Child and Adolescent Sexual Crimes 'Non-Face-to-Face' Surge... Production and Distribution of Sexual Exploitation Materials Up 62%

Sharp Increase in Convictions for Production and Distribution of Sexual Exploitation Material in 2020
Most Offenses Involve Perpetrators Filming and Producing, with 15.5% Experiencing Distribution Damage
Online-Mediated Sexual Crimes Lead to Rape and Prostitution Offenses
Prison Sentences for Sexual Exploitation Material Increased from 16.7 Months in 2014 to 39.7 Months in 2020

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Digital sex crimes targeting children and adolescents, such as filming and distributing sexual exploitation materials, have increased significantly. The most common type of crime involves accessing victims through internet platforms like random chat apps and meeting offline to film without the victim's consent. More than half of the perpetrators commit repeated sex crimes such as rape.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced on the 24th the "2020 Trends and Analysis of Sex Crimes Against Children and Adolescents." Based on court rulings of offenders convicted of sex crimes against children and adolescents in 2020, the analysis of crime patterns and characteristics showed that offenders producing and distributing sexual exploitation materials (102 individuals) increased by 61.9% compared to the previous year, and victims (162 individuals) increased by 76.9%.

The types of crimes are ranked as follows: forcible molestation (45%), rape (20.3%), prostitution (6.4%), quasi-rape (6.3%), filming using cameras or similar devices (6.0%), violations of the Child Welfare Act such as sexual harassment through writing, coercion to perform obscene acts, or sexual abuse (5.5%), and production of sexual exploitation materials (3.9%). The number of sex crime offenders against children and adolescents in 2020 (2,753 individuals) decreased by 5.3%, and the number of child and adolescent victims (3,622 individuals) decreased by 6.2%.

While sex crimes mostly occur by acquaintances (66.4%), 86.5% of prostitution victims are harmed by people met through internet chatting, and 71.3% of sexual exploitation material producers met their victims this way. The most common initial contact route between perpetrator and victim is chat apps (51.1%). Offline meetings following online contact between children/adolescents and perpetrators occurred in 72.2% of cases.

In digital sex crimes, filming and production by perpetrators account for 74.2%, and 72.3% of filming and production occurred without the consent of the child or adolescent victim. Among distribution cases (15.5%), messenger distribution is the most common, and 34.6% of victims’ faces or personal information are identifiable. Not only prostitution targeting children and adolescents but also prostitution mediation and business are conducted online, with general smartphone chat apps accounting for 76.7%, the highest proportion.

Choi Sung-ji, Director of the Rights Promotion Bureau at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, said, "After the Nth Room incident, public awareness changed, and courts strengthened sentencing standards, making crime reporting, investigation, and trials faster and more sensitive than before, which seems to have increased punishments related to the production of sexual exploitation materials." She added, "In cases where production of sexual exploitation materials is the main charge, 57.8% are concurrent offenses with other sex crimes."

Among sex crime perpetrators, 98.1% are male, but in cases of forced prostitution, female perpetrators account for 21.1%, and female perpetrators in prostitution mediation and business account for 13.2%. The average age of child and adolescent victims is 14 years, lower than 14.6 years in 2017, with 90.9% female and 7.4% male. The average age of perpetrators is 34.2 years, with unemployment being the most common occupation.

Looking at the final sentencing results of perpetrators, 49.3% of those required to register personal information received suspended sentences, 38.9% received imprisonment, and 11% were fined. The average prison sentence length is 44.9 months, with rape (65.5 months) being the longest, followed by production of sexual exploitation materials (39.7 months). The average prison sentence for crimes such as production and distribution of sexual exploitation materials increased significantly from 16.7 months in 2014 to 39.7 months in 2020.

Recently, there have been calls to strengthen responses to new types of digital sex crimes such as sexual harassment and avatar attacks on new platforms like the metaverse.

Regarding this, Park Sun-ok, Head of the Child and Adolescent Sexual Protection Division at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, said, "Even in the metaverse, sexual language or sexually exploitative behavior targeting children and adolescents is subject to punishment under the Child and Adolescent Sexual Protection Act." She added, "Research is needed in this area, and since the Ministry of Justice has announced it will focus on this research, we will collaborate with related ministries to devise countermeasures."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.