‘Through the looking glass’ refers to the book by Lewis Carroll in which the character Alice steps through a looking glass into another reality. Interestingly, the terms ‘through the looking glass’ and ‘down the rabbit hole’ (another Carrollian phrase) were raised by several of the participants in the empirical study presented in this thesis. Both terms relate to a reality which is atypical, nonconforming, easy to get lost in and often doesn’t make sense. It was rather poignant then that those who have committed sexual crimes against children used these phrases when describing their experiences.
Chapter one of this thesis reviews the literature on female child sex offenders over the past 20 years, presenting an update to an influential review paper by Grayston and DeLuca in 1999. This review, presented in the same narrative format as the original 1999 review, provides research updates to offender, victim, and offence characteristics, alongside a summary profile of female child sex offenders, aimed at assisting professionals working with this cohort. This update also includes new developments in the field relating to organisational abuse and the role of technology facilitated sexual abuse.
Chapter two explores the lived experiences of individuals charged with Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) offences. 12 participants were interviewed regarding their experiences of arrest and police interaction, as well as engagement with support services around their offending behaviour. Using Thematic Analysis, resulting themes highlighted the impact of arrest, motivations for offending, support seeking behaviours and prevention of IIOC offences. These were explored in relation to current literature, and implications for police practice and support services were discussed.
The third chapter explores ways in which both the literature review and empirical paper in this thesis can contribute to theory and clinical practice in the field of child sex offending.