The emergence of Dark Web child pornography forums and their availability to large offender communities has enabled a professional form of child pornography distribution as well as an increased exchange of criminal and social capital. Offenders have access to a new platform in which strong ties and long-lasting relationships with co-offenders are formed. Moreover they could be classified as organized crime, because child pornography Dark Web forums are characterized by a hierarchical order, a clear role division and illegal power structures that regulate the illegal activities. The implications from a law enforcement as well as from scientific perspective are discussed.

The explosive growth of the Internet has led to countless new possibilities, and it opened the way for societal progress and an extensive globalization and digitization. However, the original ambition of the Internet as a free, open and neutral medium has also led to new possibilities in the field of crime. The current paper illustrates how governments dealt with the development of the Internet and it gives an explanation for why and how unintended side effects have manifested in society. Using the phenomenon of digital child abuse, this paper offers recommendations for an effective government response and for an effective detection of and fight against cybercrime.