Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Child grooming'

Child sexual abuse in its various guises is a phenomenon that has been part and parcel of society for centuries. It is only in the last few decades, however, that professional and societal interest in this social tragedy has been triggered, and continues to increase. The consequences and impact of child sexual abuse are far-reaching. Not only are individual victims marred by its consequences, but so too does it profoundly affect family systems and societies. As a result of professional interest in this field which has been fuelled by the popular media, the cloak of social secrecy which has covered this previously taboo subject has been shed. Although still hugely under-reported, sometimes even denied and buried by some individuals and societies, it is now widely acknowledged that child sexual abuse is a stark reality. Definitions of this phenomenon abound, with some definitions being more descriptive than others. The grooming process often forms an integral part of child sexual abuse. Through purposefully constructed relationships with their victims, sex offenders make their victims feel responsible for, complicit in and guilty about the abuse. The child is therefore tricked into keeping the abuse a secret. Often the child may not realise that what is happening is in fact abusive. Through grooming the abusive behaviour is normalised and the child may believe that it is part of an affectionate and caring relationship with the offender. The victim often gets lost in the labyrinth of confusion created by a web of deceit, which may result in consensual sexual activities between the child and the sex offender, a fact which is widely acknowledged. Consent is often raised as a defence when sex offenders are charged with and prosecuted for their crimes, more specifically in relation to victims who are over the age of twelve years and more frequently in relation to victims who are sixteen years and older. This consent, however, ought not to be valid for purposes of any sexual activities between such adults and children. Consent is often given as a consequence of the unique dynamics of the grooming process and the imbalance of power and authority. Furthermore, the child’s level of understanding and life experience, as shaped by the grooming process, may also have an important impact on ostensible consent given. South African courts, in accordance with international trends, have apparently started acknowledging the impact of the grooming process on consent given by children in sexual abuse cases. Some courts, as of late, are prepared to more readily reject the defence of consent in such cases. It is noteworthy that this trend has started to develop in South Africa even prior to the commencement of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007. This act defines consent for purposes of the newly created offences, and also stipulates the circumstances in which ostensible consent does not comply with the definition. This definition does not differ materially from the “traditional” approach to consent that was applied prior to the commencement of this act. Furthermore, a number of new offences were created, amongst them the offence of sexual grooming of children. Courts can therefore no longer ignore the existence of the grooming phenomenon and the impact thereof in child sexual abuse cases.

Social networks are a popular way for people to engage in activities and find new friends over the Internet. One central feature that these services share is the possibility for users to interact and share personal information. However, social networks also enable sexual predators with an interest in children to have access to rich hunting grounds with a reduced risk of detection. This thesis applies grounded theory to provide domain knowledge from eight experts on online child sexual abuse. This domain knowledge is used to create informational structures that can be applied in intelligent software systems to potentially detect these types of crimes. The results provide structures for automated dialogue detection including ontological structures, models of influential circumstances (social and psychological) and a normative dialogue structure of a nested deliberation dialogue. Implementation of intelligent software systems in this domain has the potential to detect probable outcomes of dialogues much faster than human analysts. Future work is needed to provide further theoretical sampling to extend the proposed models and to evaluate the models on real-world data sets.
Sociala nätverk är ett populärt sätt att delta i aktiviteter och hitta nya vänner på internet. En central funktion för dessa tjänster är möjligheten för användare att interagera och utbyta personlig information. Dock medför sociala nätverk också möjligheter för sexualförbrytare att utnyttja barn då de får tillgång till plattformar där många barn befinner sig, samtidigt som de har en minskad risk för detektion. Den här kandidatuppsatsen använder grundad teori för att samla in domänkunskap från åtta experter kring sexuellt utnyttjande av barn på internet. Denna domänkunskap används för att skapa informationsstrukturer som kan tillämpas inom intelligenta mjukvarusystem för att potentiellt upptäcka denna typen av brott. Resultaten bidrar med strukturer för automatiserad dialogdetektion vilket inkluderar ontologiska strukturer, en modell för psykologiska- och sociala faktorer som kan påverka förhållandet mellan offer och förbrytare samt en normativ dialogstruktur baserad på dialogteori. Införandet av dialogmodeller inom intelligenta mjukvarusystem har potential att förutse utfallen av dialoger snabbare än mänskliga granskare. Fortsatt forskning behövs för att bistå modellerna med ytterligare teoretisk applicering samt att utvärdera modellerna på verkliga fall.

