NCJ Number
198463
Date Published
2002
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This brochure from the Governor’s Community Partnership for Safe Children (Children’s Partnership) for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania discusses ways to prevent children and teenagers who use the Internet from becoming targets of crime and exploitation.
Abstract
Focusing on children’s and teenagers’ usage of the Internet, this brochure discusses ways to prevent children and teenagers from becoming targets of crime and exploitation through their use of the World Wide Web. After describing the educational and entertainment benefits children and teenagers may experience by using the Internet, it is suggested that the new world experiences and relationships brought to children and teens by the use of the Web require parental supervision and common-sense in order to insure that children’s and teenagers’ experiences in “cyberspace” are happy, healthy, and productive. Noting that cyber crimes are relatively infrequent, the brochure presents a series of guidelines suggesting ways that parents may minimize the potential risks of their children being “on-line.” Describing some of the risks facing children and teenagers who use the Internet, the brochure details how children find questionable things on the Internet through the use of search engines, chat rooms, bulletin boards, and newsgroups. After profiling gangs in cyberspace and issues of stalking and harassment via the Internet, the brochure describes some of the ways that parents may protect their children from the dangers of the Internet. A discussion of filtering software and America Online’s parental controls, both designed to protect children, is followed by a discussion of the ways that parents may check to see which Internet sites have been visited by their children. A glossary of terms and information for contacting the Cyber Tipline is also presented.