COPINE scale
The COPINE scale is a system developed in Ireland to classify the severity of depictions of child sexual abuse (known as child pornography ). The scale was developed by the team of the COPINE project ("Combating Pedophile Information Networks in Europe"). The COPINE project was started in 1997 and carried out by the Faculty of Applied Psychology at University College Cork.
The COPINE scale for therapeutic, research, and forensic purposes
The COPINE scale was originally developed for psychotherapeutic purposes in order to differentiate between the different degrees of (potentially) sexualised representation of children.
In the late 1990s, the COPINE project, in collaboration with the Pedophile Unit of the Metropolitan Police of London, developed a typology to categorize depictions of child sexual abuse. It should serve both research and law enforcement. The ten-point scale was created by analyzing images that were available on websites and newsgroups on the Internet.
The following translation follows the translation into German by Arnd Hüneke in his research report for White IT from 2011.
| 1 | Indexed | Non-sexualized images from advertisements or family albums showing children in underwear, bathing suits / trunks, or children depicted in ordinary actions or situations, but the arrangement of the images is unusual or inappropriate. |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Nudity | Pictures of naked or partially naked children, the nudity being common (e.g. in the swimming pool, on the beach, etc.) |
| 3 | "Erotica" | Obviously secretly or covertly made recordings of children, in protected places such as playgrounds or living areas or similar, in which the children are only partially clothed (underwear). |
| 4th | To pose | Pictures of clothed, partially clothed or unclothed children consciously indulging in a pose |
| 5 | Erotic posturing | Sexually related or provocative images of clothed, partially clothed or unclothed children consciously indulging in a pose |
| 6th | Detailed erotic posing | Sexually related or provocative images of clothed, partially clothed or unclothed children consciously indulging in a pose, with the images focusing on the genital area |
| 7th | Sexual acts of a child | Images depicting sexual acts by one or more children without the involvement of an adult |
| 8th | Assault | Pictures that show sexual acts of a child or several children with one or more adults (possibly just touching them) |
| 9 | Serious assault | Images that show a serious assault by one or more adults on one or more children, especially oral, vaginal or anal intercourse |
| 10 | Sadistic or zoophilic acts | a) Pictures showing acts of violence (especially with objects such as restraints, lashes with a stick or whip) against a child
b) Images showing sexual acts of one or more children with animals |
The SAP scale for purely forensic purposes
The Regina v Oliver case before the British Court of Appeal established another scale with which offensive images of children can be classified. This five-point scale was introduced in 2002 by the British Sentencing Advisory Panel (SAP) and is known as the SAP scale. It is based on and is often confused with the terminology of the COPINE scale.
The SAP document explains in detail how the COPINE scale was adapted. It indicates that the COPINE scale was designed for therapeutic, not forensic purposes. Category 1 of the COPINE scale has been omitted, as “images of this nature would not be classified as criminal”. The SAP also saw the criminal liability of COPINE categories 2 and 3 as contentious.
| 1 | Nudity or erotic posturing without sexual activity |
|---|---|
| 2 | Sexual activity between children or masturbation of a child |
| 3 | Sexual activity without penetration between one or more children and one or more adults |
| 4th | Penetrating sexual activity between one or more children and one or more adults |
| 5 | Sadistic or zoophilic acts |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on the COPINE project
- ^ Max Taylor, Ethel Quayle and G. Holland: Child Pornography, the Internet and Offending . In: ISUMA (Ed.): The Canadian Journal of Policy Research . 2 (2): 94-100, 2001.
- ↑ See Max Taylor, Ethel Quayle; Child Pornography: An Internet Crime , Hove and New York 2003. p. 32. Translation into German by Arnd Hüneke in: Bernd-Dieter Meier; Arnd Hüneke Research Report : Production and Distribution of Child Pornography via the Internet ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.3 MB), April 28, 2011
- ^ R v Oliver summary of the case