To Catch a Predator
Over 40 million Americans have seen Dateline’s ongoing popular series To Catch a Predator, which has caught over two hundred potential child predators.
While the show exposed this epidemic, Chris Hansen’s book, To Catch a Predator, shares the true stories of families who have been targeted by predators, revealing the tactics predators use to manipulate their victims and why even cautious families can be vulnerable to their attacks.
He also offers suggestions from police officers, therapists, and child predators on the best approaches for preventing these crimes.
Most critically, he provides parents with concrete steps they can take to protect their kids today, including how to initiate meaningful conversations with their children. To Catch a Predator teaches parents and children what they need to know before the next predator strikes.
Thank you CHRIS HANSEN for continuing to expose all these unknown, online sick bastards. Especially for now getting them arrested by the good and dedicated police of Riverside Police department..thank you to them so much too...Its so sad not only to know these are crimes against innocent children are horrendous, but their are alot more abuse that's done to our children that none even addresses and these trusted people are taking everything else they can do and leaving our children, my children...DEVASTATED and hopeless and unable to function in a life their trying so hard and just get thru all the other ignored, unpunished sick abusive that add to it on top...they never stop..and our children are loosing the battle...not these abusers...please do more of this for the other many innocent victims if this F..kup society...thank you for your time and dedication..its very appreciated... Debbie VenturaBeachCa
What the hell?! I can't believe the comments lol. too many predators watching this show huh. ???. die in shame all of you sex predator pricks. ?
In an anon survey, 63% of men nominated age seven as their ideal age for sex if any age were legal.
I can not believe some of the comments on here...some are victim blaming..others are in complete denial. These men had only one thing on their mind how do you explain the condoms, the video cameras, one of them even brought a vibrator for christ sake! The ywere not going round there for a nice chat and a cup of tea. Infact some of these comments are quite worrying some of you sound like pedos yourself
After being captured for trying to have sex with a minor on to catch a predator, one of the sexual predators committed suicide in the trailer they filmed him in, after they called his wife.
In reading more of the comments and seeing the debates about thought crimes and the animal kingdom, it flabbergasts me on how far off point people are about what Chris Hanson is doing. While the police are doing their sting operations, Chris is getting these men on camera, exposing who they are. Why defend these sick pedophiles?
If you're concerned about thought crimes, you should watch "Thought Crimes - The Case of the Cannibal Cop (Gilberto Valle)". HBO put this documentary out and you can watch it for free on YouTube.
My heart goes out to the neighboring families that didn't know about these sting operations being done in their community. Their children unknowingly being put at risk could have the most horrible of consequences. I guess that's a different legal matter ...
Anyone that thinks this is entrapment is a fool. These men are online looking for our children and want to do disgusting things to them. If you can't see that, I feel bad for you. If this program can save one child from a lifetime of damage, suicidal tendencies and self loathing, it's well worth whatever it takes to get here. There is no excuse for a teacher, criminal investigator or a retiree to be sniffing around a 13 year old for sex, what is wrong with these men! I'm glad Chris was there and decided to get law enforcement involved, when the two men walked out and thought they got away with it, did you not see one of them look back at his buddy and laugh? If not, you really need to go back and watch it again. Anyone defending these men and crying entrapment should be reminded again why these men drove from minutes to hours to get here, I didn't see any 13 year olds bring Candy-land or Scrabble, these men of 19 - 60 brought booze and condoms .. sick!
did Chris Hansen end the whole thing by making a blanket statement that "women aren't involved in this predatory activity"? Granted the number is dramatically lower than the majority which consists of men, but there are countless cases of women who have either contributed to the grooming process which resulted in sexual abuse of their own child, wee directly involved in the sexual abuse, or were caught having sexual relations with their underage students. The last category is often mislabeled as anything but sexual abuse solely based on how attractive the female teacher happened coupled with the frequency of the students to be between the ages of 15 to 17 years old. Often if the boys are in this age range and the female teacher is attractive, we make jokes in private regarding how "lucky" the victims were to be victimized. Having had a male teacher attempt to groom me when I was 14, I certainly would have preferred to have an attractive female teacher try to take advantage of me instead, but I find it difficult to comprehend how even that "ideal" scenario based on male stereotypical fantasies would not lead to some type of abnormal or exaggerated behavior in that student's life.
