The online sexual solicitation of children by adults in Sweden
English summary of Brå report 2007:11
There is growing concern about the role of the internet as a tool for adults wishing to sexually exploit and abuse children and youths.
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- © Brottsförebyggande rådet 2007
- urn:nbn:se:bra-271
- Report 2007:11
About the study
The literature on sexual offending against children shows that attempts by adults to establish and develop relationships with children for the purposes of sexual exploitation are not a recent phenomenon (e.g. Martens, 1989; Grubin, 1998; Svedin, 2000; McAlinden 2006). However, the expansion in the use of the internet since the mid 1990s has created a new and for the most part completely unmonitored interface between children and adults. A very large and increasing number of children and youth use the internet to communicate with others, and the anonymity provided by the internet has been viewed as creating favourable conditions for adults intent upon establishing manipulative relationships with young people (cf. Stanley, 2001). This has led to a growing concern about the role of the internet as a tool for adults wishing to sexually exploit and abuse children and youths.
The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet – Brå) has been instructed by the Swedish government to produce a knowledge base describing the character and extent of this phenomenon in Sweden. The Council’s task has also involved describing existing measures taken to combat the sexual solicitation of children via the internet, both by examining how this phenomenon has to date been dealt with in Sweden and other countries, and by considering and proposing additional measures to prevent and disrupt the sexual solicitation of children by adults.