Entrapping the Innocent: Toward a Theory of Child Sexual Predators? Luring Communication

Abstract

This paper examines an unexplored form of communication deviance—the communicative process of entrapment used by child sexual predators to lure their victims into an ongoing sexual relationship. Specifically, using grounded theory methodology to analyze extant literature, a theory of luring communication (LCT) is proposed. The LCT begins by discussing how certain perpetrators gain access to particular types of children. Once in contact with a child, the perpetrator sets in motion the cycle of entrapment, which allows him to communicatively groom and entrap the child into accepting sexual advances. The theory then explores how certain communication responses by the perpetrator and the victim characterize the sustenance or disruption of an ongoing sexually abusive relationship. The essay ends with a series of propositional statements and suggestions for empirically testing and extending the theory.