Abstract

As internet access has become ubiquitous, law enforcement, child protection agencies, and clinical services have observed an exponential increase in the number of individuals committing online sexual offences involving children. Initially conceptualised as an ‘old crime, new technology’ phenomenon, the unique characteristics of this population were poorly understood, and there was a lack of standardisation in the treatment approaches across offender management services.

Dr Hannah Merdian (University of Lincoln, UK) has co-founded onlinePROTECT, a research and applied outreach programme to support the aim of eliminating child sexual exploitation on the internet through research, training, consultation, and inter-agency collaboration, working alongside a team of collaborators and researchers. Hannah will provide an overview of the onlinePROTECT research programme, and outline some of onlinePROTECT’s stakeholder engagement, working with police, child protection agencies, and offender treatment providers.