Sexual offenders contacting children online: an examination of transcripts of sexual grooming

A psycho-linguistic profile of online grooming conversations: A comparative study of prison and police staff considerations

“…Further, it is recommended when the aim of the research is to present a description of a phenomenon (Lambert & Lambert, 2012). This is vital within the present study that aims to address the potential academic confirmation bias (Greenwald et al, 1986) that assumes the process of developing trust with a minor is driven by deceptive intent (i.e., Black et al, 2015;Krone, 2005;Lorenzo-Dus et al, 2016;Marcum, 2007;O'Connell, 2003;Shelton, Eakin, Hoffer, Muirhead, & Owens, 2016;Williams et al, 2013;Winters, Kaylor, & Jeglic, 2017).…”

“…Such interactions are designed to result in an arrest, meaning a decoy may be more compliant and open to explicit talk than an adolescent victim. However, studies have shown that the adult leads these interactions, using higher frequencies of words (Drouin, Ryan et al, 2017) and directing the conversation to offline contact (Winters et al, 2017). Research has also shown that individuals often have previous offences for child pornography and similar grooming offences against actual children (Mitchell, Wolak, & Finkelhor, 2005).…”

‘So is your mom as cute as you?’: Examining patterns of language use in online sexual grooming of children

“…Research into online grooming has tended to adapt this definition to the online environment by adding that the process is Internet-facilitated or enabled (see, e.g. Katz, 2013;Kloess et al, 2017;Whittle et al, 2014;Winters et al, 2017;Chiang and Grant, 2018). A few studies have explicitly argued that the digital environment in which this form of CSA occurs crucially shapes the sexually abusive relationship that online groomers develop with their targets.…”

“…Instead, online groomers activate a complex 'communicative entrapment network', resorting to overlapping, nonsequential manipulation strategies (Lorenzo-Dus et al, 2016, p. 46; see also, Williams et al, 2013;Van Gijn-Grosvenor and Lamb, 2016;Quayle and Newman, 2017). 2 These strategies inform a number of 'online grooming models' that have been developed within the fields of Psychology and Criminology using primarily a Thematic Analysis methodology and examining relatively small data sets (see, for example, Egan et al, 2011;Kloess et al, 2017;Williams et al, 2013;Quayle & Newman, 2016;Winters et al, 2017). While labelling its components differently 3 , these models broadly encompass online groomers' attempts at developing the child's trust in them (terms used include: relationship forming, rapport building, friendship forming), obtaining sexual gratification from the online interaction with the child (terms used include: sexual content, sexual rapport), testing the child's compliance level (terms used include: risk assessment, assessing and managing risks) and approaching the child for an offline meeting (terms used include: meeting at offender's house, contact request, meeting planning).…”

Data on fantasy vs contact driven internet-initiated sexual offences: Study selection, appraisal and characteristics

“… Williams et al [23] Chat logs transcripts were analysed thematically, in an inductive way, with no existing framework to code the data to identify grooming themes. One researcher carried out the initial coding, with a 2nd reviewed coding a sample (10%) of chat logs to evaluate consistency – Winters et al [24] Inductive and deductive coding was carried out on chat log transcripts to investigate offender, decoy victim and conversation characteristics. – Wolak et al [25] 2574 Law enforcement agencies were surveyed and telephone interviews carried out to collect information about the case to include the type of crime, levels of deception, dynamics of the crime and type of sexual behaviour carried out – Wolak et al [26] Law enforcement officers were interviewed using a computer-assisted telephone system following completion of a mail survey.…”