To what extent does online pedophilia impact victimization of adolescent children in America?

To what extent does online pedophilia impact victimization of adolescent children in America?

Introduction

The internet is becoming one of the most sort-after, rapidly evolving, and multiple technological platforms in the world. Interestingly, it seems that teenagers have become the highest consumers and users of the internet. A teenager is defined as an individual whose age is below 18 years in the United States of America (Anderson and Jiang, 2018).  According to the Pew Research Center on teens, social media, and technology, researchers Anderson and Jiang (2018) determined that nearly 95% of teenagers in the United States of America have access to a smartphone. The continued use of mobile phones has a consequential effect on increased internet use. Based on the study, Anderson and Jiang (2018) discovered that at least 45% of the teenagers used in the study are always online. The current types of internet platforms used are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, among others (Anderson and Jiang, 2018). There are other types of social media platforms or internet platforms that are not used by teenagers, which in the study, Anderson and Jiang (2018) rated them at 3%. Concurrent investigation about the effects of social media and technology use among teenagers focused on the impact of online application. 45% of the participants dictated that they were undecided regarding the effects of the online application, whereas 31% indicated that social media had a positive effect, and 24% indicated negative impact (Anderson and Jiang, 2018). The cognitive reasoning of a teenager may determine why such individuals are unaware of the potential dangers lacking within the dark side of the internet.

The internet has offered an array of negativity with respect to its use. Despite a large percentage of teenagers being unaware of the threats the internet possesses, a large pool of literature suggests otherwise. For more than a decade, the rise in research regarding child predators has been evident. Wolak et al. (2008) provided an in-depth analysis of studies regarding online predators and what impact they could pose to their victims. In the study, the researchers determined that the internet is becoming an increasingly dangerous place for teenagers. The reason is based on the fact that online predators are using these platforms as ‘hunting grounds’ for their victims (Wolak et al., 2008). Discerningly, it is reported that there are more than 42 million survivors of child abuse living in the United States of America (Darkness to Light, 2020). It is estimated that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18 years (Darkness to Light, 2020). The statistics indicate that nearly 70% of all reported child crimes of sexual assault nature are under the age of 17 years, while almost 20% of victims of child abuse are below the age of eight (Darkness to Light, 2020). On the foresight, there are more than half a million registered sex offenders in the United States, but more than 80 000 are reported missing (Darkness to Light, 2020). The alarming data indicates that a typical pedophile will commit at least 17 sexual crimes in a lifetime (Darkness to Light, 2020). It is evident that the impact of pedophiles on the victimization of adolescents has generated enough attention and concern across the country and globally.

A large pool of research done on pedophilia has mostly examined the physical and consequential acts of pedophilia. The American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization state pedophilia as the sexual attraction of pre-pubescent children reflected on an individual’s sexual thoughts, fantasies, urges sexual arousal and behavior regarding children or teenagers (World Health Organization, 1993; Wolak et al., 2008). Preferably, research has focused on the pedophile-victim relationship, its effects from a health perspective, and socio-economic impact. The general consensus of the studies is that pedophilia has extensive damage creation in teenagers spanning from mental to psychological and health-related problems. As a result, campaigns against child sexual crimes, sexual predators, and how to protect children has been on the rise. According to the study conducted by Wolak et al. (2008), the United States government has intensified judicial and police correlation in preventing child abusers from committing the crimes, including creating a registry on pedophiles nationally. Despite the success that the stakeholders have had over the years, there is a burgeoning crime platform that pedophiles are using, the online platform.

There is an increasing statistical review indicating that child predators are becoming more sophisticated in committing their crimes. The rate at which adolescents are being lured in by child predators is ever-increasing through the internet. Online predators often lurk within sites that are most frequented by adolescents. In specific situations, predators use online profiles and social networking sites to identify potential targets. They contact the victims through deception to cover up their ages and sexual intentions. Mostly, they entice their unknowing victims into meeting them, and then consequential assault occurs. However, the reality is that the rate at which sexual offenders and adolescent meetings online is increasingly becoming complicated and severe. Due to the seriousness of the crimes, studies regarding online pedophilia, and how they are connecting with teenagers. Empirical studies pertaining to victim-perpetrator relationships with respect to online predators have analyzed the relations from a psychological point of view. The consensus is that the danger of youths plunging into sexual predators’ web of lies and host of traps is increasing, and there is nothing that can be done due to the complexity of the internet. There is a need to understand from the online pedophile’s perspective on how such action impacts the victimization of adolescent children in America. Comprehending the heinous crimes from the perpetrator’s perspective may provide more niche information regarding how best to quell the increasing untamable online predators’ sophistication in disguising themselves and baiting the teenagers. The aim of the following research is to investigate the extent to which online pedophilia impacts victimization of adolescent children in America.

