Predator Statistics

• There are over 644,865 registered sex offenders in the United States, and over 100,000 are lost in the system.[1]
• Research indicates that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before adulthood;[2] sadly, 30-40% of these victims are abused by a family member and 50% are abused by someone outside the family whom they know and trust. [3] Although the majority of this child sex abuse does not occur online, in the Internet age, offline sex abuse if fueled by pedophiles’ unprecedented access to child pornography online.
• One in seven kids received a sexual solicitation online.[4]
• Over half (56%) of kids sexually solicited online were asked to send a picture; 27% of the pictures were sexually-oriented in nature.[5]
•  44% of sexual solicitors were under the age of 18.[6]
• Four percent of all youth Internet users received aggressive sexual solicitations, which threatened to spill over into “real life”.  These solicitors asked to meet the youth in person, called them on the telephone or sent offline mail, money or gifts.  Also, four percent of youth had distressing sexual solicitations that left them feeling upset of extremely afraid.[7]
• Of aggressive sexual solicitations of youth (when the solicitor attempted to establish an offline contact via in-person meeting or phone call), 73% of youth met the solicitor online.[8]
• Sexual solicitations of youth occur:[9]

o   Chatrooms (37%)

o   Instant Messaging (40%)

o   Other, like gaming devices (21%)

•  The more risky behaviors kids engage in online, the more likely they will receive an online sexual solicitation.  These risky behaviors include[10]:

o   Posting personal information (50%)

o   Interacting with online strangers (45%)

o   Placing strangers on buddy lists (35%)

o   Sending personal information to strangers (26%)

o   Visiting X-rated sites (13%)

o   Talking about sex with strangers (5%)

• 80% of online offenders against youth were eventually explicit with youth about their intentions, and only 5% concealed the fact that they were adults from their victims.[11
• The majority of victims of Internet-initiated sex crimes were between 13 to 15 years old; 75% were girls and 25% were boys.[12]
• 14 percent of students in 10th-12th grade have accepted an invitation to meet an online stranger in-person and 14 percent of students, who are usually the same individuals, have invited an online stranger to meet them in-person. [13]
• 14 percent 7th-9th grade students reported that they had communicated with someone online about sexual things; 11 percent of students reported that they had been asked to talk about sexual things online; 8 percent have been exposed to nude pictures and 7 percent were also asked for nude pictures of themselves online. [14]
• 59 percent of 7th-9th grade victims said their perpetrators were a friend they know in-person; 36 percent said it was someone else they know; 21 percent said the cyber offender was a classmate; 19 percent indicated the abuser was an online friend; and 16 percent said it was an online stranger.[15]
• Nine percent of children in 7th-9th grade have accepted an online invitation to meet someone in-person and 10 percent have asked someone online to meet them in-person.[16]
• 13 percent of 2nd-3rd grade students report that they used the Internet to talk to people they do not know, 11 percent report having been asked to describe private things about their body and 10 percent have been exposed to private things about someone else's body. [17]