A full version of the study was recently published on the website for Dr. Diamond's Pacific Center for Sex & Society. It is worth quoting parts of it at length. (I have taken the liberty of editing re-arranging the paragraphs):
Issues surrounding child pornography and child sex abuse are probably among the most contentious in the area of sex issues and crime. In this regard we consider instructive our findings for the Czech Republic that have echoed those found in Denmark (Kutchinsky, 1973) and Japan (Diamond & Uchiyama, 1999) that where so-called child-pornography was readily available without restriction the incidence of child sexual abuse was lower than when its availability was restricted. As with adult pornography appearing to substitute for sexual aggression everywhere it has been investigated, we believe the availability of child porn does similarly....The study from Japan -- Pornography, Rape and Sex Crimes in Japan -- can be found here. The Czech Republic findings are also consistent with other studies in progress:
Important to note are recent findings by Swiss investigators that viewing child pornography does not seem to be a risk factor for future sex offenses (Endrass, et al., 2009). These investigators checked recidivism rates for "hands on" child sex-offenders with porn-viewing-only offenders and concluded "Consuming child pornography alone is not a risk factor for committing hands-on sex offenses … The majority of the investigated consumers had no previous convictions for hands-on sex offenses. For those offenders, the prognosis for hands-on sex offenses, as well as for recidivism with child pornography, is favorable."
Kendall (in press) conducted an in-depth analysis of possible relationships between society, pornography, rape and the Internet for the State of California. Kendall found that the arrival of the Internet, while not seeming to have an effect on other crimes, was associated with a reduction in rape incidence. After checking the results for the effects of the extent of porn use, user marital status, size of city in which potential rapists might live, possible economic status, and other social and demographic features, Kendall concluded that "potential rapists perceive pornography as a substitute for rape &hellips; pornography is a complement for masturbation or consensual sex, which themselves are substitutes for rape, making pornography a net substitute for rape." This conclusion reflects on the earlier findings of Goldstein et al. (1971). These investigators, having extensively interviewed and surveyed rapists, pedophiles, and others along with control groups of persons with no history of sex offenses about their use of pornography, found that sex-offender and sex deviate groups not only have had less experience with pornography but when they do come across it “ &hellips; report a higher incidence of masturbation in response to erotic materials than the controls." They go on to conclude that "the erotic materials are much more significant in producing masturbatory reaction in the users compared with the controls than in inducing sexual relations."
In short, the researchers conclude, their findings in the Czech Republic "support the displacement function of pornography for potential sex offenders" -- i.e., they provide an outlet via masturbation. The researchers are NOT in favor of the legalization of child pornography, which, at least when it depicts actual sex, is presumptively harmful in both its creation and continued distribution. However, they inquire whether other materials might serve the same purpose -- in particular 'virtual' images and cartoons of fictional minors. Otakus the world over already know the answer. It is now for the researchers to find a way to figure out how to study it.
(Above, the cover of Hikari Hayashibara's "Lolita Girls Collection," volume 1, a manga from Japan; at right, a doll-like virtual (i.e., fictional) image by "Waldo." Propriety and legality prevent this blog from displaying any of the many hard-core images of completely fictional minors created by these artists, but this is exactly the material that these researchers need to study.)
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