"And I watched as they invented a whole new problem.....isn't that cool? If you're running out of things to do to sex offenders invent a new problem.......we have internet predators -- oh my goodness -- it's an epidemic -- these internet predators oh my gosh they're reaching their hands right through the screen and grabbing your children. Except that the federal government commissioned studies on the incidence of internet predators and they came up with exactly the opposite of what the government wanted to hear -- that it really isn't that much of a problem -- that mostly it's teen on teen goofing around and that most of the men on the internet are not lying about their age. And the girls who are falling for this are girls who unfortunately come from dysfunctional families and are reaching out to anyone for that love....But that's not what the legislators wanted to hear, so the American Public didn't hear it either."

---- Cheryl Griffiths

This suppressed study - available here - and kept top secret from the American public on the world wide web.... tells quite a different story than Cheryl and Derek Logue's distorted interpretations. It says that 97% of solicitations were by strangers, 48% by minors, 24% were regarded as "very or extremely upsetting or frightening" and 49% were not reported. The study also concluded that the offenders only pretended to be teenagers 5% of the time and still "identities are easy to disguise on the internet so the solicitors may not have been the age or gender they claimed to be"

While we know that children who have previously been abused make the easiest targets, Cheryl seems to regard it as acceptable as long as it is they who are the targeted victims.

"most online sex offenders are adults who target teens and seduce victims into sexual relationships. They take time to develop the trust and confidence of victims, so that the youth see these relationships as romances or sexual adventures. The youth most vulnerable to online sex offenders have histories of sexual or physical abuse, family problems, and tendencies to take risks both on- and offline, the researchers say."

Some recommendations include:

"Be clear about why sex with underage adolescents is wrong. Offender and potential offenders need to hear a clear message that nonforcible sex with underage adolescents violates the social responsibility adults have toward youth for objective mentoring and custodianship"

Contrary to Tikibug's assertion that the government has no right to tell someone when they are old enough to have sex, and Walter Howard's claim that children "need to be taught how to love" This study says:

"Youths need candid, direct discussions about seduction and how some adults deliberately evoke and then exploit the compelling feelings that sexual arousal can induce. Even young adolescents should be given basic information about the inappropriateness of romantic advances from adults. This information should include reassurances that it is normal to have strong sexual feelings but wrong for adults to provoke or exploit these feelings, especially with youths who are inexperienced in coping with sexual desire and intimate relationships"

Another key finding;

"A considerable number of online child molesters also possess child pornography and child pornography production is an important element in many cases, including situations where offenders solicit victims to produce sexual images of themselves"

Nationwide, federal prosecutors have indicted 2,289 defendants in online child solicitation and pornography cases this year. But I suppose Cheryl Griffiths would agree with the bold idiocy of Zman when he said

They could be protecting the country with their hacking skills or something, yet they want to go after defenseless child predators

The Justice Department's Project Safe Childhood has launched a new National Public Awareness Campaign. They've produced some amazing videos, not only aimed at educating potential targets of predators but also aimed at those who offend, a very nice warning of the consequences of preying on vulnerable children.

To stop this problem from becoming more pervasive than it is, we need three elements coming together. We need education, we need prevention, and we need enforcement. Project Safe Childhood pulls all those elements together to make sure we are keeping America's children safe.

Labels: Cheryl Griffiths, Derek Logue, Internet Predator, internet safety, Project Safe Childhood, Propaganda, Ricky's Mom, Walter Howard, Zman