Created: 2/20/2008 6:15:11 PM 
By Kristin Smith First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Murder and sex crime cases like the horrific death of Jessica Lunsford continue to dominate media coverage.
And television shows like Dateline have made us more aware than ever of the problem of cyber predators.
But a new study is challenging some of our assumptions.
"The impression that a lot of people have is that internet sex crimes against children occur when predators lure children in by pretending to be other youth," said the Crimes Against Children Research Center Director, David Finkelhor.
Finkelhor says many kids know exactly what they're getting into.
"The kids go off to meet these adults thinking these are friends or thinking that they're in love with these people, and they have multiple sexual encounters with them," said Finkehor.
But he says that doesn't mean these adults victimizing children aren't predators.
"There are online predators, and they're dangerous, and they're exploitive, they're just somewhat different from the image that people have had," said Finkelhor.
And he says children have a big part in making themselves victims.
"What puts kids at risk is talking online about sex, having a sexualized personna online, having problems with your family, conflicts with your parents, and victimizations outside the internet, being a youth who's having sexual orientation concerns," said Finkelhor.
Finkelhor says the study in no way blames children who become victims of online sex crimes, but this helps them find a way to educate families on the issue.
The researchers in this study are now devising programs to prevent online crimes, and they say they're starting to spend a lot of money on internet safety.
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