By: PR Newswire
Apr. 24, 2007

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 24 — The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) today announced that it has just received its 475,000th report to its CyberTipline. These leads and tips have led to the arrest and successful prosecution of thousands of offenders.

An estimated 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys will be sexually victimized in some way before they reach the age of 18. The CyberTipline provides a vital reporting mechanism to get leads into the hands of law enforcement.

CyberTipline reports are received in seven categories. However, more than 89 percent of the reports received were regarding child pornography. In recent years, NCMEC has observed a consistent growth in child pornography, which is attributed to its commercial viability as well as the popularity of peer-to- peer networking sites, and widespread use of new technology such as digital cameras and videos.

The statistics surrounding child pornography are alarming. An estimated 58% of children used in child pornography today are prepubescent and 6% are infants. NCMEC is seeing an alarming trend in which victims are becoming younger and younger, and images are much more violent. (more…)