This social work research study explore sexual exploitation in the form of child pornography. The grooming process, a process where the perpetrator engages his victim in a relationship, whereafter he uses this relationship to abuse his victim is investigated. The research is conducted by means of a case study.
Thesis (M.A. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Memoria (licenciado en ciencias jurídicas y sociales)
El autor realiza un análisis jurídico del tipo penal de abusos sexuales, tanto en la legislación chilena como en la extranjera, con la finalidad de comprender el alcance de una sentencia recientemente dictada en nuestro país, y que también es revisada en este trabajo, que condena penalmente a título de abuso sexual una conducta que es constitutiva de la figura conocida internacionalmente como “child grooming”. En base a este análisis, y considerando las diferencias conceptuales y de contenido jurídico entre las conductas de abuso sexual y del child grooming, el autor se propone revisar la necesidad y merecimiento de pena de estas últimas, para lo cual estudia la vigencia de los principios jurídicos que sustentan el derecho penal, desde sus orígenes en la Revolución Francesa, en relación al día de hoy, con el objeto de precisar los fundamentos de la intervención penal en materia de criminalidad sexual, y especialmente, de los abusos sexuales y el child grooming.

Le développement des technologies de l’information et de la communication s’est accompagné de l’apparition de phénomènes violents et/ou infractionnels, qui se tiennent sur, ou grâce à, Internet. Existe-t-il une spécificité de ces conduites de cyberviolence, qui s’inscrivent dans ce que l’on nomme cyberespace ? La psycho-criminologie et la cyberpsychologie seront convoquées afin de proposer une réponse à cette question. Le présent travail étudiera, dans une approche clinique et qualitative, des situations d’infractions à caractère sexuel envers mineurs réalisées sur Internet. Ce travail proposera, à partir des données recueillies, une grille de lecture de la cyberviolence, qui s’intéressera au rapport du sujet auteur d’infractions avec la conduite infractionnelle, la victime, et le cyberespace. La cyberviolence naît d’une rencontre, celle d’un sujet vulnérable avec un cyberespace porteur d’opportunités. Il s’agira alors d’interroger cette rencontre, afin de saisir les processus et les dynamiques qui l’animent
The development of information and communication technologies was followed by the emergence of violent and/or offensive phenomena that exist on or thanks to the Internet. Is there a specificity to these behaviors of cyberviolence, which are rooted in what one calls cyberspace? This question will be answered partly thanks to psycho-criminological and cyberpsychological theories. This work takes a close look at sex offences against minors on the Internet. Thanks to the collected data, this work will offer a perspective on cyberviolence, with an interest in the relationship between the offender and the offence, the victim, and cyberspace. Cyberviolence arises from an encounter between a vulnerable subject and a cyberspace bearing opportunities. This encounter will thus be questioned, in order to understand the process and dynamics it stems from

Sexualbrott mot barn på internet har blivit ett världsproblem som ständigt växer. Med den nya teknologin som konstant utvecklas bildas även nya möjligheter för förövare att utnyttja barn på internet. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att få en ökad förståelse för hur förövare går tillväga för att utnyttja barn på internet samt vilka typer av sexualbrott mot barn som förekommer på internet. Studien inkluderade femton vetenskapliga artiklar som analyserats med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Analysen resulterade i fyra huvudkategorier; offentliga chattrum, strategi, fysiska möten, och typer av sexualbrott mot barn på internet samt åtta underkategorier; relation, utpressning, gromning, manipulation, undvika upptäckt barnpornografi, sexhandel och digitala mötesforum. Genom att skapa trovärdiga relationer, gromning, utpressning och manipulation utnyttjas barn till att begå sexuella aktiviteter som kan inkludera sex. Brottet börjar oftast med kommunikation genom offentliga chattrum som tillåter användare att kommunicera via direkta meddelande, ljud och videochatt. Samtalen utvecklas sedan till mer sexuella ämnen där förövaren använder olika strategier för att bland annat träffa barnet i verkligheten, få nakenbilder eller på andra sätt utnyttja barnet. Genom att försäkra sig om att barnet inte talat om för någon om deras relation säkrar de sin möjlighet att inte åka fast. Brottet kan ske på olika sätt dels genom våldtäkt, sexhandel och barnpornografi. Studien diskuterar de juridiska problem som kan uppstå med mätning av barnpornografi och definitionen av ett barn. Vidare bör framtida forskning fokusera på möjligheter att begränsa åtkomsten till exponerande material och webbsidor som tillåter vuxna individer att kommunicera med barn på ett sexuellt sätt.
Sexual crimes against children on the internet are recognized as a serious and growing problem world-wide. With the new technology that is constantly evolving, new opportunities are being created for perpetrators to exploit children on the internet. The purpose with this systematic literature review was to gain an increased understanding of how perpetrators approach and abuse children on the internet and what types of sexual offenses against children that occur on the internet. The review included fifteen scientific papers analyzed with a qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in four main categories; public chat rooms, strategy, physical meetings, and types of sexual offenses against children on the internet, and eight subcategories; relationship, extortion, grooming, manipulation, avoid being discovered child pornography, sex trade and digital meeting forums. By creating credible relationships, grooming, extortion and manipulation, children are exploited to commit sexual activities that may include sex. The crime usually starts with communication through public chat rooms that allow users to communicate via direct message, audio and video chat. The conversation is then developed into more sexual subjects where the perpetrator uses different strategies to meet the child in reality, get nude pictures or in other ways utilize the child. By ensuring that the child has not spoken to someone about their relationship, they secure their opportunity not to get caught. The crime can be done in various ways, partly through rape, sex trafficking and child pornography. The study discusses the juridical problems that can occur with instruments measuring child pornography and the definition of a child. Future research should focus on opportunities to limit access to exposure materials and web pages that allow adult individuals to communicate with children with purpose of sexual interactions.

