Child Luring Via the Internet

Child Luring Via the Internet

The advent of the Internet has provided instantaneous access to images and information and it allows individuals to connect with others from around the world with a click of a mouse. While this kind of access has merits, as children can access a wealth of information from the Internet, play games, and become computer savvy (Kinder, 1999), there are individuals who also use the Internet for the purpose of sexually exploiting children (Gibbs, 1999). The Internet is being highly used by pedophiles to reach and abuse children sexually. With the explosion of the Internet, children are becoming viable victim to the cyber crime. Pedophiles lure the children by distributing pornographic material, and then they try to meet them for sex or to take their nude photographs including their engagement in sexual positions (Gibbs, 1999). Sometimes some of the pedophiles contact children in the chat rooms posing as teenagers or a child of similar age, and then they start becoming friendlier with them and win their confidence. Then slowly pedophiles start sexual chat to help children shed their inhibitions about sex and then call them out for personal interaction. Then they start actual exploitation of the children by offering them some money or falsely promising them good opportunities in life. The pedophiles then sexually exploit the children either by using them as sexual objects or by taking their pornographic pictures in order to sell those over the internet.

The studies find that pedophiles come from all occupations, without regards to social, economic, ethnic or religious lines (Mock, 2000).

Pedophiles produce, collect, and use child pornography for their own sexual gratification using photographs, videotapes, films and printed material. Though traditional child pornography still flourishes, however, today's computer technology now enables predators to easily locate and communicate with each other. The Internet is widely used as a means to share ideas and schemes about luring and exploiting child victims; lull parents into a false sense of security about their presence in a child's life; or openly discuss activities and desires. Since a criminal can represent themselves as a teenager, young person, professional, or anyone that suites their purpose, and chat rooms are an effective tool for any criminal, especially the pedophile. Most pedophiles keep their victim(s) in a "secret" friendship. Travelers (pedophiles that travel to meet their victims) can lure unsuspecting kids and teens to meet after gaining their trust. There are several ways that pedophiles use to lure children. The common ones are as follow:

a) Pedophiles use false identity to lure the children.

A b) Pedophiles contact children in various chat rooms, which are used, by children.

A c) They try to become friend with the child.

A d) They attempt to extract personal information from the child by winning their confidence. They attempt to collect all personal information about the victim such as name, family background, daily routine of the victim, and address of residence.

A e) They attempt to obtain the e-mail address of the child and then they make contacts with the child's e-mail address.

A f) They start sending pornographic images to the victim for shedding their inhibitions so that a feeling is created in the mind of the victim that what is being fed to him is normal and that everybody does it. The email they send may be loving or sexually explicit.

A g) Pedophile set up a meeting with the child out of the house then may lure him/her for sexual encounters.

One of the studies find the evidence that five children aged nine to 16 regularly use chat rooms and more than half have engaged in sex chat.

A quarter has received requests to meet face-to-face. One in 10 had met face-to-face and a majority of these has been the victims of the pedophiles.

Recently, a 42-year-old Mililani man was arrested for suspicion of first-degree electronic enticement of a child. A special agent for the state Department of the Attorney General posing as a juvenile female was contacted by the Mililani man via the Internet, according to police. The man allegedly asked the "child" to have sex with him and to meet him at the Burger King on Beretania Street, where police arrested him at 8:10 A.M. Similarly, a 31-year-old Waianae man convicted of using the Internet to arrange a sexual encounter with a minor has been ordered to spend 30 days in jail and five years on probation. The pedophile's girlfriend admitted that he went online looking for a 13-year-old girl to chat with him (Barayuga, 2004).

Keeping children safe on the Internet is everyone's job. Parents need to monitor and stay in close touch with their kids as they explore the Internet. Teachers should help students use the Internet appropriately and safely. Community groups, including libraries, should help educate the public about safe surfing (Montgomery, 2000).

The anonymity the Internet provides to pedophiles is of great concern to law enforcement (Oswell, 1999). Since it requires a huge amount of investment and law enforcement resources to track a pedophile, the law enforcement often finds unable to take some of these crimes seriously, unless the child is a physical danger of sexually exploited by the pedophiles. A number of these instances have been reported in the media.