Trusted Adults Are Often the Offenders
Child sexual abuse material or CSAM isn’t created by accident—and it isn’t usually created by strangers. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission:
- 60% of CSAM offenders were related to or held a position of trust over the victim, such as a family member, teacher, coach, or babysitter.
- 40% had harmed more than one child—some abusing dozens or even hundreds. (1)
Predators often use their authority and access to groom children into silence. They might frame the abuse as a game, a secret, or even a sign of affection. And once they’ve recorded the abuse, they may use that material to threaten the child or coerce them into further acts.
CSAM—real and synthetic—violates not only children’s bodies but also their trust, safety, and autonomy.
How Predators Get Away With It
Offenders often go to great lengths to avoid detection. They may:
- Use encrypted apps and anonymous accounts
- Hide the abuse in plain sight by posing as caregivers or mentors
- Join online communities where CSAM is traded like currency
- Use fake personas to manipulate kids into self-producing explicit images (a form of sextortion)
Many also possess large collections of abuse materials. In some federal cases, offenders were found with tens of thousands of files.
Creating and sharing CSAM isn’t just one act of abuse—it’s a calculated pattern of exploitation.
SOURCE
- U.S. Sentencing Commission. FY 2019 CSAM Offender Statistics. https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/quick-facts/Child_Pornography_FY19.pdf