Are Crimes by Online Predators Different From Crimes by Sex Offenders Who Know Youth In-Person?

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.06.010

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 53, Issue 6, December 2013, Pages 736-741

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.06.010 Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

We examined cases in which sex offenders arrested for Internet-related crimes used the Internet for sexual communications with minors, comparing crimes by offenders who met victims online to those by offenders who knew victims in-person prior to the offense.

Methods

We collected data from a national sample of law enforcement agencies (n = 2,653) about arrests in 2009 for Internet-related sex crimes against minors, conducting detailed telephone interviews with investigators about individual cases. This paper examines a subset of arrest cases that included the use of online sexual communications (online-meeting offenders, n = 143; know-in-person/online offenders, n = 139).

Results and Conclusions

Compared with know-in-person/online offenders, online-meeting offenders were less likely to have criminal backgrounds and more likely to use online communications to deceive victims. However, deception was a factor in a minority of cases and was also used by some know-in-person/online offenders. The majority of cases in both groups involved statutory rape (i.e., nonforcible illegal sexual activity with underage youth) or noncontact offenses such as child pornography production or sexual solicitation of a minor. We conclude that crimes by online-meeting offenders should not be treated as different or more dangerous than those by know-in-person/online offenders who use online sexual communications. Rather, prevention efforts should educate about the nature of statutory rape and related noncontact offenses. The primary message should be that it is criminal for adults to make sexual overtures to minors, online or offline, no matter what their relationship to the youth.

Section snippets

Methods

We surveyed a stratified national sample of 2,653 law enforcement agencies by mail asking if they had made arrests for Internet-related child sexual exploitation crimes during 2009. Then we conducted detailed telephone interviews with investigators about specific cases reported in the mail surveys.

Results

In 2009, there were an estimated 1,490 arrests for Internet-related sex crimes against minors that included online sexual communications with victims (95% confidence interval (CI): 1,330–1,649). An estimated 672 arrests were for crimes by online-meeting offenders (95% CI: 564–781); an estimated 817 were for crimes by know-in-person/online offenders (95% CI: 710–925).

Acknowledgments

This project was funded by Grant No. 2009-SNB-90001 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The total amount of federal funding is $825,704. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

We are grateful to the many law enforcement investigators who participated in this research and to the

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Cited by (43)

