David Finkelhor, Casey Cavanaugh, Heather Turner, Deirdre Colburn, Samantha Sutton, Ben Mathews
{"title":"When Is Online Sexual Solicitation of a Minor Considered Sexual Abuse? Recommendations for Victim Prevalence Surveys.","authors":"David Finkelhor, Casey Cavanaugh, Heather Turner, Deirdre Colburn, Samantha Sutton, Ben Mathews","doi":"10.1177/15248380241268835","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many new surveys have been developed to assess the prevalence of online sexual abuse. An important type of question asked in many of these surveys is about online sexual solicitation. However, not all sexual solicitations of children necessarily qualify as sexual abuse as it has conventionally been defined. Sexual solicitations from other same age youth may be legal and nonabusive. Solicitations of youth above the age of consent by adults may also be legal. At the same time, many true online sex offenses may not be identified with questions about solicitation wanted or unwanted. This article reviewed 25 online sexual abuse survey reports. It also examined episodes and narratives from the U.S. National Technology Facilitated Abuse (TFA) survey, which asked about online solicitation and other online sexual offenses. Among the surveys reviewed, 9 of 25 elicited and counted online sexual solicitation from adults only, but the rest counted other youth solicitors as well as adults. Eight of 25 asked about only \"unwanted\" solicitations, but the rest had no such qualification, possibly including solicitations with positive or neutral reactions. Analysis of the TFA survey showed that in over half of solicitation episodes, the recipients did not actually know the age or identity of the solicitor. Very large differences in prevalence rates can occur depending on what types of solicitation are counted and how missing information is classified. Recommendations are made about classifying and reporting on findings about online solicitation.</p>","PeriodicalId":54211,"journal":{"name":"Trauma Violence & Abuse","volume":" ","pages":"4117-4129"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Trauma Violence & Abuse","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380241268835","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/8/16 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Many new surveys have been developed to assess the prevalence of online sexual abuse. An important type of question asked in many of these surveys is about online sexual solicitation. However, not all sexual solicitations of children necessarily qualify as sexual abuse as it has conventionally been defined. Sexual solicitations from other same age youth may be legal and nonabusive. Solicitations of youth above the age of consent by adults may also be legal. At the same time, many true online sex offenses may not be identified with questions about solicitation wanted or unwanted. This article reviewed 25 online sexual abuse survey reports. It also examined episodes and narratives from the U.S. National Technology Facilitated Abuse (TFA) survey, which asked about online solicitation and other online sexual offenses. Among the surveys reviewed, 9 of 25 elicited and counted online sexual solicitation from adults only, but the rest counted other youth solicitors as well as adults. Eight of 25 asked about only "unwanted" solicitations, but the rest had no such qualification, possibly including solicitations with positive or neutral reactions. Analysis of the TFA survey showed that in over half of solicitation episodes, the recipients did not actually know the age or identity of the solicitor. Very large differences in prevalence rates can occur depending on what types of solicitation are counted and how missing information is classified. Recommendations are made about classifying and reporting on findings about online solicitation.
期刊介绍:
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse is devoted to organizing, synthesizing, and expanding knowledge on all force of trauma, abuse, and violence. This peer-reviewed journal is practitioner oriented and will publish only reviews of research, conceptual or theoretical articles, and law review articles. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse is dedicated to professionals and advanced students in clinical training who work with any form of trauma, abuse, and violence. It is intended to compile knowledge that clearly affects practice, policy, and research.