[5][4] In the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court has defined child pornography as material that "visually depicts sexual conduct by children below a specified age".
[24][25] A 2007 study in Ireland, undertaken by the Garda Síochána, revealed the most serious content in a sample of over 100 cases involving indecent images of children.
[28] Sexting is sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or images, primarily between mobile phones, of oneself to others (such as dating partners or friends).
[30][31] The University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center estimates that 7 percent of people arrested on suspicion of child pornography production in 2009 were teenagers who shared images with peers consensually.
[32][33] Legal professionals and academics have criticized the use of child pornography laws with mandatory punishments against teenagers over the age of consent for sex offenses.
Florida cyber crimes defense attorney David S. Seltzer wrote of this that "I do not believe that our child pornography laws were designed for these situations ... A conviction for possession of child pornography in Florida draws up to five years in prison for each picture or video, plus a lifelong requirement to register as a sex offender.
"[34] In a 2013 interview, assistant professor of communications at the University of Colorado Denver, Amy Adele Hasinoff, who studies the repercussions of sexting has stated that the "very harsh" child pornography laws are "designed to address adults exploiting children" and should not replace better sex education and consent training for teens.
"[35] Child victims of cybersex trafficking are forced into live streaming,[36] pornographic exploitation[37][38][39][40][41] on webcam which can be recorded and later sold.
[42] Victims are raped by traffickers or coerced to perform sex acts on themselves or other children while being filmed and broadcast in real time.
[45][46][47] Philip Jenkins notes that there is "overwhelming evidence that [child pornography] is all but impossible to obtain through nonelectronic means.
"[49] Digital cameras and Internet distribution facilitated by the use of credit cards and the ease of transferring images across national borders has made it easier than ever before for users of child pornography to obtain the photographs and videos.
[54] In a study conducted by Michael Seto in 2010, 33–50% of a sample of child pornography offenders reported having sexual interest in children.
[55] A meta-analysis of nine studies conducted by Seto in 2011 reported a sexual recidivism rate of 5% for follow-up periods ranging from one to six years.
The report also notes that it is difficult to define the progression from computerized child pornography to physical acts against children.
[60] Several professors of psychology state that memories of child abuse are maintained as long as visual records exist, are accessed, and are "exploited perversely.
A study by Wolak, Finkelhor, and Mitchell states that:[63][R]ates of child sexual abuse have declined substantially since the mid-1990s, a time period that corresponds to the spread of CP online.
The fact that this trend is revealed in multiple sources tends to undermine arguments that it is because of reduced reporting or changes in investigatory or statistical procedures.
[64] Feminist writer Susan Cole has argued that the absence of ethical literature regarding the topic can be explained by the simplicity of the matter, given that "there [is] a general consensus about the harm involved" in this type of material.
However, the study failed to prove that there was a causal relationship between such type of pornography usage and child sexual abuse.
Such stance could be challenged by Anne Higonnet's contention that there is no evidence of a commercially profitable market of child pornography.
In 2006, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) published a report of findings on the presence of child pornography legislation in the then-184 INTERPOL member countries.
[88] The Council of Europe's Cybercrime Convention and the EU Framework Decision that became active in 2006 require signatory or member states to criminalize all aspects of child pornography.