Child grooming, in the context of this article, refers to actions deliberately undertaken with the aim of befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, in order to lower the child's inhibitions in preparation for child sexual abuse. Child grooming is also used to lure children into sexual exploitation such as child prostitution or the production of child pornography.[1][2][3]
Contents |
Overview
The deliberate actions taken by an adult to form a trusting relationship with a child, with the intent of later having sexual contact, is known as child grooming. This involves psychological manipulation Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing only the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative, abusive, devious, and deceptive in the form of positive reinforcement Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the delivery of a stimulus, after a response, that results in an increase in the future rate or probability of that response . The response strength is assessed by measuring frequency, duration, latency, accuracy, and/or persistence of the response after reinforcement stops, activities that are typically legal but later lead to sexual contact. This is done to gain the child's trust A trusted party is presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes, law and their previous promises as well as the trust of those responsible for the child's well-being. Additionally, a trusting relationship with the family means the child's parents are less likely to believe potential accusations.[4]
Child pornography images are often shown to the child as part of the child grooming process.[1][3][2]
To establish a good relationship with the child and the child’s family, child groomers might do several things. For example, they might take an undue interest in someone else’s child, to be the child’s “special” friend to gain the child’s trust. They might give gifts or money to the child for no apparent reason (toys, dolls, etc.). They may show pornography—videos or pictures—to the child, hoping to make it easy for the child to accept such acts, thus normalizing Normalization refers to social processes through which ideas and actions come to be seen as "normal" and become taken-for-granted or 'natural' in everyday life. In sociological theory normalization appears in two forms the behavior. They may simply talk about sexual topics. These are just some of the methods a child groomer might use to gain a child's trust and affection in order to allow them to do what they want. Hugging and kissing or other physical contact, even when the child doesn’t want it, can happen. To the groomer, this is a way to get close. They might talk about problems normally discussed between adults, or at least people of the same age. Topics might include marital problems and other conflicts. They may try to gain the child’s parents’ trust by befriending them, with the goal of easy access to the child. The child groomer might look for opportunities Opportunism is the conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances, with little regard for principles. The term can be applied to individuals, groups, organizations, styles, behaviours, and trends to have time alone with the child. This can be done by offering to babysit. The groomer may invite the child for sleepovers. This gives them the opportunity to sleep in the same room or even the same bed with the child.
Child grooming over the Internet
Sexual grooming of children also occurs on the Internet The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and. Some abusers will pose as children online and make arrangements to meet with them in person.
In 2003, MSN MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system implemented restrictions in their chat rooms The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology ranging from real-time online chat over instant messaging and online forums to fully immersive graphical social environments. A chat room is a Web site, purportedly intended to help protect children from adults seeking sexual conversations with them. In 2005, Yahoo! Yahoo! Inc. is an American public corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, (in Silicon Valley), that provides Internet services worldwide. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine (Yahoo! Search), Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, advertising, online mapping (Yahoo! Maps), video sharing (Yahoo! Video) chat rooms were investigated by the New York State New York City, the most populous city in the United States, is known for its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center, and for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both state and attorney general's office for allowing users to create rooms whose names suggested that they were being used for this purpose. That October, Yahoo! agreed to "implement policies and procedures designed to ensure" that such rooms would not be allowed.
An organization called Perverted-Justice Perverted Justice Foundation, Inc., more commonly known as Perverted-Justice , is an American organization based in California and Oregon, that investigates, identifies, and publicizes adults who solicit online sexual conversations with adults posing as children or underage teenagers. Perverted-Justice's methods are controversial, and a number of (known as PJ) uses operatives posing as underage teens on the internet to identify potential child molesters and turn the information over to the police and the courts. The news program Dateline NBC Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It is similar in format to other television newsmagazines ABC's 20/20 and CBS's 60 Minutes features the recurring segment "To Catch a Predator To Catch a Predator was a reality television show that featured a series of hidden camera investigations by the television news-magazine Dateline NBC devoted to the subject of identifying and detaining those who contact people they believe to be below the age of consent over the Internet for sexual liaisons. Men are lured to meet with a decoy", based on documenting such activities.
Multiple programs have been developed to help identify grooming and warn parents. The software studies chat room and other Instant messaging Instant messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based communication between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared software clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet. More advanced instant messaging software clients also allow enhanced modes of communication, such as logs for activity that may identify grooming or other potentially suspicious activities. Some of the technologies have been adapted to social networking services and ISPs.[5]
Criminal offences
General
In its report Protection of Children Against Abuse Through New Technologies, the Council of Europe The Council of Europe is one of the oldest international organisations working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens. It is distinct from the Cybercrime Convention Committee addressed the emerging issues of violence against children through the use of new technologies (the issue of child pornography on the Internet The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and is already covered by Article 9 Convention) with particular reference to grooming both through the internet and by mobile telephones A mobile phone or mobile is an electronic device used for mobile telecommunications (mobile telephone, text messaging or data transmission) over a cellular network of specialized base stations known as cell sites. Mobile phones differ from cordless telephones, which only offer telephone service within limited range, e.g. within a home or an office,.[6]
Some States have already criminalized grooming in their national legislation.
