N-JOV4 mail screener

OMB No. 1121-0374
Approval Expires 9/30/2024

Fourth NATIONAL JUVENILE
ONLINE VICTIMIZATION STUDY
A Study of Technology-Facilitated Crimes against Juveniles
INSTRUCTIONS
•

Please help us gather information about this important problem by having a knowledgeable person
in your agency answer these questions about technology-facilitated crimes involving child sexual
abuse material (child pornography) or child sexual exploitation.

•

The questions concern cases that resulted in arrests between January 1, 2019 and
December 31, 2019 and “sexting” cases you may have handled in 2019.

•

This survey should can be completed by a representative who is most knowledgeable about
your agency’s records of investigation investigations of technology-facilitated sex crimes
against children.
Sponsored by:
Return surveys to:
U.S. Department of Justice
National Institute of Justice
810 Seventh Street NW
Washington, DC 20531

Crimes against Children Research Center
University of New Hampshire
10 West Edge Drive, Ste. 106
Durham, NH 03824-3586
Email: [email protected]
Ph: 877-920-4195

BURDEN STATEMENT
Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to average 10 minutes per survey, including
the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, and completing the screener.
Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this collection of information,
including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the National Institute of Justice, 810 Seventh Street
NW, Washington, DC 20531.

1

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the N-JOV Study? N-JOV is a study of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to collect
information from across the nation about technology-facilitated crimes with juvenile victims, in particular sex
crimes and child sexual abuse image cases. The results will be reported to the
U.S. Department of Justice and be available to law enforcement agencies.

Why is the N-JOV Study being conducted? The N-JOV Study measures growth and change in technologyfacilitated sex crimes against juveniles. We have conducted three previous surveys. The 1st asked about cases
ending in arrest in 2000, the 2nd asked about arrest cases in 2006, and the 3rd about arrest cases in 2009.
Policy makers and law enforcement officials will use the final study results to help secure resources for
investigators and encourage citizens to report these crimes. The enclosed bulletin is an example of the
information this research provides to law enforcement policy makers.

Who sponsors the N-JOV Study? The N-JOV Study is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice,
National Institute of Justice.

Who is conducting the N-JOV Study? Researchers at the Crimes against Children Research Center (CCRC)
at the University of New Hampshire are conducting the N-JOV Study. The CCRC has completed numerous
studies about crimes with juvenile victims. Information about us and copies of reports from the previous
three N-JOV Studies can be downloaded from our website at https://cola.unh.edu/family-researchlaboratory/projects-topics/national-juvenile-online- victimization-study-n-jov

How was our agency chosen? Your agency was chosen randomly from a list of U.S. law enforcement
agencies. You are part of a national sample of approximately 2500 agencies.

Why is our participation important, even if we don’t have any of these cases? Your participation in this
study is entirely voluntary. However, we need your response to make the study results accurate. Even if your
agency did not investigate any relevant cases please complete and return this survey.
Whatever your agency’s experiences, they represent the experiences of other agencies like yours across
the nation.

What will you do with the completed mail surveys? If your agency has a case related to the N-JOV
Study, we will contact you to schedule a telephone interview with the key investigating officer about a
random subset of these cases. Interviews should last approximately 40 minutes and will ask about case
characteristics.

What security and confidentiality protections are in place for the N-JOV Study? Agency names,
names of individuals, and other identifying information will not be used in any reports, published materials or
discussions of the study results. In fact, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) approves a Privacy Certificate for
every study funded by their agency. If we call you back to gather more information about a case, we will not
ask you for information, like names, that would identify specific

2

vvictims. Also, information that could link a specific agency with any data gathered will be accessible only to
the researchers, all of whom have signed non-disclosure agreements, as required by federal law. Further,
federal law states that information gathered for research studies is immune from legal process, including
subpoenas, and may be used for research and statistical studies only (34 USC 10231a).

