UK police are to be given new powers to deal with internet
“grooming,” a term used to describe the practice by paedophiles of
entrapping children over the internet, according to media reports.
The reports follow police speculation that Jessica Chapman and
Holly Wells, two 10-year-old girls who went missing last Sunday,
had been using the internet shortly before their disappearance and
possibly left their houses to meet someone they met on-line.
Paedophiles can exploit the anonymity and lack of monitoring of
internet chatrooms to befriend children, often posing as children
themselves. According to a report by the Guardian, one child in
five is estimated to have entered a chatroom, and one in ten will
arrange a “real life” meeting with a stranger they met on the
internet.
The Times reports that the Sexual Offences Bill will include a
specific offence of “grooming” children for abuse and introduce a
new civil protection order designed to stop suspected sex offenders
contacting individual children in any way. The newspaper reports
that it will also be illegal to contact minors with “harmful intent
through e-mail, telephone, text message, or even hanging around
outside schools.”
The UK Government has already attempted to deal with the issue,
by establishing a high-tech crime unit, the Internet Task Force,
last March.
The Home Office is expected to publish its proposals this
autumn, according to Reuters. The move will be part of a more
general action plan against sex offenders, which was outlined by
Home Secretary David Blunkett in June.
