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 who have studied the nature of Internet-initiated sex crimes.
Rather, most online sex offenders are 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, the researchers say.
The full text of the study is available from APA
This topic is not new -
Chatmag published an editorial debunking the myth of 50,000 online predators in 2006 which was used when Project Safe Childhood was announced. Neither the FBI nor the Center for Missing and Exploited Children can explain the figure. Benjamin Radford even explores the history of the alarming number and concluded that "The vast majority of crimes against children are committed not by released sex offenders, but instead by the victim's own family, church clergy, and family friends", not online predators.
As Libraries are increasingly becoming the target of battles against pornography, they are also being targeted as enablers of criminal activity. All across the country the discussion is heating up - Colorado, Sacramento, Gwinnett County, Georgia, and Brooklyn, to cite a few examples.
And just in case you think the Department of Justice isn't serious about this, on May 7th they announced the distribution of $5 million to fund 43 US Attorneys who are solely charged with combating "technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children"
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