Attorney General's Child Predator Unit
When Attorney General Tom Corbett first served as Attorney General, he created the Attorney General's Child Sexual Exploitation Task Force, specifically designed to arrest child pornographers as well as investigate and capture child predators before they strike by using proactive, undercover operations.
In January 2005, Corbett created a dedicated Child Predator Unit, using a group of specially trained agents and prosecutors across Pennsylvania to identify and capture online predators before them can harm children.
Corbett said, "The growth of the Internet has been astronomical, and regrettably, predators are using the Internet as their primary means of contacting and communicating with their young victims."
And, he said, with the growth of the Internet, the problem of sexual predators has increased tremendously. "As we have seen in many of our cases, sexual predators entering teen and preteen chat rooms on the Internet are common place and there is an explosion of child pornography on the Internet," said Corbett.
He provided the following statistics on the problem:
The Internet Filter Review, an online publication that is dedicated to protecting children from pornography on the Internet, has estimated that there are 100,000 web sites offering illegal child pornography. They also report that the average age of exposure to Internet pornography is 11-years-old.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that one in five girls and one in ten boys are sexually exploited before they reach adulthood.
One in five children, ages 10 to 17, received unwanted sexual solicitations online, according to the Youth Internet Safety Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"In order for law enforcement to stay one step ahead of the Internet and sexual predators, we have widened the scope of the Attorney General's task force into a larger, broader statewide Child Predator Unit," Corbett said. "With a larger Child Predator Unit we are increasing the pursuit of those in our state, or those who would come into Pennsylvania, who seek to sexually exploit or otherwise prey upon and steal the innocence of our children, effectively preventing children from becoming victims of crime."
In addition to investigating and prosecuting the cases, Corbett said, the agents and attorneys have created a training program and teach young people and their parents, how to avoid being a victim of a sexual predator. Corbett said that educating parents and young people about the dangers of sexual predators is extremely important. The training program has the agents who catch the predators in classrooms and churches teaching and warning parents and young people about these predators and the tactics they use.
Corbett urged anyone who has information about child predators to contact the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit at 1-800-385-1044.