Abstract
The obligation to criminalise online grooming, recently prescribed by the Council of Europe in the Treaty of Lanzarote, illustrates modern citizens' fears of external dangers, especially towards the sexual abuse of minors. The authorities' image of online grooming being unclear, the penalisatiom tends to be of a symbolic nature, implying false prophecies of legal protection. Moreover, the penalisation of online grooming indicates a precautionary use of the criminal law, so its justification lies within the perpertrators' objectionable motive, the latter violating basic assumptions of criminal law. Next to theoretical objections, practical issues are to be foreseen, as the criminal investigation of online grooming indicates the use of undercover tactics, which has a bearing on the procedural risk, e.g. the entrapment defence. Nevertheless, the British authorities have been able to penalise online grooming rather successfully. The Netherlands having recently (in July 2010) introduced a similar provision, this calls for a comparative analysis. Does the penalisation of online grooming have any added value, especially in light of the tendency towards a precautionary use of the criminal law, and what features are apparent in the British success?
Highlights
For several decades criminal law has been enormously popular
Partial conclusion Does the above description shed a different light on the apparently successful investigation and litigation of grooming in English criminal-law practice? Without drawing a full conclusion, it can be stated that there is no unambiguous answer to this question
Some things can be said against the English criminal provision and the manner in which it is enforced in criminal-law practice
Summary
It is no ‘real love’, but a necessity-based sympathy, driven by modern citizens’ fear of external danger. This is not a new phenomenon, since for ages people have gathered together to face collective danger. At the European level, this has recently resulted in the drafting of the Lanzarote Convention (hereafter ‘the Convention’) by the Council of Europe and the submission of a proposal for a Directive by the European Commission (European Union) Both these instruments have the aim to combat the sexual abuse of children through the Internet, e.g. by making grooming a criminal offence.
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