Exploring Victim Precipitation in Internet Crimes Against Children

Exploring Victim Precipitation in Internet Crimes Against Children Lynchburg College School of Humanities & Social Sciences Bryce L. Coulter B. A.

Statement of the Problem FBI’s UCR Violent Crime Stats � 2012: 1, 217, 057 � 2013: 1, 168, 298 � 2014: 1, 165, 383 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Cybertipline Reports � 2013: ~500, 000 � 2014: ~1, 100, 000 � 2015: ~4, 400, 000 How has child sexual exploitation been influenced by the Internet? If so, How does the Internet influence victim precipitation in online child sexual exploitation?

Child Sexual Exploitation Legislation � Child Protection Act of 1984 � Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988 � Telecommunication Reform Act & Child Pornography Protection Act in 1996 � Exploitation of Children Today Act in 2003

Background Juveniles have assimilated the Internet, adults have integrated � A nexus allowing for human interaction outside traditional paradigms � Why children are so drawn to the Internet: � Explore curiosities � Connect and interact � Build relationships upon similar interests (Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2003) Juveniles attain their Internet understanding through personal and shared peer experiences (Brosnan, 2002) What makes the Internet and electronic communication septic is the lack of authenticity.

Empirical Literature � Statista Internet population Statistics � 2005: ~1 billion � 2010: ~2 billion � 2016: ~3. 5 billion � 96% of children by the age of 18 own a cell phone (Oldshue, 2015) � 76% of all Internet users use social media Teens Adults 2010: 73% 46% 2015: 89% 66% (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith & Zickuhr, 2010; Perrin, 2015; Lenhart, 2015)

Family System Theory � Open Systems (Shaffer & Sroufe, 2005) �The stratified roles in a family unit are not static �Roles are delegated, family agents are drafted (Kerr, 2002) � Psychodynamic Model �Family hierarchy is stratified by experience � Boundary Dissolution (inevitable) �Undistinguishable boundaries between family agents (Minuchin, 1973) � Role reversal / Parentification �Septic relationship from habitual drafting child latently gives them omniscience (Minuchin, 1973; Chase, 1999; Mayseless & Scharf)

Theoretical Foundation Cont’d. . . � Schafer Victim Precipitation Typology (1968) �Self-victimization (full responsibility) �Provocative victim (shared responsibility) �Perceptive victim (some degree of responsibility) �Biological/Socially weak victims (no responsibility) � Technology weak victims � Opinium Survey, 2013 �~70% of parents were resourcing their children for technology advice �Children were found delaying their parents development to maintain free rein of technology

Methodology � Retrospective �Secondary Data � Non-Probability Purposive Sample Strategy � 356 casefiles � By permission of the Southern Virginia-Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force � Focus �ICAC victims �ICAC perpetrators � Instruments �SOVA-ICAC incident report �NCMEC Cybertip

Measuring Victim Precipitation Child Initiated � Active - Child provoked their victimization or victim as suspect � Passive- Unknowingly increased their vulnerability or targetability to their offender � No – Child had no involvement (Wolfgang, 1968)

Decreas es

ICAC Cases, Demographics Age of Person of Interest Sex of Person of Interest. Femal e 22% 28+ 44% Male 78% Under 18 30% 18 - 27 26%

Total ICAC, Child Initiated Frequency Active 20. 5% Passive 17. 7% No 61. 8%

ICAC Pie Chart– Event Online Enticement 15% Child Prostitution 2% Child Sexual Molestation 1% Other 6% Child Pornography 79% Obsecenity 3%

Descriptive Statistics of ICAC

Independent Samples T-Test Results for Case Demographics by POI Age. *At a 95% confidence interval

One-Way ANOVA Results for Case Demographics by POI Age. *At a 95% Confidence Interval

Conclusion � The Internet does influence victim precipitation in child sexual exploitation � Victims and predators were using deceitful alias � Juveniles are participating in Internet grooming � Although taboo, sexting is practiced within promiscuous relationships

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