Online “Predators” and Their Victims: Myths, Realities, and Implications for Prevention and Treatment (PDF; 441 KB)
Source: American Psychologist
From press release (University of New Hampshire, Crimes against Children Research Center)

Contrary to stereotype, most Internet sex offenders are not adults who target young children by posing as another youth, luring children to meetings, and then abducting or forcibly raping them, according to researchers at the University of New Hampshire who have studied the nature of Internet-initiated sex crimes.

Rather, most online sex offenders are young adults who target teens and seduce victims into sexual relationships. They take time to develop the trust and confidence of victims, so that the youth see these relationships as romances or sexual adventures. The youth most vulnerable to online sex offenders have histories of sexual or physical abuse, family problems, and tendencies to take risks both on- and offline, according to the researchers at the UNH Crimes against Children Research Center.
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Among the study’s other findings:

• Internet offenders pretended to be teenagers in only 5 percent of the crimes studied by researchers.
• Nearly 75 percent of victims who met offenders face-to-face did so more than once.
• Online sex offenders are seldom violent, and cases involving stalking or abduction are very rare.
• Youth who engaged in four or more risky online behaviors were much more likely to report receiving online sexual solicitations. The online risky behaviors included maintaining buddy lists that included strangers, discussing sex online with people they did not know in person and being rude or nasty online.
• Boys who are gay or are questioning their sexuality may be more susceptible to Internet-initiated sex crimes than other populations. Researchers found boys were the victims in nearly one-quarter of criminal cases, and most cases included facts that suggested victims were gay or questioning their sexuality.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Crime, Documents in the news, Gender and sexuality, Internet, Social and cultural issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.