Since 2002, 35 people have been arrested in Hawai'i on suspicion of electronic enticement of a child.

There have been six arrests so far this year, matching the total number of arrests last year.

Yet, law enforcement officials and others with an interest in tracking the prevalence of online sexual solicitation of children say it is difficult to put these figures into proper context given limited resources, incongruities in local and national guidelines, and a still-evolving understanding of the crime itself.

"It's hard to measure this because the crime was created in 2002, and the sentencing has changed twice," said Deputy Attorney General Kristin Izumi-Nitao, director of the Hawai'i Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, or HICAC. "We need to be able to identify these crimes more efficiently."

Lax sentencing guidelines initially allowed many offenders to avoid jail time. Since 2007, however, those convicted of the first-degree felony offense have been subject to a mandatory 10-year sentence.

To date, there have been four jury trials for electronic enticement of a child, each of which resulted in conviction; two are being appealed. There are eight trials still pending in Honolulu.

However, as Izumi-Nitao notes, the 35 cases on record reflect only arrests resulting from sting operations in which agents posing as underage subjects are sexually solicited by adults online.

"We have to accept that the Internet is a form of connector, and these people thought that they were meeting kids," Izumi-Nitao said. "They didn't know until they were charged that the victims were imaginary. This is a means of being proactive. (The offenders) have the full intent of meeting a child.

"The 'imaginary victim' is definitely a sentencing argument (for the defense)," she said. "They will argue fantasy, but these are sustained conversations intended to groom the victims. (The offenders) lead these conversations."

Izumi-Nitao said federal, state and county representatives are present at each arrest.

"Real life" cases, in which offenders actually solicit and meet real children, are not included in the task forces' data. Neither the task force nor the Honolulu Police Department, which works closely with the task force, has yet compiled the number of such cases, which typically involve other charges such as kidnapping and rape.

While HICAC works closely with 58 other task forces nationwide, comparing data can be problematic because Hawai'i, unlike other states, requires a "meet" — an attempt on the part of the offender to physically meet the virtual victim — for an arrest to be made. Hawai'i law also does not allow for "knock and talks," in which investigators may ask the consent of a suspect to examine their home or computer.

"There are 59 task forces, but laws are so different the numbers are skewed," Izumi-Nitao said. "Sentencing (guidelines) are dramatically different."

Izumi-Nitao said there is much that still needs to be understood about the crime itself.

While offenders tend to be male, other aspects of the profile are difficult to identify.

"It's a crime we need to understand better," Izumi-Nitao said. "There is interest from probation and parole because they'll have to deal with (these offenders), too. How do you treat them? We may not be able to medically call them pedophiles, but what are they and what is this?"

MOST VICTIMS TEENS

According to the University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center, online sexual solicitation of minors does not typically proceed according to popular assumption.

According to the center, most victims are teenagers, and few offenders lie about either their age or their sexual intentions; violence is rare, and meetings and sex are often voluntary.

The 2008 PEW Internet and American Life Project provided one of the most comprehensive examinations of American children's Internet use and experiences. The study, based on interviews with 1,635 parent-child pairs, found: