Child Pornography Offenders and Risk Factors for Future Offences: Study Announced

For immediate release: April 28, 2005 (Toronto). A collaboration of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) will uncover why some men who use child pornography go on to commit sexual offences against children and examine what factors distinguish child pornography offenders who commit future offences from those who do not.

Dr. Michael Seto, CAMH Clinical Psychologist in CAMH's Law and Mental Health Program and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Criminology at the University of Toronto has been awarded $130,660 in research funding from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation to be used over the next two years.

"Identifying offenders who are at most risk is critical if the criminal justice system and mental health workers are to make the best decisions to protect children from harm," says Dr. Seto. "This includes assisting police officers in focusing on high-risk suspects when carrying out their investigations, assisting Crown attorneys in making their recommendations regarding prosecution, and assisting clinicians in matching assessment and treatment services."

With his co-investigator, Angela Eke, Research Coordinator with the Behavioural Sciences Section of the Ontario Provincial Police, and in partnerships with the Ontario Provincial Police, Toronto Police Service, Peel Regional Police Service, and York Regional Police Service, Dr. Seto and his team will collect data from police case files to better understand which individuals are most likely to commit such crimes. They will examine characteristics of child pornography offenders such as age, education, occupation, criminal offense histories, and details about child pornography that was seized by police.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is a Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization Collaborating Centre and a teaching hospital fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

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For more information or to schedule an interview with Dr. Michael Seto, please contact: Sylvia Hagopian, CAMH Media Relations Coordinator at (416) 595-6015.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Angela Eke, please contact: the Behavioural Sciences Section at (705) 329-6150.

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