Rationale

Pedophilia is regarded as one of the increasing crimes against teenagers in America. Statistics indicate that there are more than 500 000 sexual offenders in the United States, but, missing data suggest they could be more. Alarmingly, the country has provided extensive campaigns against child predators, including how to protect children from falling prey to their actions in addition to providing a national registry for child predators. Despite the campaign, data shows that children, especially teenagers, are falling victim to child predators. There are more than 42 million child survivors of sexual abuse in America. Worse still, is that only 30% of the crimes against children are never reported. For those that are published, 70% occur among children below the age of eighteen. The increased attention that child predators have received, they are becoming more and more sophisticated in preying on teenagers. One of the pivotal ways in which child predators are doing it is through the internet. Primarily, predators use online platforms that are mostly frequented by teenagers. Reports indicate that teenagers are the highest users of the internet, and at least 95% of adolescents in America have a smartphone. Due to the innocence and vulnerability of teenagers, child predators often disguise their age or appearance as a way to lure adolescents. Studies regarding online child predators have focused on the ways in which predators are using to lure adolescents. Furthermore, the research has focused on the consequences of engaging within the child predators online. However, there is limited interest when it comes to an understanding of the extent to which online pedophilia impacts the victimization of adolescent children in America. The current research aims to determine the degree of impact of online pedophilia on the victimization of teenage children in America.

Methodology

            The present project seeks to evaluate the extent to which online pedophilia impacts victimization of adolescent children in America. To achieve this, the researcher assessed the main research scope of the project. To do so, the keywords of the research were determined. These are adolescent, pedophilia, online, and victimization. With the keywords defined, the researcher will use the following search engines as the best sources to extracting the best peer-reviewed sources. These were: Google Scholar, PubMed, and NCBI. The inclusion/exclusion criteria included a timeline of publication, area of study, journal, study design, language, and proximity (geographical). The inclusion-exclusion criteria were used in determining the best sources for the present project. With respect to inclusion, the researcher used the keywords – adolescent, pedophilia, online, and victimization as the original search words. Using Google Scholar, for instance, a result of more than 5 000 articles were retrieved. To narrow down on the excellent sources to use, the researcher included a timeline of not more than five years in research. A result of 1 980 results was determined. To further narrow down, American publications were used with specificity to journals that had a significantly high impact factor of 2.0. Additionally, the research parameters were studies conducted should include empirical, experimental, and meta-analysis data. Studies excluded for the project were determined on the following parameters: the study should be more than five years since 2020 in publication, the study is descriptive in nature, the study should be a review, and the study should have references that date back two decades ago. The resulting numbers of peer-reviewed journals were ten. These include:

1. Babchishin, K. M., Hanson, R. K., & VanZuylen, H. (2015). Online child pornography offenders are different: A meta-analysis of the characteristics of online and offline sex offenders against children. Archives of sexual behavior, 44(1), 45-66.
2. Slavtcheva-Petkova, V., Nash, V. J., & Bulger, M. (2015). Evidence on the extent of harms experienced by children as a result of online risks: implications for policy and research. Information, Communication & Society, 18(1), 48-62.
3. Seto, M. C. (2015). Internet-facilitated sexual offending. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking.
4. Jahnke, S., Imhoff, R., & Hoyer, J. (2015). Stigmatization of people with pedophilia: Two comparative surveys. Archives of sexual behavior, 44(1), 21-34.
5. Wurtele, S. K. (2017). Preventing cyber sexual solicitation of adolescents. Research and practices in child maltreatment prevention, 1, 363-393.
6. Zilka, G. C. (2017). Awareness of eSafety and potential online dangers among children and teenagers. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 16, 319-338.
7. Turner, D., & Briken, P. (2015). Child sexual abusers are working with children-characteristics and risk factors. Sexual Offender Treatment, 10(1), 1-12.
8. Martellozzo, E. (2019). online Child Sexual abuse. In Child Abuse and Neglect(pp. 63-77). Academic Press.
9. Acar, K. V. (2016). Sexual Extortion of Children in Cyberspace. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 10(2).
10. Torretta, P., & Bonucchu, C. (2019). Online Violence against Children: When different forms of adolescents’ vulnerability are expressed on the web and do generate real risks?. Interdisciplinary Journal of Family Studies, 24(1).

