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Sexual-Orientated Online Chat Conversations—Characteristics and Testing Pathways of Online Perpetrators

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Sweetie 2.0

Part of the book series: Information Technology and Law Series ((ITLS,volume 31))

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Abstract

Children all over the world are constantly at risk of becoming a victim of webcam child sex tourism (hereafter WCST). Law enforcement agencies are struggling with tackling the problem. Little is known about the behaviour of online perpetrators who persuade minors to engage in webcam sex. In order to gain more information about the behaviour of this group, the ten-year-old Philippine avatar Sweetie was deployed as a tool. In this first preliminary study 200 chat conversations were analysed. Based on the first findings, almost all online perpetrators were male with an average reported age of 29 years old living in Europe, North America and Asia. Two types of perpetrators were found: the Clint-type, who had clear intentions to talk about sex related topics or about starting a webcam conversation to persuade the minor to engage in (online) sexual activities; and the Small talk type, who used small talk to persuade the minor to engage in (online) sexual activities. This study shows that online perpetrators can be classified into perpetrators who display avoiding and approaching behaviour, which is comparable to the offline offending pathways of Ward and Hudson.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Schermer et al. 2016, p. 6.

  2. 2.

    Wolak et al. 2008, p. 111.

  3. 3.

    Marcum 2007, p. 100.

  4. 4.

    Schermer et al. 2016, pp. 6, 18.

  5. 5.

    Further information on the project known as ‘Sweetie 1.0’ can be found on https://www.terredeshommes.nl/en/sweetie-face-webcam-child-sex-tourism.

  6. 6.

    United States Department of Justice 2010, p. 36.

  7. 7.

    Taylor and Quayle 2003, pp. 204–208.

  8. 8.

    Broséus et al. 2016, p. 7.

  9. 9.

    Schermer et al. 2016, p. 6.

  10. 10.

    Regional Overview: Sexual exploitation of children in Southeast Asia. Report retrieved from: http://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Regional-Overview_Southeast-Asia.pdf.

  11. 11.

    Houtepen et al. 2014, p. 467; Van Wijk et al. 2009, p. 49.

  12. 12.

    Briggs et al. 2011, p. 75; Van Wijk et al. 2009, p. 49.

  13. 13.

    Briggs et al. 2011, pp. 14, 15; Merdian et al. 2013, pp. 124–126.

  14. 14.

    Lanning 2010, pp. 32, 33.

  15. 15.

    Briggs et al. 2011, pp. 16, 17; Krone 2004, p. 4; Wortley and Smallbone 2006, pp. 16, 17.

  16. 16.

    Malesky 2007, p. 28.

  17. 17.

    Wolak et al. 2008, p. 112.

  18. 18.

    Briggs et al. 2011, p. 4; Marcum 2007, p. 108.

  19. 19.

    Briggs et al. 2011, p. 75; Dehart et al. 2016, p. 78; Kloes et al. 2017, pp. 570–571; Marcum 2007, p. 100.

  20. 20.

    Malesky 2007, p. 28.

  21. 21.

    Ward and Hudson 1998.

  22. 22.

    Bickley and Beech 2002, p. 375.

  23. 23.

    Ward and Hudson 1998, pp. 710–713.

  24. 24.

    Ibid, pp. 710–713.

  25. 25.

    Ward and Hudson 1998, pp. 710–713.

  26. 26.

    Bickley and Beech 2002, pp. 380–381.

  27. 27.

    Webster 2005, pp. 1192–1193.

  28. 28.

    Further information can be found at www.terredeshommes.nl.

  29. 29.

    Ward and Hudson 1998.

  30. 30.

    Ibid.

  31. 31.

    Briggs et al. 2011, p. 11.

  32. 32.

    Kloes et al. 2017, pp. 570–571.

  33. 33.

    Malesky 2007, p. 28.

  34. 34.

    Marcum 2007, pp. 108, 112.

  35. 35.

    Ward and Hudson 1998, pp. 712–713.

  36. 36.

    Ward and Hudson 1998, pp. 712–713.

  37. 37.

    Ward and Hudson 1998, pp. 711–713.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Manon Kleijn & Stefan Bogaerts

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  1. Manon Kleijn
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  2. Stefan Bogaerts
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Correspondence to Manon Kleijn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Law and Digital Technologies (eLaw), Leiden Law School, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Simone van der Hof

  2. Faculty Governance and Global Affairs, Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Ilina Georgieva

  3. Center for Law and Digital Technologies (eLaw), Leiden Law School, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Bart Schermer

  4. Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT), Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Bert-Jaap Koops

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Kleijn, M., Bogaerts, S. (2019). Sexual-Orientated Online Chat Conversations—Characteristics and Testing Pathways of Online Perpetrators. In: van der Hof, S., Georgieva, I., Schermer, B., Koops, BJ. (eds) Sweetie 2.0. Information Technology and Law Series, vol 31. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-288-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-288-0_2

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  • Publisher Name: T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-6265-287-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-6265-288-0

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