It's actually sick to way they have been catching these perverted individuals and my opinion,people who taking part to produce this sort of program ,or watching it
,are as ****** up as them.What next??set cameras into room of terminally ill people and watch them die....get a life!!!
Guilty pleasure, but Chris Hanson is so cocky and judgmental. A good lawyer could get these guys off.
Soo many child molesters in the comments that are butthurt xD.
Another voice on the Chris Hanson is a sick freak side.
No Victim no crime.
The show goes after a topic which in reality has very very few real victims. Look at the way Perverted Justice does things.
- Make a fake account with a fake 13-17 year old girl picture (even fully grown adults, from a science standpoint)
- Sit in a sex, gay, or role playing chat room (yeah they use RP chat rooms)
- Wait to be messaged, drop their age on the person, generally the "bad guy" tries to say oh well you are too young and tries to leave
- Only to be spammed with messages day after day "do you hate me?" "am i ugly" "what did i do" "talk to me or i'll kill myself"
- After weeks of psychological manipulation the guys finally agree to meet the girls, and when they change their mind because they see how bad things could happen (from a legal standpoint, not because they harming someone), they try and back off, only to be spammed more "do you hate me" "talk to me!!" messages and phone calls.
The cases you see on the TV show are the very very very few select few that actually have someone talking "dirty" to an underage person, funny enough alot of the these underage people are found in the ROLE PLAYING ADULT chat rooms....
So Chris Hanson can shove it. And Perverted Justice. There is a reason why most of their "stings" get taken no place with any legal action, most states call BS, and won't actually charge the people, and the ones that do, the judges only give them a week to month, maybe search their computers but most of the guys are sick freaks, they were tricked and conned by the sick freaks at Perverted Justice
So go after people who have victims, not the lonely dudes in adult sex role playing chat rooms are who tricked
To fix a problem u need to understand a problem - why how, it happens. lets understand how the mind has fantasies, how people have problems in finding mature relationships, and a heathy society understands its own sexuality. Sure morality and values create social fabric, but its lack of perspective and flexibility dont really make a change. why do people get lost on drugs, turn to crime and so on. this is a health issue. yes it wrong, yes we need to protect kids. but if we want to make things better we need to be prepared to see deeper into not just the victim but the perpetrators. anyway - food for thought
i thought this was going to be about the psychology and then tracking the sick fks. this is too disturbing to watch. pure sick. the crazy thing is - i found out a friend of mine had lots of child porn on his pc and was locked up for a while. he moved away. came back to my area. i asked him "where has he been for the past year?" (making out that i didn`t know what happened with him.) - trying to get him to admit what he did. he never admitted to me. i never spoke to him again. it`s fking sick. i have a 13y.o daughter and i dont get to see her. but if some sick fk tried anything with her - i WILL kill him.
why do these kids invite these men to have sex?
They ought to cut these guys junk off and give them a colostomy bag.
Animals are Among Us!! No Morals!
Animals have nothing to do with sick humans!
Contrary to what you say. I see adult animals raping young animals all the time. It's more natural than I bet you'd like to accept.
What types of animals.. instead of saying animals name the species
(Bonobos have consensual sex)
Otters rape baby seals to death, dolphins are violent predators with a predilection for baby killing and rape, mallard ducks rape too... A single male or even groups of males will chase down a female (actually chase) and gang up on her and rape her. It is extremely voilent and I have seen many females killed (with a group rape) or injured so bad they have to be put down. Another animal that commonly practices rape is the orang-utan (one of our closest relatives, interestingly). It's thought that around half of all orang-utan births are the result of rape. I have also seen cats raping very young females. As sick as it may sound, rape is a natural thing and age often plays no significant role in the animal kingdom.
Its not the Pedophiles fault... parents should watch their damned kids. SIMPLE solution, kids shouldn't even have a PC or laptop in their rooms or be un-supervised on a computer..why are kids even on large random chat rooms?? they are just asking for it..what ever happened to going outside, causing a little mischef/ playing soccer or fishing..
maybe they don't have any friends? or they don't have friends who understand their problems? Adults are more than capable to know that talking sexual with kids are wrong. Even as a 15 year old I would tell 13 year olds to talk to their parents instead.
