Child Victimization Online
Overview of Child Victimization Online
The effort to combat pedophiles preying on youth
online has grown exponentially throughout the past
decade. There is no limit to how far passionate child
advocates will go to stop these online pedophiles.
From posing as minors in order to receive personal
information from children to setting up actual real
life meetings with them these disturbed individuals
find children to exploit. There are definitely ways
to break through the anonymity of cyberspace. The
inevitable question that rears it ugly head is: How
far is too far? Are investigators guilty of
entrapment? Where do we draw the line for
constitutional boundaries? Although these
individuals are appropriately loathed by the
majority of the population, some argue that like all
crimes, we are innocent until proven guilty with
proof of motive. The issue of intent is one that
goes far beyond the courtroom and deep into the
minds of these online pedophiles. Still there is the
most important issue; there are an estimated 725,000
children that have been “aggressively” pursued
online by adults seeking to exploit their naivety
and innocence.
There are several facets of online victimization of
children. Of foremost importance is how to protect
the child from victimization. Other issues raise
questions as to the methods of successfully reaching
this goal. There is the dynamic of the child’s role
in this obsession. Psycho-social development of
preadolescence and adolescence may in itself lure
predators. Does the anonymity of the internet protect
the abuser from public scrutiny therefore allow them
to escape the social morals of society which might
deter would be criminals? There exists as well the
legal issues; how far can law enforcement go without
risking having their cases thrown out of court based
on the violation of first amendment rights and laws
of entrapment? The issue most concerning to society
as a whole is the effect of child victimization and
exploitation has on the future of our society.
Psychologists agree that many of the abused become
the abusers.
The Victims
No one would or should ever fault a child for
any abuse that is perpetrated against them. Yet,
there exist characteristics of the most targeted age
group 14-16 year olds
that makes them easier prey. These facets of the
character of 14-16 year olds include;
Psych-social development, biological development,
home environment, and unsupervised computer access.
The psycho-social developmental traits of 14-16
year olds may facilitate a predator’s ability to
manipulate them. Noted social psychologist Erik
Erikson identified adolescence as the identity
formation stage of his theory of personality
development. Erikson states that “the major
challenge of this stage of development is identity
verses role confusion.”
(Erikson 1968) They often question “Who am I?”
Adolescents are strongly influenced by trends and
trying on new more “adult” ways of behaving.
Developmentally appropriate, they are seeking
guidance from the world on who they are or will be.
Out in the world the media bombards them with
sexually provocative images and looks. The in look
and behavior of Christina Aguilera and Justin
Timberlake. Teenagers feel they need approval of
their peers. As a result they often conform to peer
group values and ideals rather than parental values
and ideals. (Perry 1990) Teens are more trusting,
naïve, adventuresome,
curious, and are also eager for attention and
affection. Biological development also plays a huge
role in attention and affection seeking behaviors.
The ability to reproduce which occurs during puberty
(boys’ average age 11.5 and girls average age 12.5)
awakens the instinctual attraction and need to be
paid attention to by the opposite sex. The pubescent
development in turn drives attention and affection
seeking behaviors in adolescent boys and girls. As
sexual customs have changed so has the age at which
adolescents become sexually active. Today
approximately 2/3 of all boys and 1/2 of all girls
have had sexual intercourse by the time they are 17
years old. Sexual curiosity coupled with sexual
desire may lead the adolescent to seek out
information about sex. This innocent and psycho-
socially appropriate exploration could lead the child
right into the world of the cyberperv.
One click on an innocent looking website or email has
now made them a potential victim.
The adolescent’s desire for emotional independence
and parental emancipation are elements of the teen
personality that can lead them to be secretive.
Secrecy will become even more pronounced when they
perceive their behavior to be unacceptable to their
parents, contrary to their parents’ morals and
values. The internet gives the teen the anonymity
they desire. The parental lack of knowledge of their
activities allows for an escalation of events which
in the worst case scenario could end in their child
being victimized. Although victimization of children
online occurs in homes with parental presence it is
occurring more frequently in homes where there is
less or no adult supervision. Children in homes where
there is little or no adult supervision are online
everyday out of loneliness they may open themselves
up to someone who is waiting for the opportunity to
prey on them. Today over 3/4 of children living in
the U.S. are living in divorced or single parent
homes. Many of these parents are working more than
one job or absent from the home to provide the
financial security they think their children need.
Beyond lack of supervision by adults there are
filters and blocking software available. Yet,
in “The Youth Internet Safety Survey” conducted by
the CACRC at the University of New Hampshire,
Dr.David Finkelhor, Dr. K.Mitchell, and Dr. J. Wolak
found that only 1/3 of parents had such devices
installed on their computers. Victimization also
increases with the elements of adolescents who are
emotionally vulnerable, dealing with sexual identity
issues, emotional trauma, and rebellion.
