Stopping Sexual Predators

They come in every size and shape, their backgrounds are varied, they are of every race, most have respectable jobs, some are involved in clubs and civic duties, they look just like any other normal human being, but they all have one common link, they are sexual predators, and they appear to have very little fear about what they are doing to our kids. They lurk around chat rooms looking for young victims that can be easily enticed into their sick world of unfair mind games. Young kids and teens have turned to instant messaging over the use of telephones in the last few years making them easier targets for these adults with dangerous minds. Predators enter chat rooms where they are almost guaranteed to find at least one out of five young people willing to talk to them. Once they hit a comfort zone with the unsuspecting teen, the predator exchanges innocent flirtations, eventually leading to a seduction phase, and finally it comes to the point that they blatantly solicit sex in one form or another. The predator attempts to set up a face to face meeting in private quarters, sometimes right in the child’s home. He then makes promises to the teenager that he may or may not intend on keeping. Quite often money or gifts are offered to the teens in exchange for their silence. The stories about these sexual predators are endless, and they almost always have a tragic angle to them. Children are left scarred for life, and quite often they become repeat offenders themselves if not saved by some type of positive intervention.

What Is a Sexual Predator?
By law, a sexual predator is any person who is convicted of a violation, or any attempt at juvenile pimping, keeping a place of juvenile prostitution, exploitation of a child, child pornography, criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, ritualized abuse of a child, any person who is sexually violent toward another person, any person certified as a sexually dangerous person, and any person convicted of a second subsequent act of sex crimes which requires registering annually for the rest of their life.

The Internet and Sexual Predators
Predators sit confidently behind their computer screen, comfortable in the knowledge that their victims are clueless about their real age. They are well rehearsed when it comes to communicating with young people, and they often attempt to become their friend. They talk about things on the teens level, and gripe about the restrictive rules of parents, and they relate with the teen on many levels leaving the unsuspecting young person with the idea that this is a person that they can trust. All of this is a ploy leading up to eventually meeting face to face. The plan is then set into motion, and the teen often agree’s to a meeting thinking that the predator is actually someone close to their own age, and that they can hang out together. What happens next is strictly left in the hands of the predator and what his intentions is. Predators are very good con men, and they have an agenda that includes messing with the minds and lives of children without a second thought about what they are doing. Some have remorse, but usually only if they are caught in the act, and most of them continue being predators for years until they are finally brought to justice.

The Characteristics of Sexual Predators

Most predators offend children that they know and with whom they have established some type of a relationship with.

In most cases, predators gain access to their victims through deception and enticement, seldom using force. Abuse typically occurs within a long-term, ongoing relationship between the offender and victim and escalates over time.

There is a small amount of predators who are exclusively attracted to children, but the majority of the individuals who offend children are attracted to adults or in an adult relationship.

Only a fraction of predators are apprehended and convicted for their crimes. Most convicted sex offenders eventually are released to the community under probation or parole supervision.

Law enforcement officials estimate that as many as 50,000 sexual predators are online at any given moment.

Sexual predators are from every walk of life. Some hold high-powered jobs, while others work around children. There is no specific income level, race, age or religion that separates a sexual predator from being different from anyone else.

Internet predators are increasingly using counterintelligence techniques to protect themselves from being traced by the police.
40% of people charged with child pornography are also sexual predators.

The latest National Survey confirms there are more than 374,270 registered sex offenders in the U.S.

A high percentage of sexual predators do not marry and have trouble performing sexually with adults due to their sexual preference for children. They may also have very little dating experience. However, some do marry, so that they may have access to children of their own, stepchildren and/or friends and acquaintances of the children in the home.

Male predators often marry either a strong, domineering woman or a weak, passive child like women. Either way, a high percentage of sexual predators marry women who do not have high sexual expectations or needs.

Many sexual predators socialize with children or teens, and become involved in activities that young people are interested in. They often spend a substantial amount of time at schools, arcades, malls, and other places that teens hang out at.

Depending on the age and gender preference of the predator, they most often have friends that are very young or may even be teenagers.

Most sexual predators can observe a group of children for a short period of time and choose a target, and many of them develop their skills in selecting victims through practice and experience. A high percentage of victims are from a broken home or have been emotionally or physically neglected. Oftentimes, children of low-income families, in which there may only be one parent present in the home, are targeted by sexual predators, especially if there is not a male figure present in the child’s life.

Catching & Stopping Sexual Predators
The war against sexual predators will never see a victory, as this particular type of war is bigger then any of us can handle, but public awareness has aided parents, teens, children, teachers, and anyone else that the subject touches to be on guard for the possibility of it happening to their child or someone that they know. Law enforcement officials, multimedia shows, and major news channels have been helping with the fight against this ongoing problem by setting up stings to catch sexual predators in the act. State officials have set up internet web sites in an attempt to make the public aware of the sexual predators location, name, and age. Photographs are included with the predator’s profile at many of these sites, and some states list their crime as well. An open line of communication with your kids is the key, and if something happens online, it’s more important that an adult finds out about it than the child attempting to handle it on their own, because the results will most definitely be life altering to the child.

Find a Registered Sexual Predator

http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/register.htm

http://www.nsopr.gov/

http://www.offreg.com/search.html#nationalalertregistry

http://www.familywatchdog.us/search.asp

http://www.registeredsexoffender.org/statistics.htm

The Innocent

Just a small child
living in silent pain
from speaking her hurt aloud
she must always refrain
always quiet while at play
distant from the other children
in her own secretive way
letting the hurt out, she must do
but how is that possible
when she’s been warned not to
she wonders why nobody could see
how her innocence was gone
her childhood taken so easily
silent tears on her pillow fell
as she lay in the dark wondering
when she’d be free from this secret hell
she knows that she is forever scarred
It’s just that no one see’s it
for it lays deep in her heart.