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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 397-1 Filed 10/29/21 Page 5 of 43

960 N. Bennett and W. O’Donohue

TABLE 1 General Definitions of Grooming

Author(s) Definition of Grooming (taken directly from reference)

Sgroi (1982) “How does [the perpetrator] get the child to participate in some type of
sexual behavior? Usually in a low-key, nonforcible fashion, possibly by
presenting the activity as a game or something that is ‘special’ and fun.
This always entails misrepresentation of moral standards, either verbally
or implicitly. . . . Perhaps rewards or bribes will be offered.”

Salter (1995) “The establishment (and eventual betrayal) of affection and trust occupies
a central role in the child molester’s interactions with children. The
grooming process itself often seems similar from offender to offender,
largely because it takes little to discover that emotional seduction is the
most effective way to manipulate children.”

Howitt (1995) “The steps taken by paedophiles to ‘entrap’ their victims and is in some
ways analogous to adult courtship.”

Leberg (1997) “The offender plans to make the victim less likely to resist, to make others
unaware of what he is doing, or even to make them likely to help him,
without their knowledge, to molest a child.”

Gallagher (1999) “Entrapment involves the use of an array of material, illicit and emotional
‘inducements’ to draw children into abusive situations and increases
their difficulty in disclosing.”

Brackenridge “The process by which a perpetrator isolates and prepares an intended
(2001) victim.”

Gillespie (2002) “The process by which a child is befriended by a would-be abuser in an
attempt to gain the child’s confidence and trust, enabling them to get
the child to acquiesce to abusive activity. It is frequently a pre-requisite
for an abuser to gain access to a child.”

Berson (2003) “Grooming involves a clever process of manipulation, typically initiated
through a nonsexual approach, which is designed to entice a victim into
a sexual encounter (Brown, 2001). The inhibitions of a child are
lowered through active engagement, desensitization, power and control.
It is often characterized as a seduction, involving a slow and gradual
process of learning about a child and building trust. This also
contributes to the difficulty in detecting the activity. Grooming is also a
deceptive process in which a child is unprepared to interpret cues
which signal danger of risk. Predators are skilled at gaining the trust of a
child before luring them into interactions. The process of grooming
through the formation of a close bond creates a victim who is more
likely to comply with sexual advances.”

O’Connell “A course of conduct enacted by a suspected paedophile, which would
(2003) give a reasonable person cause for concern that any meeting with a
child arising from the conduct would be for unlawful purposes.”

Spiegel (2003) “Subjection is the process of predisposing a boy to sexual abuse by means
of subtle or blatant interactions that lead to boundary diffusion and role
confusion.”

Craven, Brown, “A process by which a person prepares a child, significant adults and the
and Gilchrist environment for the abuse of this child. Specific goals include gaining
(2006) access to the child, gaining the child’s compliance and maintaining the
child’s secrecy to avoid disclosure. This process serves to strengthen the
offender’s abusive pattern, as it may be used as a means of justifying or
denying their actions.”

Knoll (2010) “The process by which sex offenders carefully initiate and maintain
sexually abusive relationships with children. Grooming is a conscious,
deliberate, and carefully orchestrated approach used by the offender.
The goal of grooming is to permit a sexual encounter and keep it a
secret.”

DOJ-OGR-00005872