- 01
Offenders are weak people who crave power.
They are usually compensating for an early wound, abuse or insecurity by making others pay for their misery. Harming the vulnerable gives them a sensation of power. Like any quick fix the satisfaction fades, and they feel an insatiable need to repeat the offence. Many were themselves harmed as children. None of that excuses their acts, but it offers insight into underdeveloped brains: the frontal lobe is not fully developed until about age twenty-five, and childhood trauma can permanently affect that development.
- 02
They put themselves in positions of trust to gain unsupervised access.
They often seem ordinary, friendly, helpful, even professional, so red flags are easy to ignore. It could be a relative, family friend, neighbour, teacher, coach or religious leader.
- 03
The offender likely knows the child.
In the words of the Vermont Department for Children and Families: nearly all abuse of children is committed by people known to the child and family, including parents, step-parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and people in the family's circle of trust such as friends, neighbours, teachers or coaches. More than 90 percent of juvenile victims know the person who harmed them.
- 04
They convince the child it is a game, all in fun, or a special secret.
Children usually do not know they are being harmed. If no one has taught them what to watch for, they have no words for it. Offenders use gradual manipulation: gifts, treats, acts of kindness, or special treatment the child enjoys.
- 05
They use coercion.
Threats and intimidation keep a child silent. Offenders often threaten to harm the child and their family if the child tells anyone, and use shame to make the child feel at fault or worthless.
- 06
The average offender is religious.
Ninety percent of offenders described themselves as religious in the Abel-Harlow study. Offenders target religious communities because they find them trusting. Former chief prosecutor Boz Tchividjian notes that studies have found faith communities even more vulnerable than secular environments, and quotes a convicted offender who told Dr. Anna Salter: "I considered church people easy to fool. They have a trust that comes from being Christians. They tend to be better folks all around and seem to want to believe in the good that exists in people."
- 07
Offenders harm an average of seventy victims.
Not seventy instances. Seventy victims. As Craig Sawyer puts it: "Every offender we arrest and take off the street prevents the harm of who knows how many children. Potentially hundreds."
How offenders gain access
- Offering to babysit for parents who need to work: always available, no questions asked, great with kids.
- Becoming a foster parent, or befriending single parents to win their trust.
- Turning up wherever children gather: playgrounds, malls, parks, stores.
- Social media and games. No platform is fully safe, so monitor your children's devices. Internet safety tips and tools.
Be wary of anyone who puts themselves in a position of trust with direct access to your children, or who is always there for you in times of vulnerability. Offenders are con artists: always "perfect", and hard to tell from people who are genuinely good.
How traffickers recruit
- Online ads and false offers of work, modelling or a better life.
- Friends and family members who are themselves the traffickers.
- Promises of money from a boyfriend, girlfriend or friend.
- Social media and video chats, and current victims recruiting new ones in schools and foster homes.
- Gangs targeting the most vulnerable: runaways, children in and out of the system, children no one will report missing.
Recruitment happens in ordinary places: hotels and motels, group homes and shelters, schools, malls, house parties, truck stops, bus stations and airports, and around major events such as the Super Bowl.