NCJ Number
200006
Date Published
September 2002
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This videotape discusses Internet crimes against children and what parents can do to prevent them.
Abstract
On the Internet, bulletin boards, chat rooms, and e-mails can be places of danger for children. In October of 2001, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force of South Dakota was formed to educate the public about the dangers of the Internet, help prevent Internet crime, provide computer forensics expertise, and facilitate criminal investigations. Over forty million children were accessing the World Wide Web in 2002. One in five children are solicited online for sex or sent pornography. One in 33 children are aggressively solicited for sex. One in four children receive unwanted pornography. Ten percent of the children solicited for sex online do not tell their parents or the police because they don’t want to get themselves or the perpetrator in trouble; they feel ashamed or embarrassed; or they fear the loss of computer privileges at home. Seventy percent of these children are solicited at home while 50 percent are at a friend’s house and unsupervised. Of the people soliciting sex online, 35 percent are adults, 50 percent are children, and 18 percent are unknown. Online predators include child molesters or pedophiles with a history of child sexual abuse, and people with no history but who have thoughts of child sex abuse and do it because it is easy to do in private and there are no external controls. Special law enforcement units place themselves between the predator and children online but don’t have time to check the increasing amount of leads and only become involved after the child is involved. Safety rules for children are to never give out personal information online; not believe what they read or hear online; never get together with someone they “meet” online; and report the incident immediately if they feel uncomfortable. Parents should provide supervision and not depend on filtering software; educate themselves on Internet use; set rules and regulations about Internet use; place the computer where it can be easily monitored; and teach their children to report online sexual solicitations and unwanted pornography.