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Abstract

Aim: To gather and analyse public viewpoints on paedophile hunter groups and whether their work should be considered beneficial to the criminal justice system overall.

Method: This study used an anonymous online survey research method to collect attitudinal responses from members of the public. This was executed using a voluntary, convenience snowballing sampling method. The survey only asked closed questions. SPSS was used for data analysis and both descriptive and inferential testing was done to explore whether there were any correlates between attitudes towards child sexual offenders and attitudes towards paedophile hunting.

Results: Overall, there were correlations between respondents' views on CSOs and their views on paedophile hunting. Those who had stronger views on CSOs generally were more supportive of paedophile hunting. The majority of those who were supportive of the work of paedophile hunters also thought they should work with the police. People's views on CSOs generally correlated with their view on the treatment and punishment of CSOs. A notable finding was the sample's support for confronting the CSOs but also disagreement with footage of the paedophile hunting stings being released on social media. Majority of sample agreed that filming an alleged paedophile puts them at risk, but a proportion of the sample agreed that filming paedophile stings was appropriate despite this acknowledgement of risk. Respondents also acknowledged the issues of risk and mental heath in releasing this footage online and the presumption of innocence within these films.

Conclusion: While the majority of respondents agreed that online predators should be confronted for their behaviour, the majority also did not think that filming paedophile hunting stings and releasing them to social media was appropriate. This could suggest that some of the controversies surrounding paedophile hunting could be associated more specifically with the filming of these sting operations and te release of this footage to social media. Despite this, majority of the sample were very supportive of paedophile hunters working alongside the police. By including paedophile hunters in the police's efforts to tackle online child exploitation, this could help to rectify any dissatisfactions/grievances the public has with either the police or the hunters.

 

Course: Criminal Justice - MSc - C2681F

Date Deposited: 2023-05-11

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14134.html