How could it not be the paedophiles fault? They are the ones seeking out kids and showing them explicit photos and meeting them believing they will have sex. If kids go outside for soccer or fishing they are also at risk of being approached by predators, and then there is the fact that most of the abusing is being done by adults the kids know.
Your comment is a prime example of the fact that us adults think it is 'other peoples responsibility' and 'we shouldn't have to worry about it' etc etc. This attitude is part of the fabric that gives paedophiles so much freedom and ruins so many children's lives.
If you want kids to go out and play soccer, then you really need to consider what we need to do to make it safe enough for them to do that.
PS: Kids are asking for friendship, attention, care, acceptance etc. You clearly have no understanding of children and adolescent needs and development. Saying that 'they're just asking for it' is the kind of reasoning predators use to justify their actions and cause serious harm to vulnerable youngsters.
How dare you blame the kids n parents people with comments like you should also be locked up siiiiick !
Oh lord!. This tool wrote a book trying to make up for that abortion of a show? That show was actually a step below pedophilia on a scale of decency.
I can't believe some people are so ignorant they actually buy the BS story that the show was a public service. They were cashing in on peoples fears and exploiting sick peoples' weaknesses for ratings.
I feel so sorry for the families of the people "exposed" on the show who had to endure all that public shame and were victimized by NBC worse then they would have been by any "predator".
The people on the show had turned up to have sex with a minor, they deserved everything they got. They were NOT innocent people.
Actually they were, since you know, there was NO minor.
That doesn't matter, they explain in the show they showed intent to have sex with a minor. It doesn't matter if that minor turns out to be an adult. They still committed a crime by showing intent.
Perverted justice pretended to be kids by creating fake profiles saying they were minors. The predators would then start talking to them first. The predator then shows intent on having sex with this child by turning up to the house. The crime was committed by showing intent to have sex with a minor. Doesn't matter if the minor isn't real or if there isn't one there. They still committed a crime.
Educate yourself before starting a debate.
Thanks Stuart, that really opened my eyes up. You're right, everything that is moral or immoral in the eyes of the law is 100% true.
PS - I would really like to get a look at your browsing history.
Trying to have sex with a minor IS immoral. These guys have turned up to have sex with a minor.
I don't think the law is correct about everything but when it comes to underage sex, it is. It has to be harsh and give powers to officers to arrest for intent otherwise those people will just go get back in the chat rooms and find a real child. They are preventing a sinister crime from happening.
There is also nothing in my browsing history that is illegal. I am worried about your browsing history though as you are the one defending pedophiles and hiding your identity by using a false name.
Stuart, for me to be defending pedophiles these men would have actually had to have had sex with children, which they didn't.
For that group to actually be preventing crimes from happening they would have to be stop people from having sex with real minors, which they didn't.
Also, you're confusing pedophile and hebephile.
God its like you ignore half of what people say.
They turned up with the intent to commit a crime! What do you not understand about that?
Intent to commit a crime is a crime in itself. Its like arresting someone for "Carrying a weapon with intent to harm". If the police could only arrest someone after they have used the weapon, the streets wouldn't be very safe and you would have a lot of injured or even dead innocent people.
You see it in some of the first episodes when the guys are allowed to escape. As soon as they get back home, they are back on the internet looking for another child to have sex with. They are preventing a child from being abused by arresting these men when they show the intent to have sex with a minor.
Talking to you is like banging my head against a brick wall. This is the law follow it or go to Germany where the age of consent is 14.
You can't arrest a person for bad intentions. Are you in favor of thought crimes? Just wait, that can't be too far away the way rights and freedoms are being ignored in the US.
I agree with someone else's opinion below that tv is pathetic and this show, which I haven't ever watched, has to be in the running for WORST. SHOW, EVER. But most fall into that category.
I agree with your first point, pwndecaf.
But on the second point of worst show ever, I would have to disagree. I for one, was completely entertained and thought the show was f--kin hilarious. I think it's hideous what they did, but the fact that I got to watch it, was friggen awesome.
yes you can arrest a person for intentions.
Conspiracy to murder being a prime example.
Intention is as prosecutable as actually doing it.
You can be prosecuted for intending to have sex with a minor in the same way you can be prosecuted for planning to murder someone, if the intention is there the the law is broken and it's time for a court to decide the facts.
The law would be a dumb thing if they had to actually wait for penetration before doing anything...it would certainly give the term "sting operation" a new and very dark meaning.
