Project reveals complexity of online grooming problem
Sexual predators use the Internet to solicit or 'groom' young victims for abuse, while children who use sexually suggestive profile names and are much less reserved while surfing online are at greater risk of becoming a victim of online grooming, new EU-funded research shows. Past studies investigating child sexual abuse found that offenders spent months befriending a young person, maybe even coming into contact with their family, to track the abuse process. The Internet has changed all this. Offenders can pick and choose their victim from an extensive group of youngsters. The European Online Grooming Project, funded under the European Commission's Safer Internet Plus Programme, seeks to raise awareness of online grooming and empower youngsters to use the Internet safely. Having identified three types of 'groomer', the project partners say European-wide legislation is needed to counter the threat they pose to citizens. 'The Internet has no geographical boundaries,' they point out. The researchers investigated this issue by interviewing convicted online groomers in Belgium, Italy, Norway and the UK. Led by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) in the UK, the project's initial results show that offenders do not behave in the same way. At least three distinct types of groomer exist: 'Distorted Attachment'; 'Adaptable Offender'; and 'Hyper-Sexual'. 'This new evidence sounds an urgent warning that even more needs to be done to help young people stay safe online,' stresses NatCen's Stephen Webster. 'The adoption by social networking sites of a panic button and the work being done to raise young people's awareness of online risk is excellent, but this research tells us that taking a "one size fits all" approach is no longer enough. We want the launch of these findings to mark the start of a new phase in how we respond to this issue.' Distorted Attachment relates to a groomer who believes he is in a romantic and consenting relationship with the young person he is grooming. Unlike what most people think about groomers, this particular offender reveals his identity to the victim and uses no indecent images of children. He spends a great deal of time becoming friendly with his victim before they meet face to face. An Adaptable Offender uses many identities online, adapting his grooming style to suit his purposes. This offender may or may not use indecent images, but he will view the person he is grooming as being sexually mature. It is not his objective to always meet the young person in real life. Hyper-Sexual offenders focus on sharing and securing extensive numbers of indecent images of children. This offender will be part of an online network of sexual offenders, but who has very little, if no, interest at all to meet his victim face to face. The researchers say this type of groomer will likely use various identities or a sexually explicit profile name and photo to make fast contact with a young person. The project partners believe this problem can be addressed by the tackling dis-inhibiting effect of the online environment on groomers and young people. 'We need to face up to the fact that the online environment dis-inhibits young people as well as adults, and that young people are behaving in a sexual way much earlier on than they used to,' says Mr Webster, who is head of the Crime and Justice team at NatCen. 'The evidence is telling us that some young people are unwittingly playing into the hands of online groomers, by choosing sexual profile names and acting in a sexual way with people who they meet online.' Professor Antonia Bifulco from Kingston University London, UK, who also participated in the project, says: 'Young people need to be educated about what constitutes appropriate behaviour online, building on the work being done by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and Childnet. One of the concerning findings was the extent to which young people use sexual screen names and photos of themselves. They often don't realise these will be available across cyberspace and remain there for a long time acting as a magnet for groomers.'For more information, please visit: European Online Grooming Projecthttp://www.europeanonlinegroomingproject.com/Safer Internet Plus Programme:http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/index_en.htmNational Centre for Social Research:http://www.natcen.ac.uk/Kingston University London:http://www.kingston.ac.uk/
Countries
Belgium, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom