The campaign will use national newspaper and magazine
advertising to encourage parents to “wise up to the net” and help
their children to enjoy internet chat while avoiding exposure to
inappropriate conversations or “grooming” approaches by
paedophiles.
The Home Office acknowledges that it is difficult to make an
accurate assessment of the precise level of sexual approaches to
children in chat rooms in the UK, since uniform crime figures do
not as yet record a distinction between on-line and off-line cases.
However, evidence from North America and the UK, provided by actual
incidents and cases, show that such incidents are increasing.
According to the Home Office, one estimate puts the number of abuse
cases which have involved internet chat rooms currently coming
before the UK courts at one per month.
Risk assessment studies have identified the most likely targets
of grooming approaches as being teenagers, mainly girls, between
the ages of 13 and 17. The number of known cases to date is
currently very low in proportion to the rapidly growing rate of
Internet use, and the danger of online solicitation by a stranger
is thought to be relatively much lower than off-line risk from
someone known to the victim.
