- Sexual predator
The term sexual predator is used pejoratively to describe a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain
sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically "predatory" manner. Analogous to how apredator hunts down its prey, so the sexual predator is thought to "hunt" for his or her sex partners. People who commitsex crime s, such asrape orchild sexual abuse , are commonly referred to as sexual predators, particularly intabloid media or as a power phrase by politicians. [Filler, Daniel (2001). " [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=266119 Making the Case for Megan's Law: A Study in Legislative Rhetoric,] " "Indiana Law Journal", 76(2).]The term is applied according to a person's moral beliefs, and does not necessarily denote criminal behaviour. For example, an adult male who cruises a bar looking for consensual sex from an adult female could be considered a sexual predator by some.
Some U.S. states have a special status for criminals designated as
sexually violent predator s, which allows these offenders to be held in prison after their sentence is complete if they are considered to be a risk to the public. They can also be placed on a sexual offender or sexual predator list which is viewable by everyone on the Internet.According to the
NBC news program "Dateline", as of January 2006, law enforcement officials estimate that as many as 50,000 sexual predators are online at any given moment. That number has been cited by Attorney GeneralAlberto Gonzales in speeches touting the dangers of child predators. [ [http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2006/ag_speech_0604202.html Transcript of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’ Address to the Employees at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children] April 20, 2006] [ [http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/20/gonzales.porn/index.html CNN - Gonzales gives child porn 'wake-up call'] April 20, 2006] However the origins of that figure have been questioned by the Legal Times, [ [http://www.law.com/jsp/dc/PubArticleDC.jsp?id=1147770329023 LegalTimes.com - Numbers Game: Gonzales Launches DOJ Project Safe Childhood With Mysterious Figure] ] and Dateline says it will no longer use it. [ [http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_052606_primenumber.html NPR, On The Media - Prime Number] May 26, 2006] Janis Wolak of the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire found that many parental fears about Internet sex predators are misinterpretations of the danger. [ [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/28029.html Fears of Internet predators unfounded, study finds] ]FBI Director
J. Edgar Hoover is attributed with the first known use of the term in the1920s .Filler, Daniel (2003). " [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=431420#PaperDownload Terrorism, Panic and Pedophilia] ," "Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law", 10(3)] It was popularized in the 1990s byAndrew Vachss and "48 Hours ". [Jenkins, Philip (2001). " [http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/p/jpj1/sin.htm "Go and Sin No More": Therapy and Exorcism in the Contemporary Rhetoric of Deviance] "] The word is not found at all in newspapers of 1985 and 1986, but occurs 321 times in 1992, 865 times in 1994, and 924 times in 1995.Distinction from sex offenders
The term "sexual predator" is often considered distinct from "
sex offender ". Many U.S. states also see these differences legally. A sexual offender is a person who has committed a sexual offense. A sexual predator is often used to refer to a person who habitually seeks out sexual situations that are deemed exploitative.ee also
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Civil confinement References
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