Children and Young People Online Noelle Burns – Child Protection Advisor

Aims • To help you understand what children and young people are doing online • The risks and consequences involved

CEOP Priorities • Prevent – Making it more difficult to exploit children • Protect – Identify and safeguard children who are at risk • Pursue – Identify offenders and stop and disrupt their activity

Sexual Abuse Risks to Children Online How does the internet facilitate sexual abuse and exploitation? Networking with others (webiste, Kik, Facebook, Omegle, Chat Roulette) The exchange and distribution, collection and creation of indecent images

Survey of Teens – CosmoGirl.com Findings • 20% of teens have sent/posted online nude or semi nude images (22% girls, 18% boys – 11% were girls aged 13-16 • 71% of girls and 67% of boys have sent content to a boyfriend/girlfriend • 21% of girls and 39% of boys have sent content to someone they want to date • 15% of teens sent images to someone they only know online

• Indirect and direct contact with children • New methods of non contact sexual abuse

Non Contact Sexual Abuse • When a child is used sexually by an adult or young person. • When a child is pressurised, forced or tricked into taking part in any kind of sexual activity (not involving touch)

Consequences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bso7sl-eXUY&feature=player_detailpage

Behaviour which puts young people at risk: • Children creating profiles in the online environment which are easily traceable • Information about individuals is not just stored on their profiles – digital profiles • Social networking sites are used as meeting points • Children’s information on the internet can ‘fast track’ the grooming process

Grooming ‘A process by which a person prepares a child, significant others and the environment for the abuse of a child. Specific goals include gaining access to the child, gaining the compliance and maintaining the child’s secrecy to avoid disclosure’ (Craven, Brown & Gilchrist, 2006)

Online Grooming •

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A process of manipulating perceptions: • Creation of multiple personas • Easier online? Online grooming techniques Bribery and gifts Flattery Sexualised Games Threats Blackmail Desensitisation – pornography, child abuse images, videos and webcams

Coerced Sexual Abuse via Electronic Communications A person who forces, pressures, tricks or intimidates a child or vulnerable person into performing sexual acts for that person, using any electronic communication method who otherwise would have been unwilling to do so.

Legal Consequences The Sexual Offences Act 2003 • Making, taking, possession and distribution of images under the age of 18 years • Causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity • Causing a child to watch a sexual act

International Operation • • • • •

2 non-UK suspects convicted in their home country Targeted victims aged between 12 and 16 years Social networking and instant messaging application Hack accounts and gain online passwords Blackmail and threats eg offender posts video capture of abuse on YouTube • The investigation identified 110 children around the world including 78 in the UK. They have been successfully convicted and sent to prison.

Victim Impact • Young people are unaware of the consequences of sharing images • Can lead to bullying • Shame and blame – victim participation • Increased risk of self harm • Amanda Todd

In the Online Environment, non contact sexual abuse now involves... • • • • •

Victim participation Guilt and blame Sense of being implicit Permanence of exposure Continued re-victimisation

Things to remember • Online sexual exploitation is sexual abuse • Impact is just as detrimental as contact sexual abuse

Online Abuse There is no closure as the picture is always there when someone is convicted and the media report their viewing of child abuse images the victims are left wondering whether their picture was one of the images. (Leonard (2010) Journal of Sexual Aggression vol 16 No 2)

Thank you www.thinkuknow.co.uk

www.ceop.gov.uk