Combating Child Exploitation Online: Predictors of Successful ICAC Task Forces

According to Osuagwu et al. (2010), there are currently 657 million people online. Unfortunately, many of these Internet users are not utilizing this efficient and easy technology in a legal way. The Internet has become a medium for child exploitation for hundreds of thousands of offenders internationally. Federal law enforcement in the United States has begun fighting back in a variety of ways, including specialized task forces that focus on the investigation and prosecution of Internet crimes against children, such as the Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program. The ICAC was designed to help federal, state, and local law enforcement develop initiatives and programmes to reduce instances of crimes against children. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature by examining the potential factors that affect the productivity of these task forces.