Review of Literature

Studies included in this literature review provide explicit information regarding the extent to which online pedophilia impacts victimization of adolescent children. Reports on online pedophilia concurrently indicate that the extent of online pedophilia leads to child abuse and sexual exploitation. According to the meta-analysis study done by Toretta and Bonucchi (2019), sexual predators have transited to online platforms as a more natural way of targeting adolescents. Based on the review, the researchers, Toretta and Bonucchi (2019), determined that sexual predators have sophisticated the manner in which they exploit children. Among them is connecting with adolescents on gaming apps or chat rooms. The worse aspect of it, according to Toretta and Bonucchi (2019), is that parents could be in the same room. When it comes to sexual exploitation, the study dictates that within the last five years (2013-2018), there has been an increase in child pornography convictions in the United States alone. The charges are dependent on the fact that sexual predators illicit adolescents to send immoral pictures or videos of them to the offenders. The evolution of technology has allowed sexual predators to exploit the merits of internet security and privacy components as a means to reach out to adolescents.

One particular manner in which sexual predators victimize adolescents is through supportive networks. Supportive networks are some of the public domains that allow any individual to access content or connect with other people (Toretta and Bonucchi, 2019). In this instance, sexual offenders are virtually able to access their preferred candidates of adolescents. Within the supporting networks, there are adults that share images that depict child sexual abuses to other adults and adolescents. In most cases, according to Toretta and Bonucchi (2019), individuals directly or indirectly sway teenagers into sexual abuses and exploitation opportunities. For example, it is common to find most perpetrators to have initiated conversations with minors through chatrooms. Within the chatrooms, the child predators illicit files and send them to the adolescents, and in turn, they request the teenagers to send them new material. Therefore, this amplifies the victimization of adolescents by online child predators. Thus, the prevalence of sexual exploitation online by sexual predators requires a communication portal between the adolescent and the perpetrator. As such, it enhances the rate of child pornography exhibited in the country.

The extent of exploitation of adolescents online elicits more than sexual exploitation. Toretta and Bonucchi (2019) elucidate that it is common to find child predators seeking communication with teenagers through chatrooms and other social media sites. Babschishin et al. (2015) concur with the study conclusion by Toretta and Bonucchi (2019). According to the meta-analysis study conducted by Babschishin et al. (2015), child predators may have varied reasons for targeting teenagers online. Among the reasons are the sexual solicitation of minors, prostitution, and indecent exposure. Statistical reports estimate that 13% of sexual offenders in America view child pornography online whereas, 6% illicit, illegal activities regarding child predators. Within the past decade, there has been an increase in child predator download of child pornography. According to Babschishin et al. (2015), the cultivation of such sexual desires often leads to contact sexual intent by sexual offenders. The theoretical comprehension is that child pornography offenders have heightened sexual preferences for the type of teenage pornography they view (Slavtcheva-Petkova et al., 2015). Worse still, is that with the continued online sexual offenses, it is natural for the child predators to elicit illegal activities with teenagers offline. Babschishin et al. (2015) report that previous studies have shown a 1% recidivism among sexual contact offenses and a 3% recidivism on online child pornography.

Online child predators are more prone to specific to their targets compared to those who are offline. The study conducted by Babschishin et al. (2015) shows that child predators report either being homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual online. The result of these specifications is that individuals with paraphilic hypersexuality tend to engage with a wide range of sexual behaviors. As a result, the likelihood of exploitation of teenagers offline in line with sexual orientation increases by less than 10%, from 1% as Babschishin et al. (2015) reports. Moreover, the study determined that the ability to commit pedophilia relies on two aspects: criminality and motivation. On the basis of criminality, previous deviance based on age or prior violent offenses record increased rates of recidivism of child pornography or contact sexual activities (Slavtcheva-Petkova et al., 2015). With respect to motivation, the meta-analysis data showed that motivated offenders with access to adolescents were more likely to commit sexual offenses compared to those who did not have access to teenagers physically (Babschishin et al., 2015). Therefore, the latter is expected to view more child pornography than those who are motivated through physical contact.

