Online Crimes Against Children and Perceptions of Parental Responsibility: Applying Life Course Principles

Reports of online grooming, sexual extortion, and child sexual abuse material have increased markedly. Public reactions to news stories frequently point to inattentive parenting as the cause, even though studies show that many offenses are committed by people the child already knows, including juvenile peers and family members, and that today’s parents are far more involved in children’s daily lives than those of past generations. This chapter examines why public conversations about online crimes against children often attribute blame to neglectful parenting despite evidence of more complicated situations.The chapter first reviews what is currently known about family environments, parenting practices, and online children victimization, then draws on the Life Course Perspective for insight on online risks and public perceptions of them. From this framework, children’s online vulnerability is less a function of parental vigilance than of current historical contexts including sociocultural lag. As such, preventative programs must take into account these factors. Additional Life Course principles help explain why families and observers may struggle to understand what it means to “protect children online.” The aim is to view family-level prevention, and calls for it, within social and technological systems rather than treating parents, or any other single group, as a primary line of defense against online child predation.