Children and Cybercrime: Going Inside the Mind of a Pedophile

As a graduate student, I am required to take an elective course. Obviously I spend a lot of time online so I decided to take cybercrime. This is what I learned in this class about online pedophiles that has forever changed the way I think about criminals.

Kids use the Internet for everything these days from homework to keeping in touch with friends. Chat rooms, message boards, forums, instant messages and myspace are changing the way the world talks to each other. Thanks to these new communication portals, it is now possible to be in contact with people from all over the world instantly. While the majority of people on the Internet are simply using it for research or a form of entertainment, there are some who use the world wide web as a way to stalk and hunt prey. These cyber criminals are considered by most to be psychologically ill and in need of help, but while that is true, these pedophiles are also extremely manipulative and know how to not only attain their prey, they are experts at isolating those innocent members of online communities in order to get what they want.