Children and Cybercrime: Going Inside the Mind of a Pedophile

As a graduate student, I am required to take an elective course. Obviously I spend a lot of time online so I decided to take cybercrime. This is what I learned in this class about online pedophiles that has forever changed the way I think about criminals.

Kids use the Internet for everything these days from homework to keeping in touch with friends. Chat rooms, message boards, forums, instant messages and myspace are changing the way the world talks to each other. Thanks to these new communication portals, it is now possible to be in contact with people from all over the world instantly. While the majority of people on the Internet are simply using it for research or a form of entertainment, there are some who use the world wide web as a way to stalk and hunt prey. These cyber criminals are considered by most to be psychologically ill and in need of help, but while that is true, these pedophiles are also extremely manipulative and know how to not only attain their prey, they are experts at isolating those innocent members of online communities in order to get what they want.

A requirement of this cybercrime class was to select a book written on the subject. I chose "Look Both Ways" by Linda Criddle. The most interesting and terrifying chapter in this book involved how the predator finds and eventually gets their prey. Cyber criminals often use a tactic called "grooming". The first step in this process is finding a victim. This can be done in a chat room or by reading blogs. The criminal will often look for something to share with the victim. It could be a birthday or a favorite sport, anything will do. This is simply done to initiate communication. The next thing you know e-mails are being exchanged and a friendship has started. The next step in the "grooming" process is to create a wedge between the victim and their parent, guardian or protector of any sort. This can be done by waiting for the right moment. Perhaps an e-mail from the victim describes a disagreement between them and their parent or a blog tells of an argument. This is the perfect opportunity for the cyber criminal to become a friend and ally. Before you know it, the relationship has developed into a trust where the predator is always on the victim's side no matter what. Eventually this leads to a face to face meeting where the actual crime takes place.

After completing the cybercrime class I now realize how extremely important it is for parents to be completely aware of their children's actions on the Internet. What seems like a simple friendship to a child could be a predator catching their prey.