Australia
Australian For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of the roughly 250 language groups. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north and discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Britain in 177 Criminal Code Act 1995 section 474.26 and 474.27 prohibits the use of a "carrier service" to communicate with the intent to procure a person under the age of 16, or expose such a person to any indecent matter for the purposes of grooming.
The various states and territories have similar laws, some of which use a different age (for example the victim need only be under 18 in Queensland).
Canada
In Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three, Criminal Code section 172.1 makes it an offence to communicate with a child through a computer system for the purpose of committing a sexual offence (termed "luring a child").
United Kingdom
In England The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant and Wales Wales ( /ˈweɪlz/ Welsh: Cymru; pronounced [ˈkəmrɨ] (help·info)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. Wales has a population estimated at three million and is officially bilingual; the indigenous Welsh language and English have equal status, and, sections 14 and 15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 make it an offence to arrange a meeting with a child, for oneself or someone else, with the intent of sexually abusing the child. The meeting itself is also criminalized.[7]
The Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005 introduced a similar provision for Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland.[8]
Thus, a crime may be committed even without the actual meeting taking place and without the child being involved in the meeting (for example, if a police officer has taken over the contact and pretends to be that child). In R v T (2005) EWCA Crim 2681, the appellant, aged 43, had pretended to befriend a nine-year-old girl, but had done very little with her before she became suspicious and reported his approaches. He had a number of previous convictions (including one for rape) and was described as a "relentless, predatory pedophile". The Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it. Established in 1875, the Court and its staff of 37 Lords Justices of Appeal hear both criminal appeals in the Criminal Division and civil appeals in the Civil Division, led by the Lord upheld a longer than commensurate sentence In law, a sentence forms the final act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence generally involves a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime. Those imprisoned for multiple crimes, will serve a consecutive sentence , a concurrent of eight years' imprisonment with an extended licence period of two years.
United States
In the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, 18 U.S.C. Title 18 of the United States Code is the criminal and penal code of the federal government of the United States. It deals with federal crimes and criminal procedure § 2422 makes it an offense to use interstate mail etc. to entice a minor to sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense. 18 U.S.C. Title 18 of the United States Code is the criminal and penal code of the federal government of the United States. It deals with federal crimes and criminal procedure § 2425 makes it an offense to transmit information about a person below the age of 16 for this purpose. Some states have additional statutes covering seducing a child online, such as the Florida With an area of 65,758 square miles , it is ranked 22nd in size among the 50 U.S. states. Florida has the longest coastline in the Contiguous United States encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km). The state has four large urban areas, a number of smaller industrial cities, and many small towns law that makes "Use of a Computer to Seduce a Child" a felony A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries, and the United States retains this law. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors. Many common law countries have now abolished the felony/ (Authored by then State Senator Mark Foley Mark Adam Foley is an American real estate agent who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida, who as a Congressman authored the federal law against child grooming and resigned from office due to allegations of grooming and sexual harassment of underaged males).
See also
- Pederasty
- Personal boundaries Personal boundaries are guidelines, rules or limits that a person creates to identify for themselves what are reasonable, safe and permissible ways for other people to behave around them and how they will respond when someone steps outside those limits
- Online predator An online predator is an adult Internet user who exploits vulnerable children or teens, usually for sexual or other abusive purposes
References
| This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (July 2009) |
- ^ a b Crosson-Tower, Cynthia (2005). UNDERSTANDING CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT. Allyn & Bacon. p. 208. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 020540183X.
- ^ a b Levesque, Roger J. R. (1999). Sexual Abuse of Children: A Human Rights Perspective. Indiana University. pp. p64. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0253334713.
- ^ a b Richard Wortley, Stephen Smallbone. "Child Pornography on the Internet". Problem-Oriented Guides for Police No. 41: p14–16.
- ^ Ending Offending Together
- ^ The 'anti-child grooming' website
- ^ Convention on Cybercrime
- ^ Act of the U.K. Parliament; Sexual Offences Act 2003, section 15
- ^ Act of the Scottish Parliament; Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005, 2005 asp 9.
Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:45:10 GMT+00:00
AllFacebook (blog) Children do not realize when they are being sexually groomed , or are afraid to be the one to tell. Too many people who don't really need help will push the ...
admin
hu, 03 Jun 2010 21:50:04 GM
The colleges and schools in India, throw light on the need of parental guidance in the . child's. developments and also give due importance to the parents decision in the daily educational activities of the . child. . The factors of education, ...