The Perpetrator
One of the major arguments surrounding the
issue of pedophilia victimization online is the fact
that the major players in child abuse cases are
those who know the victim personally. Relatives,
family friends, and acquaintances such as coaches
and doctors are the most common perpetrators of sex
crimes against minors. This does not mean that just
because these people are the mainstream that we
should ignore the fact that thousands of children
each year fall prey to online pedophiles. Pedophiles
fail to fit into a set category of abuser. The
personality and social traits of these individuals
vary from antisocial misfit to the suburban dad who
coaches little league soccer. From a sociological
standpoint, this sector of abusers is hard to
pinpoint and track down due to the numerous variables
involved. The anonymity of the internet only
perpetuates this problem. Pedophilia as defined is
the desire to sexual relations with children as the
preferred or exclusive method of achieving sexual
excitement. The profile of a pedophile is usually
men under the age of 40 years old. They are
individuals who cannot adjust to the sexual role of
adulthood. Pedophiles feel inadequate in adult
relationships and have unstable social adjustments.
They perpetrate crimes against children to ease
stress and as a reaction to aggressive moods. They
have a history of frustration and failure. Other
attributes are their perception of themselves as
being immature, dependent, lonely, insecure, and
lacking in assertiveness. The pedophile is most often
reared in a home of extreme religious beliefs. In
their families sexuality and sexual feeling are
hidden and negated. From this they experience extreme
quilt about sexuality even though they are obsessed
by it at the same time. Many pedophiles were victims
of sexual abuse themselves. The majority of
pedophiles are heterosexual but their sexual
attitudes are so rigid and repressive that they
cannot maintain adult sexual relationships. As they
wallow in pornography, obscenity, indecency, and
their obsession they maintain an appearance of
paragons of morality and virtue. There may in fact be
a cause and effect relationship resulting with
pedophilia. Studies have shown that although
characteristics such as depression and self-esteem
issues are consistently shown in pedophiliac
individuals, these characteristics may be a result
of the reaction of society to their pedophilic
actions. Many believe that pedophiles are child
abusers that demonstrate aggressive behaviors towards
their victims, although this is misconception for
most cases of pedophilia do not involve doing harm to
the victim. The main issue in these cases is not
violence, it is mainly sexual interest.
The crimes committed online against children by the
perpetrators consist of; sexual solicitation –
requests for sex, sexual talk, or sexual
information, unwanted
exposure to sexual materials – popups, emails, or
email links, aggressive sexual solicitation –
offline contact via telephone, postal mail, or in
person, and harassment – offensive threats and
behavior toward or about the victim. Another type of
online victimization of children is using pictures
sent to the perpetrator by the child and the perp
reproducing it into pornographic materials without
the victim’s knowledge. These images are often sent
on the internet to other websites.
Tactics And Efforts By Agencies and Law Enforcement
Now the question of how to catch these individuals
is raised. Here identified are some of the most
recent tactics and strategies used by law
enforcement as well as individuals working from the
privacy of their homes to catch these pedophiles “in
action.”
The Innocent Images National Initiative is
one such program created by the FBI to catch
pedophiles online. An estimated $10 million dollars
is backing this nation wide proactive program. The
main target of this operation was pedophilic
activity via America Online. The national initiative
was set into action after undercover agents for the
FBI discovered three Yahoo chat groups engaged in the
exchange of child pornography through these web
groups. These online communities are the most popular
gathering place for online pedophiles. The number of
IINI cases opened increased 1,997% from 1996 to 2002.
This number continues to rise as investigators dig
deeper into this sector of online crime. The typical
storyline of one of these busts is that of an
investigator playing the minor that succumbs to the
advances of the pedophile, typically in a chat room.
The pedophile is unaware that they are actually
enticing a government investigator who will use the
information the pedophile supplies them as to their
whereabouts to catch the pedophile attempting to make
real life contact with the minor. Although the
pedophile may not have a previous record of
victimization, the suspect can be arrested due to
the “intent” to commit the pedophilic crime. Even if
child porn is transferred over the web through email,
the person sending the email can be arrested for
intent. Along with government officials, many
individuals are operating their own task forces right
out of the comfort of their own homes. One woman,
Rachel O’Connell who works for the Cyberspace
Research Unit at the University of Central
Lancashire, started her own pedophile busting
business while working on her PhD. Upon her
investigation of the relationships pedophiles form
with their victims online, O’Connell recognized that
the pedophiles present a friendship-forming phase
where they befriend the victim until they are sure
there is a sense of trust. After this phase they
start to present their victim with more sexually
based questions. There are though, some who are just
looking to embarrass and expose the pedophiles, not
so much get them in trouble with the law. Websites
such as MillionairePlayboy.com provide viewer of
their site (mostly today’s youth and young adults)
with a comical account of “How to Bait and Abuse
Pedophiles,” a strategy created by Thor Jensen
(dubbed a “pedo-baiting genius”). Now while many
will say that two wrongs don’t make a right, the
strategy presented by this website is very apropos.
