Definitions
In law enforcement circles, the term "pedophile" is sometimes used in a broad manner to encompass a person who commits one or more sexually-based crimes that relate to
legally underage victims. These crimes may include
child sexual abuse,
statutory rape, offenses involving
child pornography,
child grooming,
stalking, and
indecent exposure. One unit of the United Kingdom's
Child Abuse Investigation Command is known as the "Paedophile Unit" and specializes in online investigations and enforcement work.
[103] Some forensic science texts, such as Holmes (2008) use the term to refer to a class of psychological offender typologies that target child victims, even when such children are not the primary sexual interest of the offender.
[104] The
FBI, however, makes a point of acknowledging preferential sex offenders who have a true sexual preference for prepubescent children.
[11]