Internet-Initiated Sexual Assault Among U.S. Adolescents Reported in Newspapers, 1996–2007

Abstract

This article provides an assessment over time of the incidence of newspaper-reported Internet-initiated sexual assaults among U.S. adolescents undergoing adjudication from 1996 to 2007. Of 812 newspaper reports of adjudicated Internet-initiated sexual assault, most (79.2%) victims were female, and the median age was 14 years. The incidence rate of these reports increased over the 12-year period for females but remained steady for males. The frequency of these assaults was much less than reported for other types of sexual assaults in this age group. These estimates hopefully will assist in a greater understanding of these assaults, aid in interventions to decrease their occurrence, and guide effective policymaking that will reduce all types of sexual assault among adolescents.

Technology‐Related Sexual Solicitation of Adolescents: A Review of Prevention Efforts

“…In support of this assumption, youth report higher rates of female‐initiated contacts. An analysis of newspaper reports of internet‐initiated sexual assaults of adolescents described both male and female offenders (Canders et al ., ). In other studies, most online solicitation offenders were single and few had prior arrests for sexual offences (Briggs et al ., ; Wolak and Finkelhor, ).…”

“…In the US N‐JOV studies, males made up 16 per cent of cases in 2006 (Wolak et al ., ). In YISS‐3, 25 per cent of male youth reported an unwanted sexual solicitation (Mitchell et al ., ), 19 per cent of Swedish victims in police reports were male (Shannon, ) and 21 per cent of the internet‐initiated sexual assault victims identified in newspaper reports were male (Canders et al ., ). Whereas the majority (95%) of statutory rape victims in the USA are female (Troup‐Leasure and Snyder, ), the higher rates for male victims of technology‐related sexual solicitations are most likely related to their online behaviours.…”