Predatory Online Behavior: Modus Operandi of Convicted Sex Offenders in Identifying Potential Victims and Contacting Minors Over the Internet

• NCJ Number: 219683
• Journal: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: 2007 Pages: 23-32
• Author(s): L. Alvin Malesky Jr.
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the Internet activity of 31 men who had perpetrated or attempted to perpetrate contact sex offenses against minors with whom they had communicated online, in order to gain a better understanding of how they selected their online victims.

Abstract

Chat rooms were the offenders' most frequently used Internet component for identifying and contacting potential victims. Twenty-five of the men (81 percent) reported visiting chat rooms geared toward minors for the purpose of meeting children/adolescents. Of these 25 men, 14 attempted to set up an in-person meeting for sex with the minors they met in these chat rooms. In addition to chat rooms, online profiles of Internet users and postings to bulletin boards were used to identify potential victims. Fifteen offenders (48.4 percent) reported reviewing online profiles of minors, and 3 individuals (9.7 percent) stated that bulletin board postings were used to screen for possible victims. A minor mentioning sex in any fashion online apparently became a trigger for offenders to contact the minor. The men indicated that when they met a child online who appeared "needy" or "submissive," they would attempt initiation of an online relationship with the minor. The minor's screen name, particularly if it was "young sounding," apparently motivated some offenders to contact these children. Once online contact with a minor was established, offenders engaged in a variety of illegal or inappropriate behaviors, including sending child pornography to minors over the Internet, almost all (97 percent) of the men engaged in sexually explicit online conversations with minors. The 31 male offenders interviewed were in the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Sex Offender Treatment Program. A questionnaire developed by the author was used to collect demographic information as well as information about participants' Internet use. 1 table and 24 references