Na sociedade brasileira atual, questões relacionadas à aparência e à imagem do corpo são reconhecidas como elementos centrais nos processos de constituição de identidades desde a infância. Esta tese tem como questão central de pesquisa discutir em que medida as representações de beleza e de feiura compreendidas pelas crianças de uma turma de Educação Infantil pertencente a uma escola pública do município de Esteio/RS afetam a forma como as meninas lidam/investem com/nos seus corpos, delineando assim suas feminilidades. Os principais objetivos desta investigação são: 1) apresentar como determinadas representações de gênero, raça/cor, classe social e geração, construídas e reiteradas diariamente por meio das mais diversas pedagogias culturais e visuais, ecoam e circulam, como verdades quase que absolutas, no ambiente educacional infantil; 2) a partir dessas representações propagadas em diferentes meios culturais e sociais na contemporaneidade, mostrar como as meninas dessa turma investem em certas práticas corporais para serem consideradas belas. Levando em conta tais objetivos, foram apresentadas algumas situações desenvolvidas no cotidiano escolar da referida turma, para que as crianças pudessem expressar suas concepções a respeito do tema. Os resultados mostraram que as meninas, bem como os meninos, se preocupam com suas aparências e tais preocupações provavelmente são construídas a partir das representações e imagens aos quais elas/es têm acesso através de diversos meios. Em função da intensa presença de representações e imagens, meninas, em especial, são encorajadas a investir em seus corpos, o que colabora na constituição de suas identidades. Elas, muitas vezes, almejam ter corpos perfeitos e investem em práticas para esconderem seus “defeitos” e se parecerem com celebridades que admiram. Entretanto, tais práticas não foram aqui analisadas como “naturais” ao comportamento feminino, mas como parte de uma construção histórica, social e cultural. Para o desenvolvimento das análises foram utilizadas as contribuições dos Estudos de Gênero, dos Estudos Culturais e dos Estudos de Cultura Visual, especialmente aqueles que se aproximam da perspectiva pós-estruturalista de análise. Tais campos de estudos mostram-se produtivos na medida em que julgam que nossas identidades são forjadas e constituídas continuamente dentro de determinadas culturas, pela disputa constante de poder. Além disso, fornecem ferramentas para a análise de artefatos e acontecimentos que permeiam as arenas culturais e educacionais e que possuem grande relevância na produção das identidades infantis.
In contemporary Brazilian society, questions of appearance and body image are recognized as central elements in the construction processes of children‟s identities. This thesis aims to discuss to what extent the representations of beauty and ugliness understood by children of an early childhood education class, from a public school in the municipality of Esteio/RS, affect the way girls deal with and invest in their bodies, and thus outline their femininities. The main focuses of this research are: 1) to present how certain representations of gender, race/color, social class and generation, built and repeated daily through a variety of cultural and visual pedagogies , reflect and circulate as almost absolute truths in the children's educational environment; 2) to show how the girls in this group get involved with certain bodily practices to be considered beautiful from representations spread among different cultural and social media in contemporaneity, Taking into account such objectives, some situations developed in the school everyday life were presented so that the children could express their ideas about the theme. The results showed that girls and boys are worried about their appearances and such concerns probably are constructed from images and representations to which they have access through various means. Due to the intense presence of representations and images, girls in particular are encouraged to invest in their bodies, which contribute in the formation of their identities. They often want to have perfect bodies and engage in practices to hide their "flaws" and resemble celebrities they admire. However, such practices were not analyzed here as a “natural" female behavior, but as part of a system of historical, social and cultural relations. For the development of such analyses, the contributions of Gender Studies, Cultural Studies and Visual Culture Studies were used, particularly those associated with the post-structuralism approaches. Such fields of study are productive to the extent that they believe that our identities are continually forged and incorporated within certain cultures by a constant struggle over power. In addition, they provide tools for the analysis of artifacts and events, which permeate the cultural and educational arenas and are relevant to the production of children's identities.

