Evidence in Internet Paedophilia Cases

Without evidence, and in the absence of a confession, prosecutions do not often succeed. Where offences of child abuse are said to have taken place in and around the Internet, much of the evidence will be computer-derived. Typically it will have been obtained from personal computers and data media such as CD-ROMS, floppies and zip discs, from the accused’s Internet Service Provider and telephone company, and from the results of surveillance activities by investigators.

Computer-derived evidence has to have all the attributes of conventional evidence – it must be admissible, authentic, accurate and complete. But it also has certain qualities which create difficulties for those who wish to rely on it – it is very volatile, easily unintentionally altered without obvious trace, and it is highly novel, creating problems not only of explanation but also of forensic testing.
Potentially we face a dangerous combination: a set of offences around the sexual abuse of children which cause widespread repugnance and where there is great demand for determined law enforcement action; and uncertainty about the forensic quality of evidence that may be being adduced. Such combinations have been behind some of the great miscarriage of justice cases of the last twenty-five years.
Issues of evidence are also important if one wishes to design new criminal offences, for example to address the problem of “grooming” of child victims in Internet chat rooms.
In this article I hope to provide a guide for non computer-specialists of the techniques used to acquire and sustain evidence in these cases and the issues that can arise.

This article (Evidence in Internet Paedophilia Cases) exists in two forms, one specifically for lawyers and another for a broader audience of law enforcement, child protection officers and those concerned with public policy. This version is for the broader audience and is due to be published in book form in early 2003.