preview

Essay The Internet and The Increase of Online Predators

Good Essays

A change has occurred regarding the increase of online predators. The internet has been one of the most important technological advancements this century. The internet has allowed people from all over the world to communicate with family, friends, and strangers. But it has also caused major concern. With everyone communicating through online forums, social networks, and chat rooms, it is impossible to figure out who the people are talking to. With the internet, people are able to live multiple lives. With this advance in technology, there has been a major increase of online predators. Predators can create different identities, pick new names, lie about their age, and use another person’s picture as their own. By being well educated …show more content…

Predators take advantage of children’s natural vulnerabilities such as attention, depression, and insecurities. Most internet related crimes often involve adult men who use the internet to meet and seduce underage adolescents into sexual acts. Victims that meet face to face with their offenders are typically already expecting to engage in sexual activity. “In the N-JOV study, 73% of victims who had face-to-face sexual encounters with offenders did so more than once (Wolak 2008).” Child predators find ways to have the victims form a love or romance for them in order to stay with them. According to Internet Safety 101, at least 200 million girls and 100 million boys will be sexually abused before adulthood. Online predators tend to target girls more than boys. In the figure above, the graph explains the percentage of male online predators and the percentages of arrests in 2000 compared to 2006. From this graph, we can tell that most online predators are white males. Very few have history of violence, previous arrests, and substance abuse. There was a drastic decline over time of predators interested in child pornography. In 2000, 40% of the arrests possessed with child pornography. In 2006, there was a major decrease, down to 22% (Wolak). Even though

Get Access