Reefer Madness - Just Say NO (was Re: Operation Delete Internet Fear ... Continuing)
EDTECH Editor-Hogan
This is not exactly correct - but close. The research was conducted by the
Crimes Against Children Research Center. The National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children is the organization that took that figure and ran with it
- right to the press and Congress.
The Crimes Against Children Research Center is a really excellent research
organization. The list of all of their publications is here: Second Youth
Internet Safety Survey (YISS-2)
<http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/projects/second_youth_internet_safety.html>
There were two studies one released in 2000 (1 in 5) and the other in 2006
(1 in 7). In the first study only 4% of the "sexual solicitations" came from
an adult over 25. 48% come from people identified as teens. The rest from
"young adults." But this was in chat rooms. In that era, how many teens
went into these chat rooms and said they were 18? Lots. So the teens who
received these solicitations might also have been pretending to be 18.
Now, I have not talked about this with them - although I do communicate with
the folks with this center often and actually was asked to review their last
study before it was released. I think the Crimes Against Children Research
Center folks were in a difficult position because the folks they get funding
from were mischaracterizing their research findings. They finally published
a report in 2008 that corrected the myths. Here is from their site:
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/internet-crimes/
"The publicity about online ³predators² who prey on naive children using
trickery and violence is largely inaccurate. Internet sex crimes involving
adults and juveniles more often fit a model of statutory rape adult
offenders who meet, develop relationships with, and openly seduce underage
teenagers -- than a model of forcible sexual assault or pedophilic child
molesting. This is a serious problem, but one that requires different
approaches from current prevention messages emphasizing parental control and
the dangers of divulging personal information."
All along, this has been a source of considerable frustration for me because
I read research studies. And so I have known since 2001-ish when I first
read their 1 in 5 study that this was bunk. And then they published a report
in 2003, the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study, and this showed
that the actual arrest rate for online sexual predators was exceptionally
low. About 500 cases. And all of these were cases where the teens met with
the guy knowing he was an adult and intending to engage in sex. No
deception. No tracking young people based on personal contact information.
Since I READ the research, I have known from that time that all of the
fear-based messages that everyone has been hearing from NCME/NetSmartz,
Isafe, WebWiseKids, IKeepSafe, and Enough is Enough - as well as what the
law enforcement folks have been saying is inaccurate.
But get this. EVEN US DOJ did not know this was inaccurate. I wrote to a guy
who is one of the program directors for the US DOJ Internet Crimes Against
Children because he did a webinar on this and he presented information that
was contrary to CACRC's research. His response (April this year) was:
> That is to say, ten years ago when the ICAC program
> first started, the message received by law enforcement was there were
> countless predators trolling the chat rooms looking for children (teens
> are lumped into this category because by law they are children until age
> 18 in nearly every state but two). Sadly, several high profile cases
> drove this impression and the early research conducted by David
> Finkelhor and the Crimes Against Children Research Center at UNH
> corroborated the need for law enforcement to focus attention toward the
> online solicitation issue.
Absolutely inaccurate. The early research by David says the same as the
current research - and this is NOT and has never been as significant a
concern as it has been made out to be.
Now you can well imagine the problem I have been having all of these years.
All of these organizations have been getting lots of money to -- spread
inaccurate information. I know this. And then I say something and they get
mad at me. How could I downplay the risks to young people online?
Some of the organizations that have not taken the time to read the research
over the last decade are the same ones that are supporting the legislation.
And many of the messages from the AG offices are of concern also.
The inaccurate information and guidance that these organizations have been
spreading is, in my opinion, a major factor that is now holding us back from
embracing Web 2.0 technologies in schools.
The Speak Up research has indicated that after teachers receive training
from these groups - which presents inaccurate information !!! - they
restrict student Internet use. These are the organizations and law
enforcement are now flooding schools with marketing that they can ensure
that schools meet the new Broadband Act requirements. They have not, to the
best of my ability to figure out, corrected their material.
I am worried that we are going to see even greater restrictions on Internet
use and Web 2.0 if schools get their professional development and curriculum
from these groups.
Nancy
> From: Randy Edwards <redw...@golgotha.net>
>
>> 1 in 5 teens have been sexually solicited by an adult predator.
>
> This
> <http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/12/sexual-predators-200912?pr
> intable=true>
> article states that the much touted 1-in-5 statistic is complete bunk,
> stating:
>
> (snip)
> The most widely cited statistic is ³one in five,² as in the number of
> children who have supposedly been approached by a sexual predator on the
> Internet. The origin of this figure is the Department of Justice¹s National
> Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which first reported it in 2001.
> Five years later the center amended the result to one in seven, but by
> either measure the figure suggests nothing less than an epidemic.
>
> Until you look closer. The actual question posed in the department¹s ³Youth
> Internet Safety² survey asked teenagers under 17 if they had received
> an ³unwanted sexual solicitation,² which was defined as follows: ³a request
> to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk or give personal sexual
> information that was unwanted or, whether wanted or not, made by an adult.²
> Since ³adult² in this case was defined as anyone 17 or older, the
> definition included many would-be high-school Romeos, predators of a highly
> conventional and not particularly dangerous sort, and also took in a strain
> of intimate gossip familiar to all teenage girls. As the study¹s authors
> themselves noted, half the solicitations came from other teenagers. Not a
> single solicitation led to actual sexual contact. Violent sexual predators
> hunting children are out there, as they have always been, yet they remain
> blessedly rare, and most young people flee such strangeness instinctively.
> Only 3 percent of the contacts reported in the survey resembled the one
> most feared by parents, the adult stranger attempting to seduce a child.
> (end snip)
>
> Regards,
> .
> Randy
--
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
http://csriu.wordpress.com
nwil...@csriu.org
Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)
Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)
---
Edtech Archives, posting guidelines and other information are at:
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~edweb
Please include your name, email address, and school or professional
affiliation in each posting.
To unsubscribe send the following command to: LIST...@H-NET.MSU.EDU
SIGNOFF EDTECH