Policing paedophilia: Assembling bodies, spaces and things

Abstract

In recent years, digital vigilantism, often dubbed 'paedophile hunting', has grabbed media headlines in the US, UK and Europe. Though this novel style of policing carries no legal or moral authority, it is nonetheless 'taking hold' within a pluralised policing landscape where its effectiveness at apprehending child sex offenders is capturing public attention. While the emergence of digital vigilantism raises normative questions of where the boundaries of citizen involvement in policing affairs might be drawn, this paper is concerned with firstly, how this kind of citizen-led policing initiative comes into being; secondly, how it emerges as an identifiable policing form; and thirdly, how it acquires leverage and makes its presence felt within a mixed economy of (authorised) policing actors, sites and technologies. The paper sets out a detailed case study of a 'paedophile hunter' in action, read through a provocative documentary film, first broadcast on mainstream UK television in October 2014. This lays the groundwork for thinking through the cultural relations of digital vigilantism, and how this proliferating mode of policing practice is engendered and mobilised through affective connectivities, performative political imaginaries and culturallymediated dialogical praxis. In seeking an entry point for theorising emergent policing forms and their connectedness to other policing bodies, spaces and things, the paper concludes with a thumbnail sketch of assemblage thinking.

Selfies, relfies and phallic tagging: posthuman part-icipations in teen digital sexuality assemblages

“…Fear and fetish dominate representations of the contemporary sexual landscape for girls, in what we have theorized elsewhere as the phallocentric stolen becomings of the sexual girl-child (Renold and Ringrose 2013). Anxiety and fear manifest over the premature hyper-sexualisation of girls (Egan, 2013, Renold, Ringrose andEgan 2015) and in the contemporary and historical sexual abuse scandals via an omnipotent predatory man/becomingman (fleshed and digital) who traverses past, present and future (Campbell 2016;Jewkes and Wykes 2012). These fears are escorted by the fetishization of the DIY (do-it-yourself) body beautiful that demands, commodifies and celebrates constant modification to an ever-morphing ideal type (Lazar, 2011).…”

Claims-making, child saving, and the news media

“…Haggerty, 2003) and stressing the responsibility of non-state actors to work in concert with or sometimes in place of state authorities to police the internet. Furthermore, the construction of the problem of online sexual exploitation continues to reinforce well established stereotypes of sex offenders as dangerous predatory strangers, monsters in our midst, and modern day bogey men (Campbell, 2016;Hooper and Kaloski, 2006;Kitzinger, 1999;Kohm and Greenhill, 2011;Schofield, 2004;Silverman and Wilson, 2002;Thomas, 2005). The article concludes by reflecting on the implications of this for the development of criminal justice policy directed toward child sexual exploitation as well as broader issues surrounding the policing of internet and communications technology by private and public interests.…”

“…I present an exploratory case study of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P), a registered charitable organization headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada which operates several subsidiary entities including Cybertip.ca, Canada’s official national reporting ‘tip line’ for all matters related to online child pornography and child exploitation. Elaine Campbell (2016: 346) points out that “paedophilia opens up an expansive space for governance, and a diversification of the means and methods of responding to it.” Accordingly, C3P and Cybertip.ca operate at the nexus of public and private spheres and work by facilitating networks and partnerships between government, police, private corporations, and the general public. This typifies a “joined-up approach” to policing “encompassing a wide range of different bodies” (Jewkes and Andrews, 2005: 42–43).…”

Technology as a Disruptive Agent: Intergenerational Perspectives

“…Growing up, parents unremittingly advise children not to open doors to strangers, yet the widespread, under-monitored nature of technology provides the platform for children to open that very door, to strangers on the internet. Online paedophiles are at epidemic levels (Campbell 2016), presenting an array of challenges for communities and parents alike. Recent trends on social media have witnessed a spike in online vigilantism with groups targeting online paedophiles increasing to more than 75 in the UK (Hamilton & Swerling 2018).…”