This site guides viewers through steps to turn the
tables on pedophiles and make them victims of their
own sick game. Jensen’s website is called “Amber
Forever.”
The question now asked is, how far is too
far? Many may claim that this form of pedophile
busting can be considered an issue of entrapment.
Legally, the word entrapment ( according to
Lectlaw.com) means: a person is ‘entrapped’ when he
is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers
or their agents to commit a crime that he had no
previous intent to commit; and the law as a matter of
policy forbids conviction in such a case. Therefore,
a suspect has been entrapped if: the idea came from
the government agents, they persuaded the suspect to
commit the crime, and the person was not “ready and
willing” to commit the crime prior to the advances of
the government officials. Cases of this nature have
brought up many civil liberties issues that many
online pedophiles have used in their defense. Is law
enforcement catching these individuals before they
can commit a crime, or are they actually
manufacturing the crime? Where do we draw the
constitutional boundary lines? Although, there are
websites in cyberspace which ensure that there will
be no case of anyone crying entrapment. Law
enforcement in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia have
created one such website. The basic concept is that
no one is arrested for online pedophilia the moment
they enter this site. What happens is the person
will be given a warning of the nature of the site. If
the individual continues to use the website to
acquire pornographic materials of children or to
contact the “children” they will then be apprehended.
Besides just convicting these criminals, the task
force in this operation hopes to deter the resources
of child porn on the web from growing. This is
because every time child porn is requested by
internet users, this (just like any other business)
increases the demand and in turn, the providers
increase the supply. That means more and more
children becoming victim to this crime everyday. To
add further complexity to this issue, many of those
online pedophiles set up and caught are now pleading
what law enforcement has deemed the “fantasy
defense.” By using this “fantasy” or “role-play”
defense, suspects who are lured by law enforcement
to set up a “meeting,” will claim, once they are
apprehended, that they were not aware that they were
really chatting with a minor. Their claim is that
they were under the impression that they were in fact
role playing with a consenting adult and that they
were setting up the meeting to act out their fantasy.
This argument is gaining popularity, just as the
insanity plead has grown over the past decades. The
first very public use of this defense was in 1999 by
Patrick Naughton. Naughton was suspect of online
pedophilia and was busted when he tried setting up a
meeting with a girl who presented herself as being
thirteen. The two were to meet in Los Angeles, CA,
yet when Naughton arrived, he was apprehended by an
undercover sheriff’s deputy. Naughton was ultimately
charged with possession of child pornography and was
sentenced to nine months home detention and five
years probation with an agreement to help in the
creation of a computer program for the FBI. Now, with
what we know about this case, does the fantasy
defense seem like a realistic defense?
First of all, the girl said that she was
thirteen, and even then, Naughton continued to chat
with her. At no point during their interaction did
the girl indicate that she was an adult. Now, even
with this being said, Naughton still proceeded to
seek out the girl and set up a meeting. One can only
speculate that the content of the meeting would be
sexual interaction between the two. Naughton was in
possession of child pornography at the time. Does
this sound like a fantasy with a consenting adult?
This case is a tough call along with the many of this
sort rearing their ugly heads everyday.
Outlook For The Future
Many challenges face us in the future in
preventing online victimization of children. The
largest hurdle to jump when following up on these
crimes is geographical since the worldwide web is
exactly that world wide. Another factor is
cooperation and reporting from victims who are often
too embarrassed to report these crimes in particular
if they have been participants. The best method of
prevention though is education the more agencies use
web services, and media to inform the public the more
awareness the public will have of these activities.
Law enforcement and victim service agencies are
increasing their efforts everyday to curtail online
crimes against children, as evidenced by the websites
used as research for this paper. What ever the case
may be, the only way to prevent the number of
children who are victimized online from increasing is
to supervise the online activities of children
closer than in the past. Even with that said, as long
as online pedophiles strip their victims of their
innocence, there will be law enforcement lurking in
chat rooms, waiting to catch these criminals in
action. This increasingly resulting in “fantasy”
or “entrapment” pleads. Will we ever expel these
online pedophiles from cyberspace? Only time will
tell.
Intervention, Prevention, Assistance, and
Information
The following information was taken directly from an
educational publication OVC Bulletin/ Internet Crimes
Against Children produced by the U.S. Department of
Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of
Victims of Crime. It is used here to provide
information on resources for the sole purpose of
educating individuals who read this paper.
Information and Intervention Resources
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
is a comprehensive resource for families, victim
service practitioners, and law enforcement personnel.
