It opens in Bedford County, Virginia, where prosecuting attorney West Nance first became aware of a 14-year-old victim identified only as “H.M.” An artist’s drawing of H.M. These factors are the crux of Peek’s film and, along with a superbly crafted narrative, turns the first two acts of “STHP” into an intense, true-life legal procedural. Add to that the forced global shutdown in March 2020, with children as young as 5 being given smart phones, and the recipe for impending disaster reached critical mass. In the last five years, the explosion of social media outlets such as “Instagram” and “TikTok” have upped the ante even further. All bets were off, and everything became open game. (Auroris Media)Īs technology progressed at such a quick clip, it eclipsed users’ ability to fully comprehend its capability, deep reach, and, most importantly, the ability to remain fully anonymous.
Erin Burke, unit chief of the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit at Cyber Crime Center (C3), part of HSI, said that since she began working to combat child exploitation in 2007, sextortion cases have “drastically shot up,” in great part because of how easily accessible the internet is now to all ages. If someone was dumb enough to search for underage targets, the chances were they’d be caught. Regarding the latter, and because of the lower-tech nature of the internet in the beginning, minors were relatively safe. Since the inception of the internet, it has become both a vessel for adult-oriented imagery of every conceivable sub-sect and an electronic playground for predators. Sadly, Part II, the “Courage” portion, alone would rate 2/5 and is just 22 minutes long, including over five minutes of end credits. Luckily, Part I (“Anger”) is just over an hour and by itself would rate 5/5. Using this as her springboard, director Maria Demeshkina Peek (“I Dream of Dance,” “Third Grade”) divides “STHP” into two highly uneven halves. Anger at the way things are, and the courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” Augustine: “Hope has two beautiful daughters their names are anger and courage. The new documentary “Sextortion: the Hidden Pandemic” (“STHP”) opens with this ancient text, attributed to St. NR | 1h 25min | Documentary, Docudrama, True Crime | 4 October 2022 (USA)
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