Who can we contact for questions? If you have questions about the survey, or if your agency has made
too many arrests to list on this form, please contact us at 877-920-4195 or [email protected]. If you
have any questions about your rights as a research subject you may contact Melissa McGee in the UNH
Research Integrity Services Office at 603-862-2005 or [email protected] to discuss them.

GLOSSARY OF STUDY TERMS
Arrest

Includes cases where an arrest has been made, a warrant has been issued but
no arrest made, or an offender has been arraigned without arrest.

Child / minor / juvenile

Person under the age of 18.

Sexual exploitation

Any kind of a sex crime or offense involving sexual acts or sexual
material, including consensual acts like statutory rape and
misdemeanors like contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Suspect
Child sexual abuse material
(CSAM)

A person who is accused or suspected of committing a crime.
Pictures, videos, or other visual material that shows a person who is a child (<
18 years old) engaged in explicit sexual activity or represented in a sexual
context. CSAM includes materials that are sometimes referred to as child
pornography.
A commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which
the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.

Sex trafficking

Grooming

A preparatory process in which a perpetrator gradually gains a person’s or
organization’s trust with the intent to be sexually abusive.

3

ARREST CASES
1.

Does your agency have jurisdiction to conduct criminal investigations of cases involving child sexual
assault, child sexual exploitation or the possession or distribution of child sexual exploitation material
(i.e., child pornography)?
 YesWe conduct these investigations
 No We can conduct these investigations, but they are usually handed to a different agency
 We never conduct these types of investigations (no jurisdiction to investigate) (Go GO to TO
PAGE 9Last Page)

2.

Between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, did your agency make ANY ARRESTS in cases
involving the attempted or completed sexual exploitation of a minor, AND at least one of the
following occurred:
• The offender and the victim first met through technology
• The offender committed a sexual offense where technology was used to facilitate the
crime in some way (e.g., grooming, sex trafficking), regardless of whether or not they first met
online
 Yes (Continue below)
 No (Go to Page 6)

3. Between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, did your agency make ANY ARRESTS in cases involving
the possession, distribution, access, or production of child sexual abuse material (i.e., child
pornography), and at least one of the following occurred:
•

•
•

Illegal images were found on technology (cloud, computer, flash drives, memory cards, tablet,
cell phone etc.) possessed or accessed by the suspect
The suspect used technology to order or sell child sexual abuse material
There was other evidence that illegal images were downloaded from the Internet or
distributed by the suspect using technology

•

The suspect was using steaming apps to view live video of child sexual exploitation

4 Indicate the total number of arrests your agency made between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019
that fit one or more of the criteria given in Question #2above.

IMPORTANT
Please provide more information about each case in the Question #3 total by completing
Page 5.

4

CASE IDENTIFICATION
For all arrests included in the total in Question 4 on the previous page, please provide the following information:
Case number (or
Name of key investigator
Phone number of key
E-mail address
other identifying
(or person most knowledgeable
investigator
of key investigator
about the case)
information)

(Insert additional pages or inset a printoutto continue this listing, if necessary). Note. Researchers will be calling key
investigators for confidential follow-up interviews about some of these cases.

5

CHLID SEXUAL EXPLOITATION MATERIAL
1.

Between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, did your agency make ANY ARRESTS in cases
involving the possession, distribution, access, or production of child sexual abuse material (i.e.,
child pornography), and at least one of the following occurred:
•
•
•
•

Illegal images were found on technology (cloud, computer, flash drives, memory cards,
tablet, cell phone etc.) possessed or accessed by the suspect
The suspect used technology to order or sell child sexual abuse material
There was other evidence that illegal images were downloaded from the Internet or
distributed by the suspect using technology
The suspect was using steaming apps to view live video of child sexual exploitation

2.

Did you answer “yes” to any item in Question #1?
 Yes (Continue below)
 No (Go to Page 8)

3.

Indicate the total number of arrests your agency made between January 1, 2019 and December
31, 2019 that fit one or more of the criteria given in Question #1.