The Internet presents a constantly evolving frontier for criminology and policing, especially in relation to online predators – paedophiles operating within the Internet for safer access to children, child pornography and networking opportunities with other online predators. The goals of this qualitative study are to undertake behavioural research – identify personality types and archetypes of online predators and compare and contrast them with behavioural profiles and other psychological research on offline paedophiles and sex offenders. It is also an endeavour to gather intelligence on the technological utilisation of online predators and conduct observational research on the social structures of online predator communities. These goals were achieved through the covert monitoring and logging of public activity within four Internet Relay Chat(rooms) (IRC) themed around child sexual abuse and which were located on the Undernet network. Five days of monitoring was conducted on these four chatrooms between Wednesday 1 to Sunday 5 April 2009; this raw data was collated and analysed. The analysis identified four personality types – the gentleman predator, the sadist, the businessman and the pretender – and eight archetypes consisting of the groomers, dealers, negotiators, roleplayers, networkers, chat requestors, posters and travellers. The characteristics and traits of these personality types and archetypes, which were extracted from the literature dealing with offline paedophiles and sex offenders, are detailed and contrasted against the online sexual predators identified within the chatrooms, revealing many similarities and interesting differences particularly with the businessman and pretender personality types. These personality types and archetypes were illustrated by selecting users who displayed the appropriate characteristics and tracking them through the four chatrooms, revealing intelligence data on the use of proxies servers – especially via the Tor software – and other security strategies such as Undernet’s host masking service. Name and age changes, which is used as a potential sexual grooming tactic was also revealed through the use of Analyst’s Notebook software and information on ISP information revealed the likelihood that many online predators were not using any safety mechanism and relying on the anonymity of the Internet. The activities of these online predators were analysed, especially in regards to child sexual grooming and the ‘posting’ of child pornography, which revealed a few of the methods in which online predators utilised new Internet technologies to sexually groom and abuse children – using technologies such as instant messengers, webcams and microphones – as well as store and disseminate illegal materials on image sharing websites and peer-to-peer software such as Gigatribe. Analysis of the social structures of the chatrooms was also carried out and the community functions and characteristics of each chatroom explored. The findings of this research have indicated several opportunities for further research. As a result of this research, recommendations are given on policy, prevention and response strategies with regards to online predators.

The continuous advancement of new technology, specifically in the area of internet technology, has led to an increase in concerns surrounding children and young people’s safety when online. The following thesis describes a study of protection and security on the internet from the perspective of children and young people and contributes and expands on the findings of my Masters Dissertation which examined parents’ perceptions of children at risk on the internet. The research focuses on young people’s perspectives about what risks they face and what would keep them safe and is set within literature on child sex abusers and internet grooming. The thesis is based on an online survey which gathered information about the behaviour and opinions of 859 children and young people living in Scotland. Findings were separated into four main topics: children and young people’s behaviour on the internet, children and young people’s perception of strangers both online and offline, children and young people’s opinion of education on internet safety and children and young people’s opinion of the government’s role in relation to their safety online. Respondents’ stated that they wanted to be protected when on the internet (whilst acknowledging their own responsibility when online), either by the government or through those responsible for the content of the internet. They also provided several suggestions on how schools and the government can do more to listen to their voices and improve internet safety education. There were a number of children and young people who reported that they disclosed personal information over the internet (their own and that of their friends and family) and that they were willing to meet people in the real environment whom they had been communicating with online: many respondents’ viewed internet ‘strangers’ as different from ‘strangers’ in the real environment. Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Wood et al.’s (1976) development of the concept of scaffolding, which has been developed in an educational rather than criminological context, were identified as offering some promise for explaining the behaviour of both the victims and the offender as other theories of sexual offending (either specific theories or explanations developed from general theories) are incapable of fully providing an explanation that will encompass grooming in general and online grooming in particular. It is argued that if these theories are applied to internet safety education they have the potential to empower children and young people and make grooming tactics and approaches less effective. The findings also indicated that more child and young people-oriented protection measures may be needed. Perceptions of protection and security on the internet were wide ranging but respondents were keen to provide possible solutions and examples of how to improve their safety when online. This would suggest that communicating with children and young people when developing policy, legislation, research and educational materials is the way forward if we wish to improve their safety and eliminate or reduce the dangers they face when using the internet.

