ABSTRACT

Technology has improved so many aspects of modern living. Medical advances have increased life spans. Travel between locations occurs with in hours, not weeks. Information is available at the touch of a button. Unfortunately, technology has also promoted vulnerabilities for victims in a variety of modalities. This includes an increase in the vulnerability of children for victimization via technology. In 2015, a 31-year-old former Top Gun navy instructor and veteran of Iraq, living in Virginia, was convicted of posing as a teenager on the Internet and extorted young girls into sending him sexually graphic photos of themselves and each other. Also, in 2015, three Michigan high school teens were found guilty of sexting multiple images of child pornography. Finally, in 2006, a 13-year-old Missouri teen, who was a victim of cyberbullying, hanged herself in a bedroom closet. Each of these cases involved crimes against children, and each of these cases involved either the Internet or a cell phone or both.