The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction

(McQuade and Sampat 2008). The latter study also found that 3% of the older two agegroups admitted to asking others for sexual content (McQuade and Sampat 2008).“Youth identify most sexual solicitors as being other adolescents (48%; 43%) or youngadults between the ages of 18 and 21 (20%; 30%), with few (only 4%; 9%) coming fromolder adults and the remaining being of unknown age (Finkelhor et al. 2000; Wolak et al.2006). Not all solicitations are from strangers; 14% come from offline friends andacquaintances (Wolak et al. 2006, 2008b). Youth typically ignore or deflect solicitationswithout experiencing distress (Wolak et al. 2006); 92% of the responses amongst LosAngeles–based youth to these incidents were deemed “appropriate” (Rosen et al. 2008). Ofthose who have been solicited, 2% have received aggressive and distressing solicitations(Wolak et al. 2006). Though solicitations themselves are reason for concern, few solicitationsresult in offline contact. Social network sites do not appear to have increased the overall riskof solicitation (Wolak et al. 2008b); chat rooms and instant messaging are still the dominantplace where solicitations occur (77%) (Wolak et al. 2006).“A study of criminal cases in which adult sex offenders were arrested after meeting youngvictims online found that victims were adolescents and few (5%) were deceived by offendersclaiming to be teens or lying about their sexual intentions; 73% of youth who met an offenderin person did so more than once (Wolak et al. 2008b). Although identity deception may occuronline, it does not appear to play a large role in criminal cases in which adult sex offendershave been arrested for sex crimes in which they met victims online. Interviews with policeindicate that most victims are underage adolescents who know they are going to meet adultsfor sexual encounters and the offenses tended to fit a model of statutory rape involving apost-pubescent minor having nonforcible sexual relations with an adult, most frequentlyadults in their twenties (Wolak et al. 2008a). Hines and Finkelhor note that youth ofteninitiate contact and sexual dialogue; they are concerned that ‘if some young people areinitiating sexual activities with adults they meet on the Internet, we cannot be effective if weassume that all such relationships start with a predatory or criminally inclined adult’ (Hinesand Finkelhor 2007: 301).” pp 15-16.* * *“Sexual solicitation and predation are serious concerns, but the image presented by the mediaof an older male deceiving and preying on a young child does not paint an accurate picture ofthe nature of the majority of sexual solicitations and Internet-initiated offline encounters; thisinaccuracy leads to major risks in this area being ignored. Of particular concern are thesexual solicitations between minors and the frequency with which online-initiated sexualcontact resembles statutory rape rather than other models of abuse. Finally, though sometechnologies can be more easily leveraged than others for solicitation, risk appears to bemore correlated with a youth’s psychosocial profile and risky behaviors than any particulartechnological platform.” p. 16.C-2