ZLOSTAVLJANJE I ISKORIŠTAVANJE DJECE U ONLINE OKRUŽENJU ANALIZA DOKUMENTACIJE OSUĐENIH POĆINITELJA U PROBACIJSKOM I ZATVORSKOM SUSTAVU U HRVATSKOJ
ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION: ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTATION OF CONVICTED PERPETRATORS IN THE PRISON SYSTEM AND PROBATION IN CROATIA

Summary/Abstract: Cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of children are the most extreme forms of child abuse in the online environment. There is a lack of research findings in this field given the ethical and operational challenges of conducting the researches within this category of crimes. Although national legislation still uses the terminology of child pornography in an online environment, appropriate terminology based on international standards will be used in this paper. A research presented in this paper is conducted as analysis of the documentation of convicted perpetrators of sexual abuse and child exploitation in an online environment. Documentation analysis of the prison system and probation offices in the territory of the Republic of Croatia of convicted perpetrators of the criminal offense of sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the online environment in the last 5 years was conducted. The aim of the research is to contribute to a better understanding of criminal offenses against children and minors in the field of sexual abuse and exploitation in the online environment in Croatia, based on the identified socio-demographic characteristics of perpetrators and the characteristics of criminal offenses and sanctions. Given that this is a descriptive research that serves to describe the characteristics of the population of perpetrators as well as the description of the characteristics of criminal offenses and sanctions, it is not necessary to set problems and hypotheses of the research. For the purpose of this research, a checklist for data collection was constructed. The analysis of the available documentation included: verdicts, decisions on parole, individual programs of probation offices, reports from criminal-misdemeanor records and socio-anamnestic data of prisons or penitentiaries of convicted offenders. The research followed ethical guidelines in conducting the research, consent for the research was obtained from the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration. Due to the confidentiality of data from the analysis, personal data were removed from the analysis. Given the lack of research in this area, the results are significant for a better understanding of the crimes of child abuse and exploitation in the online environment and the characteristics of perpetrators, crimes and sanctions imposed in this area. The results can be useful to experts in the justice sector and other practitioners in the field of child protection.

• Details
• Contents