I am aware of the laws. My point is, the minor, didn't actually exist. And, the men, were enticed into it.
If you think this group and this show was actually concerned with preventing crimes, then I advise you to look up Louis Conradt. A man that was enticed into sex with the fake minor, said he would show up, never showed up, never intended too, and then they repeatedly called him to come and basically harrassed him before showing up with a SWAT team and cameras at his house to film him blow his brains out.
well clearly you're not aware of the law if you can't understand this simple premise.
If the Police instigate the inappropriate conversation, that is entrapment, and it's illegal.
If the suspect instigates sexually orientated conversation with someone they believe to be a minor, that is legal, it's called grooming, and he has been caught by a sting.
It was not the police. It was perverted justice, which is perverted in it's own way. Again, when someone never has anything in mind other than roleplay, it's not grooming. When it's clear that that's what they want to do, and you go after someone who never wanted to touch a child in real life, then your prime agenda is not preventing crimes.
My point is not that having sex with underage kids as an adult isn't wrong. My point isn't that these men didn't want to do that. My point is that the people pretending like they give a shit about the welfare of children, don't. And therefore, are perverted themselves. They exploit the kids in their own sick manner. And it's not to get off sexually, it's to get off on the pain of another.
except there aren't any children involved...Are you like a spokesman for NAMBLA or something?
"except there aren't any children involved."
Yes I know, it was one of my points.
I understand your point about the producers manipulating the public with there public service agenda.
For you to say that the producers are lower than pedophiles is absurd to say the least. One of the problems I see is that it took a television network to create the system to catch these predators rather than the abundant amount of law enforcement agencies that are in the USA.
The amount that they court seemed high from my point of view, however not knowing the full details of that area eg. population, so a per capita evaluation be used as a tool to see if methods being used to catch these pedophile are being successful or not. I'm not saying that taking just one of these scums of the earth is not a success. I would like to see more of these type of operation happening every country to rid the world of pedophiles.
If organizations like the United Nations concentrated on the protection of the children of the world against sex crimes, may be the problems there trying to solve at present with little success to date may improve though the understanding and the compassion we all have for children.
I have a 5 year old child and if anyone touched or harmed him in any way, the person better hope that the police catch him before I did, because what I would do to that person I would not try to attempt to explain the torture and terror I would inflict on that "thing". If the police got to him and he had his day in court and gets jail. His only problem with that would be his release as he with be looking over he shoulders until I'm standing in front of him.
but...the show does exactly what the authorities do. It didn't invent the process, it just followed the police procedure already in place...the only difference is that they can edit out all the mistakes they make before they show it, so you only get to see their successes!
You have made a valid point, but aren't our children safer by this sting with the scum they caught.
It appears that more efforts should made to have these type of stings more often if they do make a difference. of course your not going to get a positive result on every arrest however the more pedophiles off the street the safer our children will be.
Our children will be safer in two ways first the pedophiles that are imprisoned and secondly the more publicity these sting generate will also put the pedophiles on notice that the likely hood of getting caught is increasing, which may produce less attacks in the future.
I don't know that they are safer, most children that have suffered or are suffering abuse, do so at the hands of people they know and should be able to trust, relatives, family friends, neighbours, carers. All the people you're least likely to suspect.
That's the sad truth, I have a five year old son as you may have already read, and I must say extremely proud.
Being a parent the responsibilities are never ending and a part of that is to ensure that your child protection comes first. I'm no doubt are a little over protective, and the people as you mentioned have respect, some may call it fear of my background not to betray my trust/friendship.
I think the whole point here is that these men were coming to the house/beach/whatever with the BELIEF that they were going to meet a minor. And with the belief that they were most likely going to have sex with said minor. This is what they believed. That definitely classifies as intent.
It doesn't matter if we think they were lured or if we believe the laws are right or wrong. The laws are in place to protect minors from being taken advantage of. If a person has fantasies then that is all they should remain.
A child is exploring their world as they grow up. They may know what is right and wrong but usually don't have the wisdom to curb those explorations. That is where, we as supposedly responsible adults, need to take a stance. Adults seriously mess each other up, we don't need to be bringing children into our madness.
