls “implicit theories” that reflect the way they perceive themselves, others

(including their victims), and the world, and support and contribute to these men’s

sexual offending behavior. Various independent studies, using either psychometric

questionnaires or interviews, have since found similar, although not identical, themes

in the cognitions of men who engaged in contact sexual offending against children

(Mannix et al., 2013; Marziano et al., 2006; Paquette et al., 2014). The picture,