ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS

Online Child Predators

Online Child Predators

Introduction

The twinkling laughter, sparkling eyes and innocent smiles are shattered due to the heinous act of abusing a little child. Daily several children are exploited and become the subject of abuse. The vulnerability of children makes them an easy target to strangers and even their family members. Child abuse has become a growing concern for every country. It is not just a family or an individual's problem; it is a problem for the entire world. Abuse is an ongoing process, if a child is abused, he is likely to abuse his/her own children when he grows up, unless he acquires proper counseling, the process of abuse goes on and on. It is a never- ending process which is why it is important to stop this monstrous crime. The internet has increased the possibilities of the child abuse. There are numerous individuals who lure the children in their traps while hiding behind the anonymity of the internet.

Online Predators

The Internet is a popular medium of communication for people around the world. Through the internet communication, one can befriend anyone from any part of the world while maintaining anonymity. Due to this feature of online communication, certain individuals lure young people into inappropriate or dangerous relationships. People who engage in such activities are called online predators. The main targets of online predators are children, especially teenagers. It is in adolescence; children are gradually moving out of parental care and making new friends. Internet predators try to gain the trust of these children and engage them in a close relationship. The children easily trust anyone in the internet. These online predators manipulate the children and youngsters and lure them towards inappropriate activities (Kelly, 2005).

Internet predators lure their victims, and establish contact through conversation via instant messaging, e-mail or on the online forums. Often the online predators are a member of a group communication in discussion program, using a fictitious name. For example, if the program call is intended for children, internet predator can easily pretend to be a child to be allowed to participate. One of the attractions of the Internet is the anonymity of the user, and this is why it can be so dangerous (Finkelhor et al, 2007). A child doesn't always know with whom he or she is interacting. Children may think they know, but unless it's a school friend or a relative, they really can't be sure. Often we think of pedophiles as having access to children out on the playground and other places, but because of the way the Internet works, children can actually be interacting on their home computers with adults who pretend to be children.

Prevalence of Childhood Sexual and Physical Abuse amidst Sex Offenders

Many investigations have shown a high prevalence of Sexual and personal misuse amidst Sex offenders. Seventy per hundred of mature individual offenders describes that they had been bodily or sexually misused in childhood, while 92.5% of juvenile offenders described the identical thing (Wolak et al, ...