Stats differ a little, however, in general- reasonable estimates claim 1 in 3 girls and nearly 1 in 5 boys claim to have been sexually abused in childhood; about 40% in this 'popular' 11-14 year old age range. Increased public awareness, more arrests and incarcerations show a small but significant DECLINE in child sexual abuse, by about 20% over the past 2 decades. Considering that reporting this crime is very low, the trend to abuse declining is encouraging. That said a GREAT DEAL MORE needs to be done. Victims still number in the millions, so anything we can do to add fact and visual to the face of sexual deviancy needs to continue. No, all sex offenders are not the same and some treatment programs are proving very effective. Yes It's complicated, but that's not a reason to minimize the problems or give up on any strategies that help reduce these horrific numbers. Note that about 10% of the Sexual Predators out there are responsible for nearly half the crimes (only when their faces are shown on local press do more of their victims start to come forward). In my opinion there are no one size fits all solutions; however, public discussion and investigative shows like dateline do help, as deterrent to those who might be borderline or treatable, in giving a voice to those who are still silently suffering,by de-mystifying the face of predators, who can be anybody, and maybe, hopefully, getting a clearer message out there to ALL, that we as a society will not tolerate sexual abuse of our children - we will prosecute, (even many years after) and we will take preventative actions like these sting operations to keep offenders from touching our children. The men shown in this episode knew it would be illegal for them to have any sexual activity with a minor (anyone under 16 in most countries)...nuff said.
Excitable emotional statements are not a substitute for fact-supported arguments, Soulfly.
Soulflavor, way to dismiss someone who has posted numerous posts detailed, fact-supported arguments by NOT addressing ANY of them. It's so easy to blindly yell out "you're defending pedophilia, you're WRONG" (which he did anything but) without putting some brainpower into understanding his words.
can wait to see Dateline Iran edition. oh way you can marry a 10 year old girl. SMH
Who is this TV Show aimed at and why would anyone watch it. I'm not anti American but this is the worst of the modern American mindset on display and an embarrassment to the country. How could anyone hear this pitched and think great idea, lets make some sleazy entertainment show based around paedophilia. Its a horrible, nasty show from all sides. I think I even hate the presenter more than the PREDATORS!! He reminds me of that C****t Jeremy Kyle.
It's sensational TV, and it is entrapment.
Imagine a mirror universe. The show is called "To Prevent Dumb Slutty Girls from being Dumb Slutty Girls." Cops posing as adult men trolling the net for underage girls.
How long will they have to troll to find underage girls to actually respond? Days, weeks, months, years? And when they situation goes down, the parents of the girl will confront the girl and asks her "What's going on?" No villains to lynch. How much of a ratings will this show get? Will people be interested in watching? Will it even be on the air at all?
Yet even though the mirror universe is almost identical to this one, why don't they do it that way? Things that make you wanna go ... hmmm.
Sex is rape unless it's consensual. Teens and children therefore cannot give consent (for good reason.) It's no different from the laws barring them from signing contracts or not attending school. Kids make stupid decisions that can destroy their lives, and so an adult involved with the delinquency of a minor are doubly responsible.
None of this is entrapment as the decoys stick to general subject chat rooms, and only start chatting when contacted privately by another user. They also never suggest any course of action, or invite the would-be rapist to their house. These are supposed to be young teens, and therefore it's unequivocally rape. So stop excusing molestation, and start thinking with something other than your pecker.
But the thing is that CHILDREN cannot consent in our society, and by the way it is both females and males, so you can keep your sexist bias out of this.
Think. Use your intelligence. Think, don't blindly feel and react in the manner that people set you up to react.
Think. Ask yourself, why isn't there a show called "To Prevent Dumb Slutty Girls from being Dumb Slutty Girls?" Why the mirror universe does not exist?
I can take anything and make a devil out of it. Look at MC Escher's Devils and Angels.
Do you know how easy it is, and how cliche it is to paint humans as devils? It's in every war poster of every war. Except when you go to the other country, the devils and angels are reversed, but the posters are identical.
It's the oldest trick in the book.
Ask yourself, why isn't there a show called "To Prevent Dumb Slutty Girls from being Dumb Slutty Girls?"