NCMEC is supported by the U.S. Department of
Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (OJJDP) and functions as a clearinghouse
and resource center for collecting and distributing
information about missing, runaway, and sexually
exploited children, including exploitation resulting
from Internet solicitations. In partnership with the
U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Customs Service,
and FBI, NCMEC operates the CyberTipline, an online
form for reporting suspected child sexual
exploitation (www.missingkids.com/cybertip), and the
Child Pornography Tipline (1–800–843–5678). Through
the CyberTipline and the telephone hotline, NCMEC
Receives reports 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, of child sexual exploitation and the
production and distribution of pornography on the
Internet. Calls to the toll-free Child Pornography
Tipline can be received from the United States,
Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
Receives reports of offenses such as
child pornography, child sex tourism, online
enticement of children for sexual acts, and child
sexual molestation (outside the family). Analysts
review each report and provide information to
investigating law enforcement agencies.
Provides leads on child exploitation
cases to appropriate law enforcement authorities and
agencies.
NCMEC case managers work directly with law
enforcement personnel, offering technical assistance,
resources, information, and advice on child sexual
exploitation. NCMEC also has developed specialized
training programs, materials, and curricula designed
for law enforcement personnel. Training is available
at little or no cost to local jurisdictions through
OJJDP. For more information on current programs, call
1–800–843–5678.
Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program
In 1998, the Missing Children’s Program of OJJDP
initiated its Internet Crimes Against Children
(ICAC) task force program, a national effort to
combat the threat of offenders who use the Internet
to sexually exploit children. Through this program,
state and local law enforcement agencies can acquire
the skills, equipment, and personnel resources to
respond effectively to ICAC offenses. The program
encourages law enforcement agencies to develop
specialized multijurisdictional, multiagency
responses to prevent, interdict, investigate, and
prosecute Internet crimes against children. As of mid-
2000, 30 ICAC task forces were participating in the
ICAC task force program. Each task force is composed
of federal, state, and local law enforcement
personnel; federal and local prosecution officials;
local educators; and service providers such as
mental health professionals. These task forces serve
as valuable regional resources for assistance to
parents, educators, prosecutors, law enforcement
personnel, and others who work on child victimization
issues. You can obtain more information on this and
other law enforcement programs from the OJJDP Web
site at ojjdp.ncjrs.org/programs/programs.html.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The FBI has established the Innocent Images program
to focus specifically
on computer-facilitated child sexual exploitation.
Each FBI Field Division has designated two Crimes
Against Children Coordinators to work with state and
local law enforcement officials to investigate and
prosecute cases that cross jurisdictional boundaries.
OVC has placed a victim witness coordinator in the
Innocent Images program to focus greater attention on
the needs of child victims.
U.S. Postal Inspection Service
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service protects children
online by monitoring the transmission of child
pornography through the mail. Increased amounts of
pornography are being sent through U.S. mail as more
illicit Web sites emerge advertising child
pornographic material for sale. In response, the U.S.
Postal Inspection Service is tracking down these
materials. In addition, the U.S. Customs Service
Cyber Smuggling Center monitors the illegal
generation, importation, and proliferation of child
pornography.
Footnotes
US Department of Justice: OVC Bulletin: Internet
Crimes Against Children
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/bulletins/in
ternet_2_2001/welcome.html
2 Morris, Charles and Maisto, Albert, Psychology
10th Edition, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River,
N.J., 1998, pp 524
Resources
1. Federal Bureau of Investigation: Crime in the
US Statistics
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pgiudee.htm
2. National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children: Online Crime
http://www.missingkids.com
3. Bureau of Government Statistics
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjss/cvictgen.htm
4. US Department of Justice: OVC Bulletin: Internet
Crimes Against Children
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/bulletins/in
ternet_2_2001/welcome.html
5. Morris, Charles and Maisto, Albert, Psychology
10th Edition, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River,
N.J., 1998, pp. 413-422, 524
6. Lambreth, John, Social Psychology, Macmillan
Publishing Co., Inc. New York, New York, 1980, pp.
142-143, 424-429
7. Siegel, Larry J., Criminology 8th edition,
Wadsworth/Thomoson Learning, Toronto, Ontario M1K
5G4, Canada, 2003, pp. 35, 42, 89-90, 423
8. Strong, Bryan and Reynolds, Rebecca, Understanding
our Sexuality, West Publishing Company, St. Paul,
Minnesota, 1982, pp. 68, 80, 270-271, 295-304
Resource Links
Computer Monitoring
Info on
Characteristics of Pedophiles
Entrapment Debate
FBI: Crime in the U.S. Statistics
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: Online Crime
Bureau of Government Statistics
US Department of Justice: OVC Bulletin: Internet Crimes Against Children
