ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a proactive approach that aims at improving preventive strategies to protect children from sexual exploitation by online offences such as the consumption or distribution of child abusive images (incorrectly called child pornography) and offline contact or non-contact child sexual abuse offences. Prevention strategies include research on individuals at risk of committing first or persistent sexual offences against children, as well as offering preventive assessment and treatment. As it is acknowledged that many offenders against children remain undetected by legal authorities in the ‘Dunkelfeld’ (literally ‘dark field’) and are therefore not included in any official statistics, this chapter focuses on those who have a long-standing sexual interest in prepubescent and/or pubescent children and (1) admit online sexual and/or offline offending behaviour against children, but are unknown to the legal authorities, and (2) never offended. All individuals seek help in order to prevent initial or persistent sexual offences against children.
