Truth About Internet Predators
February 6, 2007
As of late, we have a new set of proposed legislation, designed to keep track of Registered Sex Offenders or “predators” (politicians interchange the terms much to the chagrin of society) use of the Internet. Like previous laws, these too are rooted in myths, and misconceptions in place of facts and truths.
Chris Hansen of Dateline quotes “1 in 5 online teenagers are approached about sex”. However, he never tells you the truth. The survey, a DOJ study, he uses shows that in over 70% of the time, other teenagers, not adults trolling the internet for sex, are approaching each other.
A study published in June 2000 in the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Juvenile Justice Bulletin, says 24 percent of all kidnapping cases are “stranger-kidnapping” compared with 49 percent family kidnapping and 27 percent acquaintance kidnapping. Meaning in 76% of the cases, the child knew their abductor. It also says, the child was returned unharmed within 48 hours. It based its findings on reviewing 1,214 cases from 1997 in the National Incident-Based Reporting System, written in part by David Finkelhor, a sociology professor who heads the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Center.
To quote from a LookSmart article by Timothy W. Maier, “Meanwhile, across the nation, parents fear their child could be next. Justice Department research indicates the risk of abduction by a stranger is relatively low for preschoolers, but increases through elementary school and peaks at age 15. Teen-age girls are considered most vulnerable. Frightened parents wonder how the society in which they are raising families got this way. Some blame the media for reporting these cases. The FBI charged that reporters were distorting the facts with fear-driven stories about monsters preying on children. The FBI, in fact, insists that child abductions by strangers actually have declined. In the 1980s, the number of such child abductions averaged annually about 200 to 300, according to the FBI. In 2000, the number of cases dropped to 93 compared with 134 in 1999 and 115 in 1998, when the FBI first began tracking these statistics.”
A report to the Unites States Senate Judiciary Committee by SOhopeful International stated, “It is because of these misunderstandings about the real nature of sex crimes, victims of sex crimes and sex offenders that Federal and some State governments are spending large sums for ineffective policies that do not increase public safety.” If registration is the answer, why do we see an eight percent increase in the registry each year? If safety zones (banishment) are the answer, why are children still being abused? These measures are only feel good legislation, which have proven ineffective, and are continued punishment, not regulation.
The public needs to be more concerned about high-risk sex offenders and absconders, not the low risk offenders who are working hard to comply with their probation and therapy guidelines or the former offenders who have finished their sentence and have remained offence free since. Additionally, hysteria created by media misinformation and political hyperbole has a devastating and demoralizing effect on the families of low-risk offenders, including the unintended practice of revealing the identity of victims of intra-familial abuse, traumatizing children a second time.
We must have more faith in ourselves than in government to solve the sex abuse problem. Citizens, journalist, and legislators should demand a National Sex Offender Public Policy Forum to address these issues. This forum should include mental health professionals, jurist, law enforcement and corrections personnel, victims and their families, offenders and their families. Let’s embrace a restorative justice model and a National 5 Tier Risk Level System. In lieu of fostering a lies for votes or a fearful witch-hunt mentality for advertising dollars and higher ratings, our political leaders and the media needs to step up to this societal challenge. They should strive to dispel the myths and create an environment for policy forums to succeed.
Why are we comfortable with media myths and politicians lies? How does demonizing an entire group of people create value for society? What is gained by more knee jerk legislation? Why do we continue to fool ourselves into thinking that laws are the magic pill to make our children safer? Why don’t parents educate themselves and take responsibility to protect their children?
