Criminal Careers in Cyberspace: Examining Website Failure within Child Exploitation Networks

dc.contributor.authorWestlake, B., & Bouchard, M.
dc.date.accessioned2017-02-10T15:17:56Z
dc.date.available2017-02-10T15:17:56Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractPublically accessible, illegal, websites represent an additional challenge for control agencies, but also an opportunity for researchers to monitor, in real time, changes in criminal careers. Using a repeated measures design, we examine evolution in the networks that form around child exploitation (CE) websites, over a period of 60 weeks, and determine which criminal career dimensions predict website failure. Network data were collected using a custom-designed web-crawler. Baseline survival rates were compared to networks surrounding (legal) sexuality and sports websites. Websites containing CE material were no more likely to fail than comparisons. Cox regression analyses suggest that increased volumes of CE code words and images are associated with premature failure. Websites that are more popular have higher odds of survival. We show that traditional criminal career dimensions can be transferred to the context of online CE and constitute some of the key determinants of an interrupted career. (Author Abstract)en_US
dc.identifier.citationWestlake, B., & Bouchard, M. (2016). Criminal Careers in Cyberspace: Examining Website Failure within Child Exploitation Networks. Justice Quarterly, 33(7), 1154-1181.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=justice_pub
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/3212
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherJustice Quarterlyen_US
dc.subjectchild abuseen_US
dc.subjectCSECen_US
dc.subjectonline detectionen_US
dc.subjectpornographyen_US
dc.subjectinvestigationen_US
dc.subjectresearchen_US
dc.titleCriminal Careers in Cyberspace: Examining Website Failure within Child Exploitation Networksen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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