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A Discourse Analysis of Clear-Web Paedophile Communities / Rosie Marsh-Rossney
Swansea University Author: Rosie Marsh-Rossney
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PDF | E-Thesis – open access
Copyright: The author, Rosie Marsh-Rossney, 2024. Licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC) license. Third party content is excluded for use under the license terms.
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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.67909
Abstract
Child sexual abuse and exploitation is one of the most paramount issues facing our society. This global problem has been exacerbated in the digital age through increased access to technology, anonymity tools, and platforms enabling communication between paedophiles and children. These offenders also...
| Published: |
Swansea, Wales, UK
2024
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| Supervisor: | Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67909 |
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| Abstract: |
Child sexual abuse and exploitation is one of the most paramount issues facing our society. This global problem has been exacerbated in the digital age through increased access to technology, anonymity tools, and platforms enabling communication between paedophiles and children. These offenders also congregate in online communities with likeminded individuals to interact with each other and trade child sexual abuse material. Despite their central role in facilitating offending, online paedophile communities remain grossly understudied, particularly using linguistic methods. Thus, this research aims to increase understanding of how these communities are formed, maintained, and participated in – as well as how members construct their identities and express their attitudes to each other. The dataset, provided by UK-based law enforcement, comprised over 100,000 words of approximately 1,600 offenders interacting in clear-web social media chatlogs. A qualitative discourse analysis approach was employed: beginning with a thematic analysis and followed by a computer-mediated discourse analysis within these themes to address the study’s aims. The results revealed that offenders gained access to thriving online networks of paedophiles, trading abusive material; discussing or planning crimes; sharing advice on security measures; teaching technological skills; and forming relationships with one another. Offenders constructed their identities as paedophiles and community members through displays of knowledge about offending, using community-specific language, adhering to behavioural etiquette, and asserting their sexual interests. The groups also provided a supportive echo-chamber that reinforced cognitive distortions and proliferated a pro-paedophilia ideology. This thesis provides a novel insight into the private interactions of paedophiles on the clear-web through the deployment of linguistic methods. The findings support the suggestion that membership of online paedophile communities may be an aggravating factor in offenders posing an increased threat of harm to children. |
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| Item Description: |
ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0743-3514 |
| Keywords: |
discourse analysis; computer mediated discourse analysis; forensic linguistics; identity; child sex offenders; paedophiles; online communities; ideology |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
ESRC DTP |