The Internet is the medium through which people using computers can interact with others, obtain information on virtually any subject, and buy and sell items. The Internet is also used to convey information about sex offenders; for example, the National Sex Offender Public Registry (http://www.nsopr.gov) provides a searchable database of sex offenders in all states in the United States. The information is provided by the states to the Department of Justice for this purpose. Individuals can search the database to discover if sex offenders live in their communities.

Sometimes the Internet is used to purvey child pornography. It has also become a medium by which pedophiles and others interested in child sexual abuse may identify and contact children and adolescents, with the ultimate goal of inducing them to create sexual materials and of possibly meeting in person to engage in sexual activity. In some cases, police officers posing as minors have engaged pedophiles in online relationships that proceed to sex talk, and they have subsequently made arrangements to meet these prospective abusers in a public place. Sometimes, expecting to meet the "child," the pedophile actually flies to the appointed place from a remote site, only to be met and arrested by a police officer. According to a 2005 article in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, police officers posing as juveniles represent about 25% of all Internet sex crimes arrests. In addition, many such prosecutions have led to convictions, with a low risk of cases that are dropped or dismissed.

There are different ways in which abusers arrange to abuse children, such as with pornography, sex talk and prostitution. However, often the initial process follows a common path. For example, some abusers seek out children and adolescents on the Internet, particularly lonely or bored children and adolescents. Abusers tell children they are beautiful, smart and wonderful people, usually initiating the contact in a nonsexual manner. They may tell the child that they understand him or her and care deeply, unlike the parents. (Many adolescents are convinced that their parents do not care about them and do not understand them.)

Abusers often make the first encounter in a public chatroom, and then urge the child to move to a private chatroom where what is said will not be monitored. Once the conversation is no longer public, the pedophile may communicate with the child online in private chatrooms, instant messages or text messages via cell phones. Some pedophiles have arranged to send a child a cell phone so that there is no record of the calls available.

Abusers gradually "groom" the child by a careful choice of words and progressively lead into the subject of sex, moving into increasingly explicit sex talk. They continue to use very positive language to maintain the dialogue. Eventually, they may convince the child to send them sexually explicit photographs or videos.

In one case, an abuser sent a male adolescent a Web camera and offered to pay the child $50 if he posed with his shirt off for a few minutes. This seemed like an easy and nonthreatening way to make money to the child, so he complied. The abuse later escalated to nudity and to sex acts in front of the Web camera.

Abusers may use photographs of the child for personal erotic arousal or they may sell or trade the photographs. The child's sexually explicit photographs may eventually appear on Web sites, much to the mortification and horror of the child. Even the fear that such images may appear on the Internet is a devastating thought to most children.

Eventually, an abuser may seek an in-person meeting with the child, warning the child not to tell others about the meeting, particularly their parents. Abusers may also solicit the child to run away to another city where the abuser is located, and where the abuser may have direct control over the child. When in-person meetings occur, the abuser may encourage the child to use alcohol or illegal drugs that the abuser supplies, to further increase the control of the abuser over the child and the ease with which the child may be induced into committing sexual acts.

In some cases, an abuser will lead a child into prostitution, after which the child's self-esteem has usually plummeted while dependence on the abuser remains high. The abuser may blackmail the child into prostitution by telling him or her that the photographs will be shown to parents or others if the child fails to comply with whatever demands the abuser imposes.

Once initiated into drug abuse and/or child prostitution, the abuser will often tell the child that the behavior must continue or parents or others will be notified of this behavior. In addition, the abuser may tell the child that the parents would not want the child back, since he or she has engaged in behavior that would shock or horrify parents or other caretakers. Because the child is ashamed and embarrassed about his or her behavior, such statements are believed.

Said John Carr in his report on child abuse and child pornography over the Internet, "Secretiveness is generally essential to the abuser's strategy. In the course of their initial discussions with a child, a pedophile will often take care to establish the exact location of the computer in the home. He will be anxious to discover how easily their conversations could be overlooked or overheard. He will also often be keen to ensure that the child does not keep any record of their conversations on the computer, as sooner or later he will seek to sexualize the contact and conversations as part of the grooming process."

Carr said that organized crime has become involved with online child abuse and child pornography. These criminals are usually not pedophiles themselves, but those willing to commit child sex crimes in order to make a profit. Some sites run by criminals accept credit card payments for images of child pornography. Criminals engaged in the sexual trafficking of children may also use such sites to exhibit the victimized children.

Often those who are enticed by online abusers are teenage girls. According to a national survey reported in a 2004 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, based on local, state and federal law enforcement investigations of 129 sexual offenses that began with Internet encounters, most victims were girls ages 13-15 (75%) who met the offenders in Internet chatrooms. Female victims may believe themselves to be in love with the offender.

Most of the offenders (76%) were more than 25 years old. In the cases of male victims, nearly all offenders were male. Most victims did meet with the offenders and had sex with them.

According to the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study, two-thirds of the online sex offenders studied owned child pornography, and 83% of them had owned images of children six to 12 years old. In addition, 80% of the offenders had images depicting the sexual penetration of minors.

The researchers analyzed the characteristics of 2,577 offenders, and they found that nearly all (99%) were males and most (92%) were non-Hispanic whites. The majority (86%) were 26 years old or older. Most of the offenders (97%) acted alone. Nearly half (45%) had committed a sex crime against a child, and 11% were known to be violent.

References:

1)         Carr, John. Child Abuse, Child Pornography and the Internet. London: NCH, 2005.

2)         Mitchell, Kimberly J., Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor. "The Exposure of Youth to Unwanted Sexual Material on the Internet: A National Survey of Risk, Impact, and Prevention." Youth & Society 34, no. 3 (March 2003): 330-358.

3)         Mitchell, Kimberly J., Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor. "Internet-Initiated Sex Crimes Against Minors: Implications for Prevention Based on Findings from a National Study." Journal of Adolescent Health 35 (2004): 424e11-424e20.

4)         Mitchell, Kimberly J., Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor. "Police Posing as Juveniles Online to Catch Sex Offenders: Is It Working?" Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment 17, no. 3 (July 2005): 241-267.

5)         Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Child Pornography Possessors Arrested in Internet-Related Crimes: Findings from the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, 2005.

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