A scoping review of child grooming strategies: pre- and post-internet
2022, Child Abuse and Neglect
Citation Excerpt :
In the offline environment, grooming began to take on a technological component. Offline offenders sent explicit messages over email or text and used a series of apps to maintain communication with the victim (Henschel & Grant, 2019; Wolak & Finkelhor, 2013). To varying degrees, technology became a component of most ongoing child sexual abuses (Dowdell et al., 2011; Wolak & Finkelhor, 2013).
Researchers have studied the online sexual grooming of minors extensively since the early 2000s. However, the grooming process is neither new nor restricted to digital media. While grooming and child sexual abuse existed long before the Internet, the advent of the Internet has resulted in more ways in which offenders can interact with candidate victims including offline-only, online-only, and a mix of offline and online.
In this study, we conducted a scoping review of grooming strategies both pre- and post-Internet. Our goal was to enumerate strategies analyzed in both time periods, provide similarities and differences, and discuss how changing datasets and technology have impacted the grooming process in both online and offline environments.
We performed a scoping review of peer-reviewed journal articles from 1970 to 2020 within PubMed, Medline, PsychInfo, and ERIC. This resulted in 19,679 unique articles. Titles and abstracts were screened resulting in 266 articles which were then read in full, resulting in 93 papers which qualified based on inclusion criteria.
Grooming strategies identified pre-Internet included: enticements, coercion, isolation, substance abuse, gradual sexualization, and secrecy. In comparison, the strategies identified post-Internet were: enticements, risk assessment, trust, sexualization, fantasy, secrecy, isolation, meeting, media progression, deception, coercion, substance use as a tool, authority, and repetition.
While grooming strategies overlapped pre and post-Internet, the timing and scope of concepts differed. Additionally, grooming offline began to incorporate technology post-Internet which functioned to increase accessibility and isolation of the victim in a similar manner to online grooming.
Offender strategies for engaging children in online sexual activity
2021, Child Abuse and Neglect
Following technological developments, there has been increasing interest in online offenders' use of digital communication technology to sexually groom and abuse children. However, research has thus far primarily explored offenders' interactions with decoys instead of actual children, and initial evidence indicates that conversations with actual children may include more overt persuasion and extortion than conversations with decoys.
This study aims to describe online offenders' interactions with actual children when inciting them to engage in online sexual activity.
Swedish court judgements including 50 offenders (aged 16–69, median = 28.9) and 122 child victims (aged 7–17, median = 13.0) were analyzed.
By using an explorative mixed-methods approach, we thematically analyzed what strategies the children were exposed to, and looked for patterns between the strategy used and the characteristics of the abuse, victim, or offender.
We identified two types of strategies that the children were exposed to: pressure (threats, bribes, or nagging, N = 56), and sweet-talk (flattery, acting as a friend, or expressing love, N = 25). Overall, the offenders who used pressure were younger and targeted older children than the offenders who used sweet-talk.
This study expands the existing knowledge about the variety of manipulative strategies used by online offenders and adds support to the initial literature showing substantially more pressure and coercion in online offenders' interactions with actual children. The study also identifies some patterns between the strategy used and the age of the offender and victim that warrant further investigation in future studies.
Data on fantasy vs contact driven internet-initiated sexual offences: Study selection, appraisal and characteristics
2018, Data in Brief
Data presented within this article supports the findings of the manuscript “A systematic review of fantasy driven vs contact driven internet-initiated sexual offences: Discrete or overlapping typologies?” (Broome et al., in press) [1]. Inclusion and Exclusion criteria of study selection, PICO Formulation of Study Appraisal, as well as the Study Characteristics and Methodology of included studies are presented.
Progression, maintenance, and feedback of online child sexual grooming: A qualitative analysis of online predators
2018, Child Abuse and Neglect
The limited literature on online child grooming has focused mainly on studying the characteristics of perpetrators and victims that facilitate the sexual abuse of minors. Little attention has been given to the perceptions of the perpetrators about the abuse process and the strategies used to sustain it over time. In the present study, after identifying a sample of 12 men convicted of online grooming, we used qualitative grounded theory through in-depth interviews and comparisons with the proven facts of their convictions. The results show how aggressors actively study the structural environment, the needs and vulnerabilities of the minors). In this way, the aggressors adapt by using most effective strategies of persuasion at all times, so that the child feels like an active part of the plot. This allows the aggressors to have sexual interactions with minors either online or offline and in a sporadic or sustained manner. This process is maintained with some distorted perceptions about minors and the abuse process, which seem to feed back to the beginning of the cycle with other potential victims. The interaction between the persuasive processes and the distorted perceptions of the aggressor leads to a potential work focus for treatment as well as detection and prevention. Trying to visualize the complexity of the phenomenon could also help researchers to understand processes from this approach that may be applied with other types of vulnerable populations.
