8:49 a.m., March 10, 2011----Speaking to a packed auditorium of more than 200 secondary education majors Tuesday in the Trabant University Center Theatre at the University of Delaware, Delaware Deputy Attorney General Patricia Daily Lewis used a combination of humor and statistics to deliver a sobering message about kids and Internet safety.

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New research estimates one in four girls and one in six boys have been molested in some way, and the Internet has increased the average number of victims of a child predator to anywhere from 80-100.

“When your kids are online,” Lewis said, “it's like you've left them in a public restroom on I-95.”

The presentation, “Protect your Cyberspace: Practice Safety and Good Citizenship Online,” is one she and Attorney General Beau Biden have given to more than 28,000 children across the state, and the message is as relevant to future educators as it is current students.

Teachers are the number one reporters of child abuse, and Lewis anticipates they will continue to be, especially as the ease of information sharing continues to reshape the classroom landscape.

“Fourth graders are bringing Blackberry's to school to log onto Facebook. Eleven-year-olds (who shouldn't even be allowed to have Facebook accounts) have 500 friends,” she said, and added that students have a strong tendency to over-share very personal information -- their school, their address, the location of their bus stop, the time their parents come home.

“We're putting technology in the hands of little kids, and they're getting in trouble.”

Lewis offered relevant bits of advice for teachers to impress on their students:

• Send is forever -- Once a student texts/emails a picture, the ultimate distribution is beyond their control.
• 'Sexting' is a felony -- The growing trend of children producing nude images of themselves is illegal and a felony.
• Cyberbullying: crime vs. free speech -- An “Everybody-hates-Ashley” Facebook page is not a crime unless it becomes threatening, violent, or harassing

“Did you really think you were going to go out there and just teach math?” she joked. “Kids who are in trouble are dying to get help, and as future teachers, it's important that you know what you're up against.”

UD Interim Deputy Provost Margaret Andersen, who introduced Lewis to the students, echoed such sentiments.

“Education is not just about content,” she said. “The more you can be informed about social issues as well as educational issues, the better off you'll be.”

Daily Lewis is a deputy attorney general with the Delaware Department of Justice and currently serves as the director of the Family Division. Created by Attorney General Biden in June 2007, it is the first division of its kind in any Attorney General's office in the nation and handles child support, child protection, domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, juvenile delinquency and truancy.

Article by Artika Rangan
Photo by Doug Baker