NCJ Number
151681
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 21 Issue: 10 Dated: (October 1994) Pages: 52-55
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Child exploitation by means of computer bulletin boards and online information services is a rapidly growing problem.
Abstract
Computers have become a form of electronic babysitter, much as television was and still is to the previous generation. However, children with computer modems have access to all kinds of information, some of which was never intended for their consumption. Some popular online services offer real-time chat modes in which users can converse electronically and see replies immediately. Pedophiles, who are also called chickenhawks, use these chat lines and member profiles to locate potential victims. Chickenhawks often pose as another youth and begin their conversations innocently. In a Sacramento, California case, pedophile William Steen met a youth via a computer network and ultimately offered to give him a large amount of software. A criminal investigation revealed that Steen had established other liaisons, including one with another pedophile posing as a youth. While in jail Steen told his cellmate that he would like to have the teenager who had led the police to him killed; this threat, together with his lack of cooperation with the authorities even with confronted with irrefutable evidence, led to a sentence of 5 years and 8 months.