Sexual predators: characteristics, offenses, and criminal justice responses

Internet Sex Offenders

Today's technology has allowed for many great advances in society that allow for great benefit and good. The internet and instant communication abilities have provided new landscapes for the human species to evolve and grow. The power of technology must be wielded with temperance and wisdom however due to the always present threat of those who wish to prey and feed off the weakness of other people.

The purpose of this essay is to describe specific strategies that are most effective with sex offenders in the community. This discussion will first discuss the newly formed landscape in which criminal justice professionals find themselves in today and how technology has affected their ability to successfully perform their duties. This discussion will also include ideas about legislation and technology that can be used in the efforts to deter these criminals from committing future sex crimes.

The New Landscape

Sex offenders have been categorized as a special type of criminal within our society. While violence and other criminal methods are often more acceptable, when sex is involved in a crime, the level of fear and revenge are increased significantly in finding solutions to the problem. Sex is mostly a taboo subject in many areas of society, and despite the appearant openness towards the subject displayed by our socities appetites for sexual entertainment through pornography and mainstream entertainment, it demonstrates an immature and generally unhelpful means of treating the mental illnesses that often dwell inside the offenders' minds.

Regardless of the cultural implications of sex offense and the use of technology and the internet, criminal justice professionals have adapted to this landscape by taking the battle to cyberspace. The ability to hide, navigate and surprise victims using the internet has created a whole new set of problems to combat these predators. The good news is that the very same technology that sexual predators are using, can also be used as means to catch and punish these criminals as well.

Fuchs (2013) suggested that sex offenders come in all shapes and sizes today as a result of online technology. While sex offenders used to fit more of a standard profile, the new landscape has demonstrated the true depth of this criminal behavior. The author wrote "It's hard to imagine that a sex offender registry -- a public database run by states -- would include anybody who wasn't an adult pedophile or a rapist or seriously dangerous in some way. But sex offender registries can ensnare and publicly humiliate people who haven't victimized anybody at all." The hyper sexualized culture that we are living in today where legal prostitution and other lacks of moral judgment have over sexualized the community as a whole.

Sex Offenders and the Internet

This theme can be illuminated that most of the internet's content is sexually based and is used for exploring sexual ideas through pornography and sexual exchanges through the web. The issue of child pornography becomes very relevant in this arena. Wortley (2006) argued "Internet child pornography is unlike most crimes local police departments handle. Local citizens may access child pornography images that were produced and/or stored in another city or on another continent. Alternatively, they may produce or distribute images that are downloaded by people thousands of miles away. An investigation that begins in one police district will almost certainly cross jurisdictional boundaries. Therefore, most of the major investigations of Internet child pornography have involved cooperation among jurisdictions, often at an international level."

This idea of being able to hide one's own identity and location on the internet has made the competent sexual predator almost impossible to catch. The internet itself has very little restrictive barriers to entering the domain. It is not difficult to log on from anywhere and become part of this online community. As a result of this situation, young children and others who are unaware of sexual predators are placed more at risk than being out in the street or playground. Deception is a key ideal for those who prey on others, and the internet provides this concealment in a way that is very helpful to their ends.

Fighting Fire with Fire