Approximately 20% of internet crimes against children (ICAC) clear net cases feature content that contain sadistically motivated sexual offending against children. In the peer to peer and encrypted chat app space, that number jumps to 60%. On the dark net, it’s more than 80%.

This presentation is designed to help investigators, particularly covert online investigators, identify the early warning signs that an offender may be sadistically motivated and to better understand the risks associated with sadistically motivated sexual offenses. There are four general typologies of sadistic offenders: the everyday sadist, the sexual sadist, the female sexual sadist, and the juvenile sadist. All have unique developmental histories, motivations for their offending, and offending behaviors. Understanding the typology of the offender being investigated is essential to appropriately appraising risk, both to the community and to the arresting officers.

Key similarities and differences between psychopaths and sadists are discussed and case examples will be presented to illustrate concepts. Interviewing pedophilic sexual sadists can be delicate, but when done correctly can net a large payout through the potential identification of a significant number of sadistic pedophile co-offenders. Interview strategies and best practices will examined.

Additionally, recommendations for the development and maintenance of long-term, covert, online profiles designed to be deployed on platforms for sadistically motivated pedophiles (i.e., encrypted chats, hidden/onion services, etc.) will be workshopped.