Regarding criminal offenses, there is an indication that with increased illegal activity or history of criminality, there is an association with increased victimization of teenagers. Comprehending sexual deviance among child predators was the main aim of the quantitative survey-based online study by Wurtele et al. (2018). The study focused on different aspects, including adverse childhood experiences, atypical sexual experiences, childhood sexual abuse, and heightened sexual interest. The results of the study showed that previous childhood sexual abuse among boys increased the desire to commit sexual offenses compared to girls. Through multiple regression analysis, Wurtele et al. (2018) indicated that there is heightened sexual desire during adolescents for participants who experienced child sexual abuse and atypical sexual experiences. The need to masturbate using web-based pornography was higher. The atypical sexual experience data showed that with adolescents, the desire to watch pornography was to find sexual satisfaction. For those who experienced sexual attraction to children, their desire stemmed from historical child-specific sexual excitement (Wurtele et al., 2015). Furthermore, the study indicated that with increased sexual interest, there was an increase in sexual interest affecting children.  The specificity of the research showed that sexual experiences are higher in men than in women. The hypersexuality spectrum is correspondingly more elevated in men than women. The uniqueness in how adolescents seek sexual pleasure affects their adulthood. Those who express interest in unconventional sexual partners resonate with their adolescent sexual desires, according to Wurtele et al. (2015). Therefore, the implication of the study, according to Wurtele et al. (2015), is that comprehension of the victimization of adolescents online begins from an early age and coincides with adulthood.

Online pedophilia on adolescents has been regarded as a complex and undefined target. Based on the empirical study done by Slavtcheva-Petkova et al. (2015), interest in adolescents by-passes the importance known on sexual offenders on children. Adolescents have been described by online pedophiliacs as more mature, can achieve sexual satisfaction, can result in sexual orgasm, and sexual urges more than children. The propensity for the description is that more child predators target teenagers in such domains. Seto (2015) agrees with the above report stating that interest in adolescents is mostly driven by contact solicitation. Seto (2015) carried out an empirical investigation regarding online pedophilia. Within the study, Seto (2015) determined that child pedophiles relating to teenagers often do so either in groups or in groups chats. Due to the maturity of teenagers, sexual offenders take a different approach to allowing teenagers to participate in sexual exploitation without any knowledge freely. Seto (2015), similar to Slavtcheva-Petkova et al. (2015), suggests that online activities involving teenagers revolve around sexual communication, exchange of pornographic material, images, exhibitionism through Webcams and groups chats. The resultant victimization of teenagers is often indirect and, in most cases, direct. The reason for the continued online presence of child predators among adolescents is that they often reach sexual satisfaction while they are still online. The activities that child predators demand from teenagers online satisfy their sexual fantasies. According to Seto (2015), the ability to fuel such fantasies can often lead to either demanded physical contact or shared personal information. Therefore, the increased chances of victimization of teenagers offline increase as the child predators commit to contact sexual favors with teenagers.

The magnitude of online pedophilia on the victimization of teenagers is contributed by increased discrimination against sexual predators. According to Jahnke et al. (2015), the survey-based study showed that there had been an increase in stigmatization against pedophilias. As a result, such individuals isolate themselves from the rest of society, often leading individual or solemn lives. The downside to such stigmatization is the increased addiction to how well child predators can maneuver through the interest. Jahnke et al. (2015) state that there is limited supervision online due to the complexity of the web and how well predators are masking themselves. The inability of the child predators to access the teenagers physically gravitates towards online child exploitation and abuse. Provided that pedophilia is ranked as a mental disorder, the failures to associate with others drive the sexual predators into becoming more aggressive and deny treatment. The resulting consequence is that most of the child predators indulge in drug abuse include alcohol and other drug abuse (Jahnke et al., 2015). The inability of such individuals to control themselves leads to increased desires for illegal activities against teenagers and children alike. The behavior explains why there is an increase in recidivism among sexual offenders. Therefore, behavioral changes, such as increased sadism, pedophilia, and anti-social behaviors, sporadically increase among child predators. The consequential victimization of adolescents increases, according to Jahnke et al. (2015), due to the perceived sexual frustration, anger, and anti-social nature of the predators.

