Proposal for internet porn amnesty fuels debate on abusers’ treatment

A charity’s proposal to introduce an amnesty from prosecution for
people who download child pornography has met with a predictable
reaction from the tabloids.

What was intended as a way of encouraging people concerned about
their use of the internet to seek help was branded as leniency for
those who commit such crimes, giving rise to fears that people who
download child pornography would effectively escape punishment.

Architect of the proposal Donald Findlater, deputy director at the
child protection charity the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, is dismayed
by the reaction.

Far from letting those who download child pornography “get away
with it”, Findlater believes his proposal would allow people who
are worried about being tempted to download images from the
internet, or may have already done so, to hand over their computer
hard drives to the police for analysis. In return they would be
expected to sign up for treatment and would also find their name
placed on the sex offenders register and receive a caution.

Fear of public exposure through the humiliation of a court
experience and the potentially devastating effect it can have often
makes people who want to seek help reluctant to come forward.
Findlater believes that by taking away that threat more people
might be willing to address their problem early on.

He says: “We have had calls to our helpline from people who are
concerned about their behaviour but at the moment we do not have a
response and that is a lottery for children. We could help the
police. People could bring in their computers and we could provide
the treatment. Preventive treatment services do not exist and we
need to start developing them now.”

Currently, treatment is only available to sex offenders through the
probation service once they have been convicted of abusing a child.
Even then the offender must have served a sentence of two years or
more before help is provided.

Findlater, former director of the Wolvercote Clinic, the only
treatment centre for sex offenders before it closed last year, says
just 5 per cent of people who abuse children will be convicted, and
of those many will have short sentences, which means that they are
not entitled to treatment. He mentions two cases in Surrey where
men were given jail terms of just four and six months.

Most child sex offenders are left untreated and those people who
are already using child pornography may also be going down a path
that leads them to abuse children. It is these people who the
proposal is designed to help by plugging the huge gap that
exists.

But while the scheme has laudable aims, some wonder if it is not
over-optimistic to expect people to voluntarily hand over their
computers, especially as one of the conditions is that they will be
placed on the sex offenders register.

Sex crime expert Ray Wyre questions whether people will be willing
to do this, especially when considering the experience of the
Operation Ore police investigation into child pornography on the
internet. In some cases the operation led to the removal of
parents, perhaps unnecessarily.

He says: “What may have been forgotten is that people have been
moved from their homes. This scheme may trigger social services
involvement that could mean families being broken up.”

Wyre has called for research to be done in to what he says are
serious inconsistencies between police forces in the way they have
pursued Operation Ore investigations.

“I know of a case where a social worker told a woman she should
throw her husband out because he was a risk. He, like many others,
was removed from the family home for more than a year and returned
after he was deemed not to be a risk. Families have been devastated
by this type of intervention.”

Despite his reservations, Wyre believes the concept of a helpline
for people who are worried about their behaviour is a good
one.

The issue has become even more emotive following the conviction of
Ian Huntley for the murders of 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and
Jessica Chapman, a case that highlighted problems of keeping tabs
on those who pose a danger to children.

Findlater’s proposal has led to a public disagreement between
children’s charities Barnardo’s and the NSPCC over whether the idea
has merit. Meanwhile, the NCH warns that an amnesty will be seen as
protecting and supporting the perpetrators rather than the victims
of the crime. The charity’s internet safety adviser John Carr
concedes it could be part of a wider programme of solutions.

“The fact that child porn offences are committed by such a wide
spectrum of offenders means it is unlikely there will be one
effective solution for tackling this problem. In some cases…if it
meant a potential abuser identified himself, was immediately placed
on the sex offenders register and agreed to specialist counselling
and treatment, then it would be in children’s best
interests.”

Clearly the police do need all the help they can get in tackling
the rise of child pornography on the internet. Eighteen months
after the police launched Operation Ore to investigate a list of
7,000 people known to have paid to view child pornography,
Findlater estimates that around one in seven has been
prosecuted.

The operation has been beset by problems. Amazingly, given the task
facing them, none of England and Wales’s 43 police forces have been
given extra resources to do the work needed and most are struggling
to get convictions because they are ill-equipped to pursue
investigations.

So far the police response to Findlater’s proposal has been muted.
The Association of Chief Police Officers’ spokesperson on combating
child abuse on the internet, chief constable Stuart Hyde, says the
plan will be considered.

“While anything that can be done to protect children should always
be considered, any such proposal needs to look beyond the removal
of hardware at the potential for such individuals to have been
involved in actual child abuse. This proposal will need the most
careful consideration.”

Not least among the issues to be examined are those of resources.
Despite the high priority given to child protection within the
police following the Victoria Climbi’ Inquiry, the failure to
provide extra cash for Operation Ore plus the low priority of child
protection within the national policing plan – it is ranked between
roads and terrorism – suggests a lack of commitment to the issue by
central government.

Against this record of underinvestment it is hard to imagine that
the government would provide the necessary resources to make
Findlater’s proposals workable.

Findlater says that the system could be up and running within three
months but admits other resources will have to be found and there
will be inevitable questions about who will pay for the expansion
of sex offender treatment services that will focus on prevention.

Findlater warns that the public has no idea know how big the
problem of child pornography is.

“Frankly we are not keeping ahead of the internet. Most will never
be convicted or put before a court. Agencies need to start talking
about this and start finding some creative and new answers,” he
adds.