PEDOPHILIA
Hunting Kids
12 November 2003
The number of crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors has grown rapidly in recent years. Those exploring the problem of pedophilia believe that it may only be the tip of the iceberg.
The Internet is the pedophile's main hunting ground for children. The number of pornographic websites involving children has been growing year by year. The figures presented in December 2002 during the scientific conference The Child and the Internet reveal that 20 percent of junior high school kids use the Internet daily and 75 percent once, or a few times per week. Fifty-five percent of children between 13 and 15 log on to the Net mainly to chat. Forty-four percent of the junior high school kids polled admitted receiving e-mails with adult content.
The 1990s saw a rapid development of the sex industry in Poland involving children. "Hunters" are active on the Internet, trying to get kids' e-mail addresses in chat rooms before passing them on to pedophiles. Thus, children find letters containing straightforward proposals in their e-mail boxes.
Pedophiles argue on their websites that intimate contact with infants is acceptable, and openly admit having relationships with children. Most shocking is that they are usually well-educated people.
A few months ago Życie Warszawy daily launched the campaign dubbed Put Up A Pedophiles List. The paper demanded that pedophiles undergo therapy and that a database of people convicted of sex crimes be established. Monitoring the IRC and chat rooms, they found that pedophiles were setting up temporary chat rooms to exchange contacts.
The Kid Protect Foundation is engaged in a struggle against pedophiles as part of the Stop Pedophiles campaign. The foundation has operated since June 2002; its objective is to prevent the use of the media, mainly the Internet, for purposes involving child pornography and pedophilic practices, and to protect children against sexual abuse. The foundation operates in cooperation with the Police Headquarters.
A group of the foundation's volunteers constantly monitor Polish Net resources with an eye to detecting child pornography and pedophilia, and hand information on cases over to law enforcement bodies. A program blocking access to pornographic websites, created by volunteer IT experts, is also a way to protect children. Foundation workers visit elementary and junior high schools, talking with parents and instructing them on how to protect their children.
Poland's first Internet Monitoring Center operates a hotline, where cases involving violence and child pornography can be reported. The center was established jointly by Kidprotect and the Scientific and Academic Computer Network. Internet users can report offenses involving child pornography. In order to prevent such contacts with children, the link "report incidents from chat" has been opened on the Kidprotect website.
The foundation ensures full anonymity to its informers. They check on the facts reported, secure material evidence and refer cases to the police.
According to a poll taken by the No One's Children Foundation, as many as 87 percent of the children questioned over the past year had given their e-mail address to a stranger, 64 percent had released their telephone number, 42 percent had revealed their place of residence, and 44 percent had sent their photo to a stranger. Over three-quarters of the children polled by the foundation had received a proposal to meet face to face.
Over 50 percent of the children questioned had been lured into talk of a sexual character against their will. Such a talk involved proposals to meet (69 percent), a request to send a photo (66 percent), threats and vulgar words (32 percent) and the mailing of pornographic pictures (14 percent). Almost one-third of the children were scared by these conversations.
In September 2002 the police cracked down on pedophiles from Warsaw's Central Train Station. The pedophiles had accosted young boys, mainly escapees from reformatories, to abuse them sexually in return for money, alcohol, food or computer games.
The accused were aged between 34 and 70, and included a businessman, a doctor, a manger in a large company, a psychologist in a reformatory, a researcher in a scientific institute and a priest. One of the most active offenders was a German citizen, aged 62, the owner of an amusement park in Gdynia. He used to pay children zl.40-50 for sexual intercourse, or offered free merry-go-round rides. Most of the accused are married, some also have children.
The District Court ruled that the trial would be carried out behind closed doors "with an eye on public morals" and in order to prevent "violation of important private interests of both the accused and the victims." It is the largest case so far involving pedophiles to go before a Warsaw court.
At the end of May 2003 another pedophile ring was uncovered, involving the abuse of boys who were members of the Polish Nightingales choir. In mid June, Wojciech K., the director and conductor of the choir, was arrested on charges of sexual abuse involving boys under age 15. Some adults, once members of the choir, also provided testimony and stated that they were molested by K. as children. Other minors, not choir members, also reported to Poznań's prosecutor that they had been molested by K.
The police found numerous pornographic videos in the conductor's apartment, including those involving children. The parents of the boys could hardly believe what they heard, but the prosecutor stated the evidence of the crimes was indisputable.
In 2002, reporters from Wprost weekly and Polsat television uncovered one of the largest pedophile networks in Europe. The journalists' investigation revealed that the pedophiles' clients included politicians, artists, lawyers, journalists, and television personalities. The pedophiles would trade children like goods. The children's parents would take some zl.1,000 for a child and the agent expected several thousand zlotys. Clients demanded fast delivery and very young children, under age 10.
Over a few months, the reporters won the trust of pedophiles contacted through the Internet, attending face to face meetings, getting familiar with individual units of the net, and gathering evidence. The last part of the journalistic investigation was recorded by Polsat's cameras.
The District Prosecutor of Warsaw and the Central Investigation Office were then informed of the case. No official charges have been filed so far. The number of abuse cases has been rapidly increasing in Poland. In the first quarter of 2003 alone, the police referred 334 cases involving pedophilia to prosecutors. In 2000, Polish courts convicted 455 people on such charges and a year later-525. Over 80 percent of those convicted committed similar offenses after being released.
Sentences for pedophiles rarely reach 10 years' imprisonment, the upper limit. Usually, they stretch to two or three years, often suspended. Court and police figures indicate that only one-third of offenses end up in court.
