The use of internet by youths has increased drastically in the past 10 years. There are several challenges for the victim service providers and law enforcement agencies that come as a result of the new computer technology. It has come to a level that professionals must protect those who are offending the internet, and help child victims and their families (Halder, & Jaishankar, K.2012).
In the modern society, computer has prevailed in schools, business, libraries, homes and even airports. The use of internet provides instant access to news, shopping, stock trading, reference information, travel information, banking and many others. Today, chatting in social sites and e-mails are now replacing telephone which is the most convenience means of long distance communication (Halder, & Jaishankar, K.2012). The use of internet in their lives has help to improve productivity and efficiency at work, home and school. Currently, with millions of children online, the internet provides predators a new place to target children for criminal activities.
Currently, young people that are using computers make their concern for them well founded. Initially, recent years have seen a drastically increase in the use and access of internet. In the year 2000, more then 40 percent of all Americans homes had computers, and 25 percent of the population had internet access. In the year 2004, the estimated number of kids and children using computers was 45 million and by 2007 was 77 million (Halder, & Jaishankar, K.2012).
In most cases, strangers and internet offenders have found that teenagers and young children are the perfect targets for criminal acts only because they are often naïve, trusting, curious, adventuresome, and are eager for affection and attention. Furthermore, they are more advantageous to predators because they are seen as non credible witnesses. Mostly, older children are in a greater risk only because they often use computer unsupervised and are more likely to engage in online discussions with internet offenders. Those teens that are rebellious and troubled and are seeking emancipation from parental authority can be at risk to internet predators (University of Mississippi, 2007). Victimization is a major risk for this youth who are seeking and dealing with issues of sexual identity. They are willing to engage in conversation that is both exciting and titillating but sound innocent and harmless. In the end, it can gradually lead to sexually explicit behavior.
Children and teenagers are being victimized in the following ways; I. Alluring them by contacting them online for the purpose of involving them in sexual acts.II. By using the internet for production, manufacture, and distribution of child pornography.III. Internet is used as a way to expose youth to child pornography and hence encourage them to exchange pornography.IV. Exploiting and enticing children for the purpose of sexual tourism for personal gratification.
While the private entities and government legislation have made attempts to protect youths from these predators, the problem still continues to exist in cyberspace. Cyberspace provides the opportunity for the youth to engage in activities without the presence of a capable guardian. This activity implies to both the offender and victim as both parties can experience behaviors without guardianship being present.
There are several characteristics that distinguish internet crimes from other crimes committed against children: There is no need for physical contact to occur between the perpetrator and the child for a crime to be committed or a child to become a victim. The images of the children can be transformed digitally into pornographic material and distributed across the internet without the knowledge of the victim. Secondly, there are sources in the internet which repeat, hence become a long-term victimization for a child that can last for several years without the knowledge of the victim. When the picture of a child is uploaded on the internet, it can stay there indefinitely having the same quality of the image (Halder, & Jaishankar, K.2012). There is no boundary for these crimes. The perpetrators who target victims over the internet travel hundreds of miles in different countries and state so that to engage in sexual acts with children whom they met over the internet. The difference between the internet perpetrators and children is that, children disclose the abuse to the teacher, friend or parent while the internet perpetrators remain anonymous until images or pictures is discovered by law enforcement during an investigation. According to the survey carried out, one out of 5 youth received a sexual approach over the internet in the past year. Among the 33 youth, one received an aggressive sexual approach in the past year. This means that the internet perpetrator asked a teenager or a young person to meet somewhere. Out of 4 youths, one had an unwanted exposure in the previous year to people having sex or pictures of naked people. One in 17 youth was harassed or threatened in the previous year. Despite all these, only a fraction of this incidence was reported to the authorities such as police and internet service provider. A quarter of the youth who encounter sexual approach told their parents. Among several households with home internet access, one-third of parents said they had installed filtering software on their computers (Smith et al. 2012).
The large number of sexual approach which went unreported by the families and youth was of particular interest. It is probably because the victim is guilty, ignorant that the incident was a reportable act or due to inappropriate behavior in the world. By spending a lot of time on the internet in certain locations and providing personal information to online users, tend to increase the likelihood of victimization and relationships with online users, while some of the protective measures decrease the likelihood of these outcomes (Halder, & Jaishankar, K.2012). There are so many challenges in the future for fighting internet crimes against young people. The cases are complex and labor intensive for both the prosecutor and the police. Family plays a significant role in the participation of children in the investigation and prosecution. However, the ability of a child to accept and acknowledge the crime can be linked to family values, feeling of guilt, shame, peer pressure, and embarrassment (Halder, & Jaishankar, K.2012). The main challenge facing the victim service professionals and the law enforcement are to identify the victims, how to protect their privacy, and majorly how to serve them without further victimization.
For children to avoid internet proprietors and predators, they should take the following precautions: I. Any communication conducted should be carried out by using appropriate language. II. They should be patients with their victims until they realize their main agenda instead of revealing their identity and critical information before knowing them well. III. Do not show surprise or shock since it can become advantageous to the internet proprietors IV. Involve yourself in the case empowering.
Today, with so many children online, online victimization based on internet acquaintances is common. Criminals are using modern technology so that to prey on the innocent victims. Therefore, in the coming future, their will be more challenges for those fighting internet crimes against young people (Halder, & Jaishankar, K.2012)
References
Halder, D., & Jaishankar, K. (2012). Cyber crime and the victimization of women: Laws, rights and regulations. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
Li, Q., Cross, D., & Smith, P. K. (2012). Cyberbullying in the global playground: Research from international perspectives. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
