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Abstract: 

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series on the grooming of child victims. The first article explained grooming processes and included operational definitions, stages, and a need-based theoretical perspective of the grooming process. This article looks at social networking websites (e.g., MySpace) and the information acquisition that goes into choosing a victim based on a levels perspective of information generation. This also specifically applies the grooming techniques from the first article to the computer networking context. The publication Online Victimization: A Report on the Nation’s Youth (YISS-1) exposed an epidemic plaguing adolescents in the United States, and ultimately worldwide. (D. Finkelhor, K.J. Mitchell, and J. Wolak, Online Victimization: A Report on the Nation’s Youth (2000).) In the sequel, Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later (YISS-2), the threat persists, but has changed venues.

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Affiliations:  1: Iowa State University.