Crimes envolvendo imagens de abuso e exploração sexual infantil em tempos de insegurança digital

Abstract

The subject of this article is crimes involving images of child sexual abuse and exploitation, as they have gained greater proportions in recent years due to the massification of the internet, which ultimately illustrates the need for strategies to protect children in the face of this reality. The study aims to identify the main causes of the growth in child sexual abuse and exploitation image crimes, in order to contribute to a critical analysis of this phenomenon. To this end, the literature and Brazilian legislation are used to characterize these forms of violence, as well as the reasons given by different authors for the growth in crimes involving images of child sexual abuse and exploitation. The strategies that have been planned and/or developed by governmental and non-governmental institutions for the digital safety of children on the internet are also mentioned. Methodologically, the study, based on the critical dialectic method, is the result of exploratory research, with a qualitative approach and which used bibliographical and documentary research as a data collection technique. The 7 results show that crimes involving images of child sexual abuse and exploitation are part of a large profitable market, with the exploiters being individuals who use the networks to commit the crime. Also noteworthy is the change in terminology for the phenomenon, that is, from “child pornography” to “crimes involving images of child sexual abuse and exploitation”, which, for their materialization, rely on the massification of the internet and its rapid expansion. along with an illegal market that commodifies children with the aim of making profits, illustrating a reality of capitalist society that is still difficult to accept. Finally, there was a lack of more specific legislation to combat crimes involving images of abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, especially with regard to their production in the virtual environment.