Joanna Müller Link
Hunting Kids
12 November 2003
The number of crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors has grown rapidly in recent years. Those exploring the problem of pedophilia believe that it may only be the tip of the iceberg.
The Internet is the pedophile's main hunting ground for children. The number of pornographic websites involving children has been growing year by year. The figures presented in December 2002 during the scientific conference The Child and the Internet reveal that 20 percent of junior high school kids use the Internet daily and 75 percent once, or a few times per week. Fifty-five percent of children between 13 and 15 log on to the Net mainly to chat. Forty-four percent of the junior high school kids polled admitted receiving e-mails with adult content.
The 1990s saw a rapid development of the sex industry in Poland involving children. "Hunters" are active on the Internet, trying to get kids' e-mail addresses in chat rooms before passing them on to pedophiles. Thus, children find letters containing straightforward proposals in their e-mail boxes.
Pedophiles argue on their websites that intimate contact with infants is acceptable, and openly admit having relationships with children. Most shocking is that they are usually well-educated people.
A few months ago Życie Warszawy daily launched the campaign dubbed Put Up A Pedophiles List. The paper demanded that pedophiles undergo therapy and that a database of people convicted of sex crimes be established. Monitoring the IRC and chat rooms, they found that pedophiles were setting up temporary chat rooms to exchange contacts.
The Kid Protect Foundation is engaged in a struggle against pedophiles as part of the Stop Pedophiles campaign. The foundation has operated since June 2002; its objective is to prevent the use of the media, mainly the Internet, for purposes involving child pornography and pedophilic practices, and to protect children against sexual abuse. The foundation operates in cooperation with the Police Headquarters.
A group of the foundation's volunteers constantly monitor Polish Net resources with an eye to detecting child pornography and pedophilia, and hand information on cases over to law enforcement bodies. A program blocking access to pornographic websites, created by volunteer IT experts, is also a way to protect children. Foundation workers visit elementary and junior high schools, talking with parents and instructing them on how to protect their children.
Poland's first Internet Monitoring Center operates a hotline, where cases involving violence and child pornography can be reported. The center was established jointly by Kidprotect and the Scientific and Academic Computer Network. Internet users can report offenses involving child pornography. In order to prevent such contacts with children, the link "report incidents from chat" has been opened on the Kidprotect website.
The foundation ensures full anonymity to its informers. They check on the facts reported, secure material evidence and refer cases to the police.
According to a poll taken by the No One's Children Foundation, as many as 87 percent of the children questioned over the past year had given their e-mail address to a stranger, 64 percent had released their telephone number, 42 percent had revealed their place of residence, and 44 percent had sent their photo to a stranger. Over three-quarters of the children polled by the foundation had received a proposal to meet face to face.
Over 50 percent of the children questioned had been lured into talk of a sexual character against their will. Such a talk involved proposals to meet (69 percent), a request to send a photo (66 percent), threats and vulgar words (32 percent) and the mailing of pornographic pictures (14 percent). Almost one-third of the children were scared by these conversations.
In September 2002 the police cracked down on pedophiles from Warsaw's Central Train Station. The pedophiles had accosted young boys, mainly escapees from reformatories, to abuse them sexually in return for money, alcohol, food or computer games.
The accused were aged between 34 and 70, and included a businessman, a doctor, a manger in a large company, a psychologist in a reformatory, a researcher in a scientific institute and a priest. One of the most active offenders was a German citizen, aged 62, the owner of an amusement park in Gdynia. He used to pay children zl.40-50 for sexual intercourse, or offered free merry-go-round rides. Most of the accused are married, some also have children.
The District Court ruled that the trial would be carried out behind closed doors "with an eye on public morals" and in order to prevent "violation of important private interests of both the accused and the victims." It is the largest case so far involving pedophiles to go before a Warsaw court.
At the end of May 2003 another pedophile ring was uncovered, involving the abuse of boys who were members of the Polish Nightingales choir. In mid June, Wojciech K., the director and conductor of the choir, was arrested on charges of sexual abuse involving boys under age 15. Some adults, once members of the choir, also provided testimony and stated that they were molested by K. as children. Other minors, not choir members, also reported to Poznań's prosecutor that they had been molested by K.
The police found numerous pornographic videos in the conductor's apartment, including those involving children. The parents of the boys could hardly believe what they heard, but the prosecutor stated the evidence of the crimes was indisputable.
In 2002, reporters from Wprost weekly and Polsat television uncovered one of the largest pedophile networks in Europe. The journalists' investigation revealed that the pedophiles' clients included politicians, artists, lawyers, journalists, and television personalities. The pedophiles would trade children like goods. The children's parents would take some zl.1,000 for a child and the agent expected several thousand zlotys. Clients demanded fast delivery and very young children, under age 10.
Over a few months, the reporters won the trust of pedophiles contacted through the Internet, attending face to face meetings, getting familiar with individual units of the net, and gathering evidence. The last part of the journalistic investigation was recorded by Polsat's cameras.
The District Prosecutor of Warsaw and the Central Investigation Office were then informed of the case. No official charges have been filed so far. The number of abuse cases has been rapidly increasing in Poland. In the first quarter of 2003 alone, the police referred 334 cases involving pedophilia to prosecutors. In 2000, Polish courts convicted 455 people on such charges and a year later-525. Over 80 percent of those convicted committed similar offenses after being released.
Sentences for pedophiles rarely reach 10 years' imprisonment, the upper limit. Usually, they stretch to two or three years, often suspended. Court and police figures indicate that only one-third of offenses end up in court.
Joanna Müller Link
posted by BEING HAD at 5:48 AM
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