Researchers Offer Tips Against Children's Sexual Online Predators

Newswise — A recent national survey found that one in five youths are solicited for sex over the Internet annually (Mitchell, Finkelhor, & Wolak, 2001) and a team of college researchers are taking the offensive against childrens’ sexual online predators through an article in this month’s edition of the journal, Professional Psychology: Research & Practice, published by the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Stefan C. Dombrowski, assistant professor of graduate education in the School of Psychology at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., headed the effort – designed to bring greater awareness to the relative ease and rise of online sexual solicitation of youth. He joined with Rider colleagues Dr. C. Emmanuel Ahia, in the department of graduate education, School of Psychology and Counseling Services; and John W. LeMasney, manager of Rider’s Office of Instructional Technology; along with Dr. Shannon Dickson, a psychology professor at California State University, to collaborate on the paper, “Protecting Children from Online Sexual Predators: Technological, Psychoeducational, and Legal Considerations.” The authors hope the paper provides proactive solutions on how to protect children and adolescents from such threats.

“Our article is one of the first to discuss the possible mechanisms of online sexual solicitation and to provide guidance on how to protect children from a very pernicious crime,” said Dombrowski, whose research interests include factors that adversely impact the development of children.

The article specifically contains the following:

* Characteristics of sexual predators
* The grooming process
* Characteristics of youth targeted by sexual predators
* How predators might use the Internet
* Mechanisms of online solicitation
* How to prevent online solicitation
* A parent-child contract for Internet Safety
* Guidance to professional psychologists who evaluate of treat sex offenders

According to Dombrowski, the Internet represents a new and efficient medium that allows sexual predators access to countless children in a relatively anonymous environment.

“The Internet has changed the way in which many people interact. It is now a much more acceptable forum for seeking out our friendships and romantic relationships, particularly among younger generations,” he said. “The cyberpredator can masquerade as a youth with similar backgrounds, age and interests for the ultimate purpose of committing sexual abuse.

“Obviously, sexual abuse can have devastating consequences. It robs children of their dignity, threatens their social-emotional integrity, and places them at great developmental disadvantage. It has aptly been labeled ‘soul murder.’”

Ahia presented background on existing child exploitation statutes and the clear need for the reporting and documentation of various acts of online solicitation. He also provided a description of the relevant laws as they relate to online solicitation and practicing psychologists.

LeMasney, meanwhile, offered insight on the various mechanisms that techno-savvy predators might use to establish an online relationship with a child or adolescent. He also presented effective technological protective measures individuals can use against hackers.

The group specifically recommends the following to parents and/or counselors in preventing online solicitation:

Technological Protective Considerations:
* Installation of a firewall
* Installation of anti-virus or anti-Trojan software
* Installation of a key logger – computer software that allows the storage of all characters that have been typed on a particular machine
* Monitoring of a browser history
* Encryption – which will hide text from predators who are using software to spy on a child’s Internet-based communication
* Privacy filtration – software, such as Netscape Nanny 5.0, that blocks personal information from transmission over the Internet
* Application tracking and usage – monitoring the amount of time spent using particular computer programs through the use of application tracking software
* Chat logging – which logs, records and saves on the hard drive the plain text communication that occurs over chat clients

Psychoeducational Protective Considerations:
* Recognizing and discussing Internet dangers
* Supervising Internet friends – discussing each online friend in a way that respects the privacy of the youth while safeguarding them from inappropriate communication
* Understanding and approving children’s screen names
* Establishing a caregiver-child contract, which is included in their article
* Placing the computer in a public location
* Contacting the Cyber Tip Line, which is provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-843-5678 whenever there is suspicion of online sexual solicitation of youth.

Dick Jones Communications assists Rider with its public affairs work.