Memoria (licenciado en ciencias jurídicas y sociales)
La presente investigación se desarrolla respecto de los medios de prueba, en particular los medios de prueba tecnológicos que la ley prevé, para probar ciertas conductas antijurídicas en juicio. Dichas conductas se refieren a la discriminación, particularmente en los juicios referidos al Bullying y Grooming. En concreto se analizan las condiciones de legitimidad del uso de esta clase de pruebas para probar las acciones u omisiones antijurídicas que se refieren, al igual que el valor probatorio y la impugnación de los mismos, en los distintos procedimientos en que ésta clase de conductas podrían ser perseguidas y eventualmente sancionadas

碩士
國立中興大學
科技法律研究所
99
There is a saying that the internet is a playground of the 21st century. Its anonymity, real-time, and speed have shortened the distance between everyone. Among the billion users, minors are perhaps the biggest group. Consequently, they have become targets of online sex predators and especially pedophiles. It is widely believed that the internet has been abused to lure children, which caused serious social problems. The first part of this thesis introduces the concept and nature of child grooming on the internet under international law. Then an analysis on the relevant laws of the United Kingdom, United States and Australia is provided. In addition, a comparative study between the national laws of the above-mentioned States and the laws of Taiwan is conducted. It is argued that the most important law regarding child grooming in Taiwan, namely, Article 29 of the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act needs to be amended to provide better protection of children on the internet.

Online sexual solicitors are individuals who deceptively earn the trust of minors online with the goal of eventual sexual gratification. Despite the prevalence of online solicitation, conversations in the domain are difficult to acquire due to the sensitive nature of the data. As a result, researchers studying online solicitors often study conversations between solicitors and decoys which are publicly available online. However, researchers have begun to believe such conversations are not representative of solicitor-victim conversations. Decoys and law enforcement are restricted in that they are unable to initiate contact, suggest meeting, or begin sexual conversations with an offender. Additionally decoys and law enforcement officers both have a goal of gathering evidence which means they often respond positively in contexts which would normally be considered awkward or inappropriate. Multiple researchers have suggested differences may exist between offender-victim and offender-decoy conversations and yet little research has sought to identify the differences and similarities between those talking to solicitors. In this study, the author identifies differences between decoys, officers, and victims within the manipulative process used by online solicitors to entrap victims which is known as grooming. The author looks at differences which occur within grooming stages and strategies within the grooming stages. The research in this study has implications for the data choices of future researchers in this domain. Additionally, this research may be used to inform the training process of officers who will engage in online sex stings.

1 Thesis title, keywords and abstract Thesis title: Sexually motivated cybercrime Keywords: cybercrime, virtual child pornography, sexting, pornographic performances, cyber grooming, sexual solicitation of children This master thesis deals with the issue of cybercrime against persons more specifically with sexually motivated crimes. The thesis is divided into five separate chapters. The first chapter deals with cybercrime in general, its taxonomy and the necessary terminology, it also describes some of the criminogenic factors of cybercrime relevant for the issue. The second chapter presents the most important applicable international legal instruments. The third chapter describes the issue of illicit pornography especially child pornography. For the subsequent chapters the author's own taxonomy was used and they overlap in part. The fourth chapter explores the phenomenon of sexting and the use of web cameras for sexual purposes as a consensual activity. In the fifth chapter the misuse of these activities for the purposes of child grooming, extortion and commercial sexual exploitation of children is examined. The chapters three to fine represent the core of the thesis and are outlined as follows: First, the criminological aspects are analyzed. Then some general thoughts on legal regulation of the given...

