Combat Online Sexual Predators Online

Combat Online Sexual Predators

Online sexual exploitation of minors by adults has grown precipitously since the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s, the ability of minors to engage with older adults in a non-confrontational environment has facilitated a problem of sexual predators soliciting minors for sexual contact. The means to solve this problem may reside in the same technology that enables its proliferation.

Sexual predators have proliferated via the expansion of the internet into millions of homes throughout the world. The very nature of what a sexual predator does is to satiate an innate and animalistic sickness that generally involves the manipulation of the youth into a trusting and innocent relationship linked to sexual content and strong sexual language.

Often times, the sexual predator does not approach and establish interaction with a minor in any manner that is predatory. There is no law against engaging a minor in an online chat room when there is no indication of a crime being committed or the planning of a crime to be committed. In fact, a youth can meet with an adult off line when the conversation has established the interaction to be friendly and of a non-sexual nature. Should the adult violate that trust and break the law by engaging in sexual contact with the minor then the issue of labeling one a sexual predator arises.

The Internet has enabled sexual predators to use chat rooms as a vehicle to engage minors in 'chatting' and enticing them with items that would attract a minor to want to meet with and see these adults. Additionally, the predator engages in sexually charged language that entails the real intent behind the interaction. The difference with the sexual predator is that the relationship is a means to satisfy a sexual desire. The psychosis of the sexual predator is seen in the language used.

The computer enables the sexual predator to not appear as an older individual, which would perhaps appear threatening in a face-to-face encounter. Therefore, the computer and the Internet allow for the sexual predator to engage the youth in a more friendly and innocent manner. However, the intent and manner of engagement often is not any different. Indeed, the only difference is the act is not a forcible abduction however such abduction is possible once the adolescent reveals their home location or decides to meet with the potential sexual predator in person.

Literature Review

So what actually is currently in place to combat online sexual predators? According to the U.S. Fed News Service (2007), "House Bill 2734 would add online identities such as email, instant messaging, and other social networking names to the sex offender registry requirements. If passed, sex offenders would incur the same penalties for failing to update their online identity information as they would for failing to update their physical address. The information would be available on the DPS website, so parents could check and verify who their children are talking to online. The online world has created the perfect sanctuary for sexual predators to hide and they are increasingly using the Internet and its many social networking sites to target our children. Parents deserve to have access to the information the state has on sex offenders." (U.S. Fed News Service, 2007)

According to Markon (2006), "The dimensions of the problem are staggering, according to federal statistics and law enforcement officials. Since an FBI program called Innocent Images National Initiative began targeting child pornography and child sexual enticement in 1995, arrests have increased by more than 2,000%, jumping from 68 in 1996 to 1,649 in 2005. Justice Department prosecutions over child pornography and child abuse have also skyrocketed in the past decade, going from 344 cases in 1995 to 1,576 last year. In Northern Virginia, cases are on the rise as well, though federal officials could not provide specific numbers. Law enforcement officials and child advocates blame the technology and anonymity of the Internet." (Markon, 2006)

According to McColgan & Giardino, (2005), "Unfortunately, some of the more than 77 million people accessing the Internet do so for inappropriate or illegal reasons. Some will "disguise" themselves and use chat rooms, bulletin boards, or instant messaging services to communicate with a child and inappropriately gain his or her confidence. In a nationally representative sample of 1,501 children and teenagers between ages 10 and 17 who used the Internet regularly, 19% were the targets of unwanted solicitation during a 1-year period. The highest risk were for girls, older teenagers, those having problems of one type or another (troubled youth), those using the Internet more frequently, those participating in chat room discussions, and those communicating with strangers online." (McColgan, Giardino, 2005)

State law is often in place and defines the legal age of sexual contact for minors as well as the minimum age of female to male sexual contact. In some states, it takes only communication of an improper nature to violate the law. According to McCollam (2007), "Under a Texas law adopted in 2005 to combat Internet predators, it is a second-degree felony to have such communications with someone under the age of fourteen, even if no actual sexual contact takes place." (McCollam, 2007)

According to Bremer (2000), "Therapists have the opportunity and duty to warn patients and their parents of online threats and to educate them about how to stay safe online. It is important to educate patients not to reveal any personal information, especially identifying information. Real names, phone numbers, addresses, schools, towns, etc., should be avoided during Internet socializing." (Bremer, 2000)

According to Business Wire (2006), "ADF Solutions announced on Wednesday that the FBI has licensed its ADF-Examiner software to combat the usage and distribution of images and other content related to child pornography and sexual exploitation of children. ADF-Examiner integrates state-of-the-art Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) technologies to automate the detection of image and video files. These technologies can identify known child exploitation images as well as any altered or similar versions of these images. Unlike most other image search technologies -- which tend to have a media-centric focus -- technologies from ADF Solutions focus primarily on conclusive data identification. This unique approach leads to incomparable image matching accuracy for child exploitation and other law enforcement related images, while delivering significantly faster computation times. (Business Wire, 2006)

According to The Wilson Quarterly (2007), "Other researchers are developing ways to track malefactors across chatrooms, blogs, and e-mail. Using the same techniques scholars employ to establish authorship of a manuscript-word preference, punctuation, and style-investigators can now identify a person's unique "writeprint" even if he or she adopts an online alias. The technology has been used to identify messages from terrorists, sexual predators, digital pirates, and others. The ability to identify people through the timing of their keystrokes grew out of a 1980 study by Rand Corporation researchers, according to Julie Rehmeyer, a former Science News editorial aide. In the study, several trained typists keyed in three separate passages, then repeated the task four months later. Without fail, analyzing only "the grids of data showing average pauses between pairs of letters," says Rehmeyer, researchers were able to correctly match all seven typists with their keystroke profiles." (The Wilson Quarterly, 2007)

According to the PR Newswire (2007), "Launched in May 2006, Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. Let by the U.S. Attorney's Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims." (PR Newswire, 2007)

According to Ryan (2008), "To combat online sexual predators, a regional task force that will include the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office is being formed. The multi-jurisdictional Piedmont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force will be established through a $475,960 federal grant awarded to the Guilford County Sheriff's Office. The grant will allow the task force, which will cover 3,412 square miles and serve more than 1.3 million residents, to concentrate on locating and arresting people attempting to exploit and prey upon children by computer. Thanks to the grant, investigators from Barnes' office will be educating a detective from each of the participating agencies, Barnes said the detectives will learn how to investigate these kinds of cases and how to use the software and other equipment during a week of training." (Ryan, 2008)