The legal definition of grooming refers to an act of deliberately establishing an emotional connection with a child to prepare them for sexual abuse. Abusers use manipulative behaviors to gain access to potential victims and their families to coerce them to agree to the abuse, which reduces their risk of getting caught. These tactics are most common with younger kids, but teens and vulnerable adults are also at risk. Grooming may occur online or in person, and it is usually done by someone the victim already trusts, such as a coach, teacher, family member, etc.

There is no set way that an offender may groom a child, but it is most common that the abuser uses the following tactics to gain access to their victim and their victim’s families. First, the offender will target the victim and exploit any perceived vulnerabilities. The offender will then gain the victims’ and their families' trust. The offender will then begin to isolate the child. The offender uses this tactic to reinforce the relationship the offender has with the victim by creating situations in which they will be alone together. The offender will then sexualize the relationship through talking, pictures, and situations the offender has created to exploit the child’s natural curiosity by using feelings of stimulation to advance the sexuality of the relationship. Offenders may start to touch the victim in ways that seem harmless, such as hugging or tickling, which later escalates to increasingly more sexual contact, such as massages, watching porn, or showering together. The final step is maintaining control. Once sexual abuse occurs, offenders use secrecy, blame, threats, and many other tactics to maintain the child’s participation and silence.

As soon as the relationship is sexualized, there are many laws against the actual sexual abuse or the intent of sexual abuse. However, there are very few, if any, laws regarding the manipulation and deliberate emotional connection set up by the offender to prepare the victim for sexual abuse.  There is almost no way to ensure a child is safe from these behaviors online or in-person, which is why we need your help to pass a law against grooming before it progresses to sexual abuse.

By signing the petition, you will be helping us to hold any person 19 years of age or older who knowingly uses the internet, an electronic device capable of transmission of any writing, sounds, images, or data with the intent to arouse the sexual desire of any person involved in the communication, to commit any of the following acts: seduce, solicit, lure, entice, or attempt to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child or someone the person reasonably believes is a child, to engage in sexual conduct.

The primary objective is passing an Anti-Grooming Bill in Nebraska to outlaw online grooming for the prevention of online sexual exploitation and stopping the creation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).