AoC Safe Parish

The Connection Between Child Pornography And Child Sexual Abuse

January 6, 2023

The FBI arrested a Texas pastor on child pornography charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The 56-year-old pastor has been "accused of knowingly searching for, downloading, distributing and possessing child pornography," according to the DOJ.

According to the criminal complaint filed against the defendant, he "downloaded and made child pornography available using BitTorrent." Investigators found two large computer hard drives that contained child pornography when they searched the defendant's home and vehicle.

If convicted, the defendant faces up to 20 years in prison. Julianna Russ "DOJ: Round Rock pastor arrested on child pornography charges" https://www.kxan.com/news/local/round-rock/doj-round-rock-pastor-arrested-on-child-pornography-charges/amp/ (Nov. 14, 2022).

Commentary and Checklist

According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) of the U.S. Department of Justice, “Many offenders who sexually abuse children also possess child pornography.” Child pornography is child sexual abuse material.

The OJJDP reports that in 2012, for example, more than 80 percent of men arrested for child sexual abuse also possessed child pornography, with 60 percent having pornographic images or video of children younger than five.

Sex offenders typically take their time to groom potential victims and their victims’ families. For this reason, safe adults should know the signs of grooming:

A desire to be near children as much as possible
A desire to be alone with one or small group of children without other adults present
A preference of being around children over adults
Frequently visits places where children are present
Loiters in places where children are nude, semi-nude or can be viewed without notice like bathrooms and locker rooms
Wants children to view them as preferable over other adults
A hyper-focus on a child or group of children
Talks, writes, and acts like a child
Expresses a fondness of things and activities children like, such as video games or social media chatrooms
Ignores boundaries including, but not limited to, boundaries meant to protect kids
Touches children inappropriately
Makes comments about the bodies or appearances of children
Provides gifts, money and favors to children
Provides alcohol and/or drugs to children
Produces child pornography
Sends sexual images of themselves or others to children
Solicits children and/or parents or guardians of children to produce child pornography
Takes and collects images of unrelated kids
Makes sexual comments about children
Speaks in sexually derogatory terms about children
Overcomplimentary of the one or a few kids
Frequently communicates with children in person or online without other adults present or knowing
Seeks relationships with children online