A systematic review of fantasy driven vs. contact driven internet-initiated sexual offences: Discrete or overlapping typologies?
2018, Child Abuse and Neglect
Citation Excerpt :
Sixteen percent (n = 18) of contact cases in Wolak et al.’s (2004) study involved coercion, and 9% (n = 9) in Wolak and Finkelhor (2013). It is unclear precisely how many cases in Wolak and Finkelhor (2013) study involved offline contact, however the authors note that a considerable number did not commit an offline offence. Two studies found no evidence of coercion in contact cases (Barber & Bettez, 2014; Grosskopf, 2010).
Within the literature individuals who use the internet to facilitate the sexual abuse of a minor are generally classified as being fantasy or contact driven. Classification is based upon the intended location for sexual climax: fantasy driven individuals aim to reach sexual climax online, whereas contact driven individuals target minors to achieve physical sex offline. This review systematically investigates whether there is an empirical basis for the distinction between these two proposed discrete types. Comparison of tactics and behaviour are considered to examine whether the contact vs. fantasy distinction is useful. A two-stage literature selection process, considered against pre-determined inclusion criteria, identified a total of twenty-two studies. As methodological heterogeneity limited the ability to conduct pooled analysis, a narrative synthesis of data employing an interpretive approach was conducted. This showed that the contact and fantasy distinction is ambiguous, given that both groups engage in online behaviours that provide them with online sexual gratification that can also lead to offline contact. Furthermore, no clear pattern of behaviour was found to define contact and fantasy individuals idiosyncratically. The European Online Grooming Project typology is thus proposed as a better representation of this behaviour; intimacy seeking, adaptable and hypersexualized groups. The distinction between these groups focuses primarily on the intensity of the relationship, acknowledging that sexual abuse can occur with or without offline contact. This review also highlights the need for larger, methodologically robust studies that examine the behaviour of online child sexual offenders.
Persuasion strategies in online grooming of children: A qualitative analysis with sex offenders in prison
2017, Psychosocial Intervention
El grooming online (proceso en el cual un adulto se gana la confianza de un menor con el objetivo de obtener algún tipo de contacto sexual) es un problema social serio. Actualmente se sabe poco sobre las estrategias específicas que los adultos usan para manipular y persuadir a los menores con el fin de lograr interacciones sexuales con ellos. En este estudio con metodología cualitativa se realizaron entrevistas en profundidad a 12 hombres condenados por grooming online (edades entre 21 y 51 años; M = 38, DT = 10.32). También se comparó la información obtenida con el análisis de los hechos probados de sus condenas. Los resultados mostraron que las principales estrategias de manipulación utilizadas por los agresores fueron el engaño, la corrupción (p. ej., ofrecer dinero o regalos a los menores a cambio de sexo), la implicación emocional del menor y la agresión. Estas estrategias tratan de involucrar o coaccionar activamente al menor en el proceso abusivo para evitar la revelación. Los programas de prevención podrían beneficiarse enormemente de incorporar los hallazgos empíricos sobre las tácticas y estrategias que los agresores utilizan para manipular y explotar sexualmente a los menores.
Online grooming (a process in which an adult gains the trust of a child with a view to making sexual contact of some type) is a serious social problem. Little is currently known about the specific strategies used by adults to manipulate and persuade children to engage in sexual interaction with them. For this study using qualitative methodology we undertook in-depth interviews with 12 men convicted for online grooming (aged between 21 and 51 years; M = 38, SD = 10.32). The information obtained was compared with an analysis of the proven facts of their convictions. The results show that the principal manipulation strategies used by offenders are deception, corruption (e.g. offering money or gifts to children in return for sex), emotionally engaging the child, and aggression. These strategies attempt to actively involve or coerce the child in the abusive process to prevent disclosure. Prevention programmes could benefit enormously by incorporating empirical findings about the tactics and strategies used by offenders to manipulate and sexually exploit children.

View all citing articles on Scopus

: Conflicts of interest: We know of no potential conflicts of interest. The study sponsor was not involved in the design or implementation of the research or in any aspect of this paper.

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Original articleAre Crimes by Online Predators Different From Crimes by Sex Offenders Who Know Youth In-Person?

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results and Conclusions

Section snippets

Methods

Results

Acknowledgments

Aggression Violent Behav

Child Abuse Negl

Aggression Violent Behav

Association of maltreatment with high-risk Internet behaviors and offline encounters

Pediatrics

Characteristics of the Internet for criminal child sexual abuse by online groomers

Criminal Justice Stud

Compliant child victims: Confronting an uncomfortable reality

APSAC Advisor

Grooming cybervictims: The psychological effects of online exploitation for youth

J Sch Violence

Safeguarding young people from cyber pornography and cyber sexual predation: A major dilemma of the Internet

Child Abuse Rev

Identifying sexual grooming themes used by Internet sex offenders

Deviant Behav

Trends in arrests of “online predators.”

Online “predators” and their victims: Myths, realities and implications for prevention and treatment

Am Psychol

Statutory rape known to law enforcement

Original article
Are Crimes by Online Predators Different From Crimes by Sex Offenders Who Know Youth In-Person?