The concept of online pedophilia is to always seek teenagers who long for social acceptance. Teenagehood is often characterized by bullying or peer pressure. The inability to sustain such lifestyles permits teenagers to seek companionship in other areas, including the internet. The aspect of openness, acceptance, friendship, belonging, and closeness, according to Zilka (2017), is the main reason that adolescents fall victim to online pedophilia. Seto (2015) concurs, suggesting that most of the physical contact that child predators have with adolescents are often non-violent or have any physical harm. Most child offenders, according to Seto (2015), target unwary and unpopular teenagers who will go to any lengths to ensure that there is some form of contact offline from the online encounter. In most cases, such communications are unreported since teenagers may not want to get into trouble with law enforcement or put their online ‘friends’ in trouble. The relationship that is formed between the child predator and the teenager is often sexual and nurturing at the same time. The downside to such a relationship, according to Acar (2016), is that the rate of suicidal intentions among the teenagers escalates.

In summary, the results obtained for the literature review have a general consensus that child predators are becoming more and more sophisticated with the use of the internet as a hunting ground for adolescents. The downside to such intent is that unsuspecting and uninformed teenagers are falling prey to such activities by child predators. The results of the literature review show that there are indications of increased physical contact with teenagers by sexual offenders from online to offline. Interestingly, the rate of violent crimes against teenagers by sexual offenders has decreased. According to Acar (2016), the internet has made it easier for child predators to look for their next target. As noted, the rate of child pornography has increased over the years as a result. Concurrently, studies have shown that past offenders prefer using the internet to satisfy their urges compared to the conventional way of reaching sexual gratification. In the long run, it is evident that the extent of online pedophilia to the victimization of adolescent children in America is more prevalent than it was in the past using conventional methods. There is no documented statistics on the rate of affected adolescents via online pedophilia, but, according to Martellozzo (2019), the statistics could be more alarming. The alarming aspect is provided that child predators are becoming more and more vigilant on how to sexually satisfy themselves either through prostitution or sexual solicitation of minors. In conclusion, the extent of online pedophilia is worse than it is for conventional pedophilia with respect to the victimization of adolescent children.

References

Acar, K. V. (2016). Sexual Extortion of Children in Cyberspace. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 10(2).

Anderson, M & Jiang, J. (2018). Teens, Social Media, and Technology, 2018. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/

Babchishin, K. M., Hanson, R. K., & VanZuylen, H. (2015). Online child pornography offenders are different: A meta-analysis of the characteristics of online and offline sex offenders against children. Archives of sexual behavior, 44(1), 45-66.

Darkness to Light. (2020). Child Sexual Abuse Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.d2l.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/all_statistics_20150619.pdf

Jahnke, S., Imhoff, R., & Hoyer, J. (2015). Stigmatization of people with pedophilia: Two comparative surveys. Archives of sexual behavior, 44(1), 21-34.

Martellozzo, E. (2019). online Child Sexual abuse. In Child Abuse and Neglect (pp. 63-77). Academic Press.

Seto, M. C. (2015). Internet-facilitated sexual offending. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking.

Slavtcheva-Petkova, V., Nash, V. J., & Bulger, M. (2015). Evidence on the extent of harms experienced by children as a result of online risks: implications for policy and research. Information, Communication & Society, 18(1), 48-62.

Torretta, P., & Bonucchu, C. (2019). Online Violence against Children: When different forms of adolescents’ vulnerability are expressed on the web and do generate real risks?. Interdisciplinary Journal of Family Studies, 24(1).

Turner, D., & Briken, P. (2015). Child sexual abusers working with children-characteristics and risk factors. Sexual Offender Treatment, 10(1), 1-12.

Wolak, J., Finkelhor, D., Mitchell, K. J., & Ybarra, M. L. (2010). Online “predators” and their victims: Myths, realities, and implications for prevention and treatment.

World Health Organization. (1993). The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders. Diagnostic Criteria for Research. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/GRNBOOK.pdf

Wurtele, S. K. (2017). Preventing cyber sexual solicitation of adolescents. Research and practices in child maltreatment prevention, 1, 363-393.

Zilka, G. C. (2017). Awareness of eSafety and potential online dangers among children and teenagers. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 16, 319-338.