IMPORTANT: Please provide more information about each case in the Question #3 total by
completing Page 7.

6

CASE IDENTIFICATION
For all arrests included in the total in Question 3 on the previous page, please provide the following information:
Case number (or
other identifying
information)

Name of key investigator
(or person most knowledgeable
about the case)

Phone number of key
investigator

E-mail address
of key investigator

(Insert additional pages to continue this listing, if necessary). Note. Researchers will be calling key investigators for confidential
follow-up interviews about some of these cases.

7

YOUTH PRODUCED SEXUAL IMAGES (SEXTING)
1.

Between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, did your agency handle any cases that did not
result in an arrest that involved sexual images created by minors (age 17 or younger) AND these
images were or could have been child sexual abuse material (child pornography) under the statutes of
your jurisdiction? Please include:

•
•
•
•

Cases where minors took pictures of themselves OR other minors, including “sexting”
Cases that may have been crimes, but were not prosecuted for various reasons
Cases that were handled as juvenile offenses
Other cases involving sexual images produced by juveniles and an arrest was not made

 Yes (Continue below)
 No (Go to Page 10)
 Cannot provide this information (please specify why)
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

2.

Indicate the total number of these cases handled by your agency between January 1, 2019 and
December 31, 2019 that fit one or more of the criteria given in Question #1.

IMPORTANT:
Please provide specific information about each case by completing Page 9 7on the next page.
3.

We are also interested in how these sexting cases come to the attention of your agency more generally
and what you typically do with them when they do. Please use the space below to tell us a little bit about
that.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

8

CASE IDENTIFICATION
For all cases included in the total in Question 3 on the previous page, please provide the following information:
Case number (or
other identifying
information)

Name of key investigator
(or person most knowledgeable
about the case)

Phone number of key
investigator

E-mail address
of key investigator

(Insert additional pages to continue this listingor insert a printout, if necessary). Note. Researchers will be calling key
investigators for confidential follow-up interviews about some of these cases.

9

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
1. How did you search for the requested cases? (Mark all that apply)
 Recollection of 2019 cases by investigators or other agency staff
 Searched agency records by hand
 Searched NIBRS/UCR report
 Searched record management system (please specify system) _________________
 Some other way (please specify) _________________________________________
2.

In the sections above we asked for information on arrests and investigations for technology-facilitated
sex crimes against children. We’re also interested in learning about the total volume of reports your
agency received in 2019. Approximately how many reports did your agency receive in 2019 for
technology-facilitated sex crimes against children, regardless of whether an arrest was made or not?
# reports
Approximately how many of these reports, if any, were received from the CyberTipline
(National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)?
# reports

3.

Is the number of referrals reports of technology-facilitated sex crimes against children so large that you
have to use a system for triaging or setting priority among cases?
 Yes
 No
 Not sure
If yes, can you indicate which of the following are very important, somewhat important or not important
when triaging cases:
Very
important
Amount of identifying information about the
suspect
Amount of identifying information about a
victim(s)
Amount of time elapsed between the evidence
and receiving the report in your agency
Confirmation of illegal content or activity
Volume of illegal content
Extremity of the illegal content
Whether the suspect has access to children
Which technology platforms are involved
Source of the report
Indicators of violence
Agency resources

10

Somewhat
important

Not
important

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about technology-facilitated sex crimes against children you have
encountered? If so, please use this space for that purpose. Also, any comments you wish to make that you think
may help us in future efforts to understand these crimes will be appreciated, either here, call us at 877-920-4195
or email [email protected].

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY:
Today’s Date
Name
Position or Title
Agency Name
Department or Unit
City and State
Zip code
Phone Number
Email Address

THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS SURVEY.
PLEASE RETURN THIS FORM IN THE
POSTAGE-PAID ENVELOPE PROVIDED.

Your contribution to this study is greatly appreciated.

11