Child grooming

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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 sexual abuse.

[edit] 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. The act of grooming a child sexually may include activities that are legal in and of themselves, but later lead to sexual contact. Typically, this is done to gain the child's trust as well as the trust of those responsible for the child's well-being. Furthermore, research has shown children are less likely to report a crime if it involves someone that he or she knows, trusts, and/or cares about^{[citation needed]}. Additionally, a trusting relationship with the family means that the child's parents will be less likely to believe any potential accusations. ^[1]

[edit] Examples of activities sometimes used as part of child grooming

• Taking an undue interest in someone's child (having a "special" friend)
• Giving gifts or money to the child for no apparent reason
• Showing pornography to the child
• Talking about sexual topics
• Hugging, kissing, or other physical contact even when the child doesn't want this attention
• Talking to the child about problems that would normally be discussed between people of the same age or more commonly, adults (e.g. marital problems)^[1][2]
• Becoming good friends with the child's parents in order to gain easy access to their child (e.g. Babysitting)
• Looking for opportunities to have time alone with the child.
• Inviting the child over for sleepovers or sleeping in the same room or bed with someone else's child.

[edit] Child grooming over the Internet

Sexual grooming of children also occurs on the Internet. Some abusers will pose as children online and make arrangements to meet with them in person.

In 2003, MSN implemented restrictions in their chat rooms purportedly intended to help protect children from adults seeking sexual conversations with them. In 2005, Yahoo! chat rooms were investigated by the New York State 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 (known as PJ) uses PJ 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 features the recurring segment "To Catch a Predator", based on documenting such activities.

Multiple programs have been developed, that help identify grooming and warn parents. The software studies chat room and other Instant messaging 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.^[3]

[edit] Criminal offences

[edit] General

In its report, Protection of Children Against Abuse Through New Technologies, the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention Committee ^[4] addressed the emerging issues of violence against children through the use of new technologies (the issue of child pornography on the Internet is already covered by Article 9 Convention) with particular reference to grooming both through the internet and by mobile telephones.

Some States have already criminalized grooming in their national legislation.

[edit] Australia

Australian 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).

[edit] Canada

In Canada, 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").

[edit] United Kingdom

In England and Wales, 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.^[5]

The Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005^[6] introduced similar provision for Scotland.

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 upheld a longer than commensurate sentence of eight years' imprisonment with an extended licence period of two years.

[edit] United States

In the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 2425 makes it an offense to transmit information about a person below the age of 18 for the purpose of committing a sexual offense. Some states have additional statutes covering seducing a child online, such as the Florida law that makes "Use of a Computer to Seduce a Child" a felony (ironically authored by then State Senator Mark Foley, 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).

[edit] See also

• Online predator

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Ending Offending Together
2. ^ Warning Signs About Child Sexual Abuse
3. ^ The 'anti-child grooming' website
4. ^ Convention on Cybercrime
5. ^ Act of the U.K. Parliament; Sexual Offences Act 2003, section 15
6. ^ Act of the Scottish Parliament; Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005, 2005 asp 9.

[edit] External links

• University of Central Lancashire, Cyberspace Research Unit, "Cyber Stalking, Abusive Cyber Sex And Online Grooming: A Programme Of Education For Teenagers" (2004)
• Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse
• Grooming Children for Sexual Molestation, written by Gregory M. Weber, the Assistant Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin who specializes in the prosecution of crimes committed against children.
• How Children Tell About Child Sexual Abuse a study of the disclosure process in over 500 cases including the role of grooming in delaying disclosure
• Child Grooming Could Land You in Jail More on grooming at Liberated From Abuse
• Internet Safety for Kids (A presentation for adults to promote awareness of Internet-based child sexual abuse) Includes materials you can use to present this in your communities.
• A Cultural Analysis of Preteen Models at CSM Child Super Models