Crime script analysis for adult image-based sexual abuse: a study of crime intervention points for retribution-style offenders

Abstract

Objective This research uses crime scripts to understand adult retribution-style image-based sexual abuse (RS-IBSA) offender decision-making and offending in offline and online environments. We explain the crime-commission process of adult RS-IBSA and identify crime intervention points at eight crime script stages. Methods Publicly released court transcripts of adult RS-IBSA prosecution cases (n = 18) in New Zealand from 2015 to 2018 were utilised to examine the crime-commission process of adult RS-IBSA. We analysed the court transcripts thematically at offence-level prior to constructing the crime scripts. Findings The study identified four types of adult RS-IBSA acts including the non-consensual dissemination of a victim’s intimate images, violent cyber sextortion, covert intimate photography, and unauthorised access of a victim’s phone/media. From our analysis, we identified three script tracks and constructed three distinct crime scripts: (1) threats, sextortion and dissemination; (2) unauthorised access of a victim’s mobile device and dissemination; and (3) covert intimate filming. We highlight areas for potential intervention for law enforcement agencies and policy makers to increase deterrence and personal security in online and offline spaces. Conclusion Adult RS-IBSA occurs in a range of dating and domestic contexts. This study develops crime scripts for adult RS-IBSA and advances our understanding of how the Internet/smartphones/digital media translates into virtual crime scenes with opportunities for maximum harm infliction. We offer several policy implications including revising current RS-IBSA legislation and supporting law enforcement agencies with policing online and offline intimate relationship spaces through situational prevention.

Technology-facilitated abuse of young adults in the United States: A latent class analysis

“…Fourth, the expansive variety of technology-based platforms-email, instant messages, chat rooms, multiplayer online games, blogs, internet sites, social networks, and monitoring devices (Moriarty & Freiberger, 2008;Paat & Markham, 2021)-facilitate an ever-broader range of abuses. For example, individuals or groups may perpetrate unwanted contact, location tracking, impersonation, password breaches, bugging/spying, hyperintimacy, threat, extortion, sabotage, and invasion (Henry & Powell, 2016;Marcum et al, 2017;Moriarty & Freiberger, 2008;Nobles et al, 2014;O'Hara et al, 2020;Tokunaga & Aune, 2017). The growing possibilities and the range of digital devices, platforms and technologies connecting different aspects of daily life and human relationships speaks to the need for comprehensive TFA measurement.…”

Minor‐focused sextortion by adult strangers: A crime script analysis of newspaper and court cases

“…Crime script analysis has been applied to many types of crimes but has most frequently been applied to cybercrime as the Internet continues to transform the nature of offending (Dehghanniri & Borrion, 2019). In terms of sexual crimes, crime script analysis has been utilized to explore the processes of child sexual abuse (Leclerc, 2013; Leclerc et al., 2011), online exploitation (van der Bruggen & Blokland, 2021), IBSA (O'Hara et al., 2020), and sexual offenses generally (Beauregard et al., 2007; Cook et al., 2019).…”

Pornography Use and Sexual Scripts Among Men Who Have Committed Sexual Offenses

“…Scripting theory has been employed to understand the crime scripts that individuals use to commit their offenses (O’Hara et al., 2020), yet there is a lesser amount of extant research in criminology on how scripts are incorporated into sexual behavior, specifically for those who commit sexual offenses. The present study employed qualitative interview methodology with 101 individuals who were incarcerated for a sexual offense in a Midwestern minimum security prison to explore two central research questions regarding the role of pornography scripts in participants’ sexual activities: (1) How do individuals who have committed sexual offenses understand the norms and values inherent in porn ?…”