Child porn collectors could move on to abuse children

There’s no concrete evidence someone who collects child pornography will ever molest a child.
But experts aren’t convinced the ‘hobby’ isn’t a stepping stone.
“There’s nothing direct that says because someone collects they will do hands-on molestation of children,” Staff Sgt. Matt Logan said.
“I have a hard time believing that, given an opportunity, that wouldn’t happen. Child pornography exists primarily for the consumption of predatory child molesters.”
Logan is a criminal psychologist in the RCMP’s Behavioural Science Group, and has done extensive work with sex offenders. He’s been called on more and more to consult on child exploitation cases.
He describes two types of child molester – situational and preferential.
Most molesters fit into the situational category. Most are male, and are indiscriminate with victims, committing sexual assault based on accessibility to a victim.
If they have a pornography collection, child porn is usually a small portion of it.
The preferential child molester can be any age, driven by fantasies centered on a specific age, gender or look of a child. Most gravitate to pre-pubescents, Logan said, although he has worked with some whose fetish was newborns.
Preferential child molesters also have a long-term pattern of behaviour, and almost certainly collect child porn. The images and erotic stories fuel fantasies that “drive the bus” to hunting and molesting a child.
Still, “pornography is not a causative factor in hands-on molestation of children. It acts as a facilitator,” Logan said.
“The deviant individual already has the fantasy, and the pornography... feeds the fantasy, so the fantasy can have sound, colour.
“A lot of their life is spent working within that fantasy.”
A collection of child porn specific to one gender, age, or physical attribute “is the mark of the preferential molester,” Logan said.
Preferential child molesters will try to get themselves into situations where their victims will be, Logan said.
They may work at community centres, volunteer with youth groups, or teach. They may use child porn to groom potential victims; to lower children’s inhibitions and lure them into engaging in sexual activity or posing for photos.