Classificação da American Psychological Association (APA): [4200] Psicologia Forense e Questões Jurídicas, [4270] Prevenção Criminal
O abuso sexual de crianças tornou-se, a partir dos anos 70/80 do Século XX, uma preocupação social mundial. Dada a elevada prevalência desta problemática, demonstra-se necessário desenvolver programas de prevenção primária, tendo esta investigação o objetivo de contribuir com conhecimento empírico que permita desenhar esses programas. Neste sentido, procura-se compreender o ajustamento do modus operandi implementado pelo perpetrador às características das crianças abusadas. Para tal, realizaram-se entrevistas com 31 reclusos, condenados por crimes contra a autodeterminação sexual, que assumiam a sua autoria. As entrevistas foram submetidas a um processo de codificação baseado nos princípios da metodologia da Grounded Theory e esse processo foi validado por um segundo codificador. Os resultados obtidos permitem identificar fatores de risco associados às vítimas e perceções distorcidas dos perpetradores acerca dos comportamentos destas, que influenciam o ajustamento de estratégias de sedução pelos abusadores, visando iniciar e manter o abuso, prevenindo, concomitantemente, que meio envolvente e vítimas denunciem o crime. A maioria dos crimes é revelada pela vítima. Sugerem, também, estratégias de prevenção primária: dever de denúncia do abuso sexual; educação das crianças (em contexto familiar e escolar) no sentido de dizerem não ao potencial abuso e afastarem-se de pessoas que lhe transmitam sentimentos de ansiedade/aflição; promoção da comunicação funcional entre família e crianças. Conclui-se que os programas de prevenção primária deverão potenciar a capacidade das vítimas para se afastarem da situação abusiva e promover as suas competências comunicacionais, de assertividade e resolução de problemas, bem como fornecer instrumentos às comunidades para detetarem o abuso.
Child sexual abuse has become, since 1970/1980, a social concern worldwide. Given the high prevalence of this problem, it is necessary to develop sexual abuse primary prevention programs, being the objective of this research to contribute to empirical knowledge that allows designing these programs. Therefore, this research seeks to understand the adjustment of the modus operandi implemented by perpetrators to the characteristics of the abused children. To this end, interviews were conducted with 31 prisoners convicted of crimes against sexual selfdetermination, which admitted their crime. The interviews were subjected to a coding process based on the principles of Grounded Theory methodology and this process has been validated by a second encoder. The results obtained allow us to identify risk factors associated to victims, as well as distorted perceptions of perpetrators about their behaviors, that influence the adjustment of seduction strategies by abusers, aiming to initiate and maintain the abuse, preventing, concomitantly, the victims or environment around them to report the crime. Victims reveal most of the crimes. Suggest also strategies for primary prevention: duty to report sexual abuse; education of the children (in the familial and school context) to say no to a potential abuse and move away from persons that transmit them feelings of anxiety/distress; promoting funcional communication between family and children. It is concluded that primary prevention programs should enhance the ability of victims to move away from the abusive situation and promote their communication, assertiveness and problem resolution skills and provide communities with tools to detect sexual abuse.

Com o passar do tempo, têm sido notáveis os desenvolvimentos verificados em sede de proteção das crianças, designadamente no que respeita à proteção penal da liberdade e da autodeterminação sexual dos menores. Na verdade, a preocupação do legislador para com a sexualidade dos menores é profícua e é de aplaudir, já que estes são mais frágeis e vulneráveis, não tendo, muitas vezes, a capacidade e o discernimento necessários para avaliar algumas das situações a que são expostos, designadamente situações de índole sexual, acabando por, muitas vezes, e pressionados pelo abusador, levar a cabo práticas sexuais. Não obstante, não podemos deixar que as preocupações da sociedade se imiscuam, sem limites, na liberdade sexual dos menores, sob pena de lhes ser negado um certo espaço de livre realização, constitucionalmente protegido. Assim, o tema do abuso sexual de menores acompanhado do fenómeno mais recente que é o grooming online, apresentam-se como um domínio com um campo muito vasto por descortinar, com muitas questões por eclodir e descobrir, sendo estes os aspetos a que nos propomos nesta dissertação
Over time, there have been outstanding developments in relation to the protection of children, namely concerning the criminal protection of sexual freedom and sexual self-determination of minors. In fact, the legislator's concern regarding the sexuality of minors is positive and should be applauded since minors are more fragile and vulnerable, not often having the capacity and the discernment needed to assess some of the situations to which they are exposed, particularly sexual situations, ending up by being pressured by an abuser and entering into undesirable sexual practices. However, one cannot let society's concerns overwhelm the sexual freedom of minors because it is not up to society to deny the minors the constitutionally protected space of free realization. Therefore, the issue of sexual abuse of minors and the most recent problem of online grooming are presented as a very wide field which claims to be discovered and explored, with many queries arising and topics to discover, being these the aspects that we intend to discuss in this dissertation.