When you can answer that, you have evolved 1,000 years beyond humans of today.
its so funny to watch usa police taking 1 man down with 10 police officers lol :D
on topic - this again fear tactic ,uuu your children are not safe!! :D such a bullsh** btw cant see anything wrong if someone meets young girl if she wants it, its her life not yours and its up to her to decide, when i was 14 i would love to have attention from 20+ girls but only girs get so lucky and get attention from older boys
+ if you put to prision these men who try to meet these girls you should put to prision these girls too, in most of the cases they are out there and waiting someone to write them , most men are just men , they fu** everything that moves it it lets them to do so , deal with it
parents should focus much more on educationg their children than scaring all the time - dont do this dont do that , he will rape you he will kill you, you will get generation of mentally disordered kids out of that
There's a reason children aren't allowed to drink alcohol, use tobacco, work before they turn sixteen, be sued, drive a car, sign a contract, not attend school, or live without a guardian.
It's impossible for them to give consent for obvious reasons. Kids don't have the maturity or life experience to be able to make these sorts of choices. That's like saying a child should be charged as an accessory to child abuse because they were too afraid to report their parents beating a sibling. Adults do, hence they are the responsible parties here.
These guys are supposed to be big boys, and are more than capable of thinking with something other than their pecker if they exercised even an ounce of self control.
I can't believe 50% of the user's posts below. They're defending the predators and saying the show is a scam. Calling it entrapment is like saying, he told me to shoot the gun how is it murder? Or I just pointed the gun at the Police Officer's head how is that attempted murder? The people defending the predators will be the next victims on the show. Is this what judges and defense attorneys have to deal with? It upsets me to the highest level. 100% of people should agree with the show whether they make thousands or BILLIONS off of it.
People defending these guys' public image makes me sick. I couldn't care less if a Police Officer, or a Priest gets broadcast on national TV. Millions of teenage boys/girls are victimized and grow up to be mentally ill because of mischievous older men having sex with them. Claiming that one man killed himself after being caught gives me no sympathy. I'd rather all these men kill themselves than putting innocent children through a lifetime of hell.
As far as I know 90% of mental illnesses, prostitutes, killers, and criminals all come down to some form of child abuse. WHO GIVES A DAMN if NBC is making a little money off of the show, they're helping every single parent (Including all the below posters) by taking potential rapist off the internet, whether temporarily or permanently.
SOUL FLAVOR is Absolutely right... well... to tell u the truth, a guy who is my neighbour said that DATELINE people are actually luring them...
BUT , I FEEL... Its very disturbing what these men do ... i mean even if it is a luring act by MSNBC show... these 30 to 40 plus men turn up for a GOD damn 12 year old girl to hav sex wid her... why ? thats where the main truth is... even if its a trap... why n how can such a old man turn up like a horny predator? its really scary. i mean jus imagine, if that 12 year old gal was really home alone?
@filmbo The legality doesn't matter because regardless of whether there was an actually minor involved the jury will convicted him simply because no jury would let a child molester go free on a legality.
Bitch you just got Lawyered
I commend you on your attempt to learn the english language. It is not the easiest of languages to learn but I assure you that if you just keep trying, someday the things you write will start to make sense.
why are they all not guilty? They should be put in prison!
So these guys interacted online, in chat rooms, with adults who were posing as minors. (No crime in that)
They sent these adults pictures of themselves and then these adults, posing as minors, invited these men over to a house. (Still nothing to prosecute)
They were met at the door by a nineteen year old actress pretending to be younger. (Once again, not a crime)
They were then spoken to by a reporter for a television show. (Still crime free)
They each left the house and were arrested and charged with various crimes including
1. Attempting a lude act on a child. (I'm sorry, what child was involved?)
2. Sending harmful materials to a minor. (What minor are we talking about?)
3. Exposing oneself via computer to a minor.
(Would the minor in question please stand.)
The program goes on to point out that a minor can not give consent under any cirumstance. Once again I will point out that there was no minor child involved in any of these cases.
Many would argue intent; that these men were guilty by virtue of their admitted intent to engage in sex with a minor. This argument fails because it lacks equal treatment under the law.
Simply stated, if a man has sex with a woman whom he thinks is 14 but who in reality is 19 he has NOT commited a crime. The woman is old enough to give consent and free to pretend to be any age she pleases.
Conversely, if a man has sex with a girl of 14 but has been led to believe she is 19 he IS gluity of a crime and no matter how pure his intent is likely to be convicted.
All of these men plead "not guilty" after consulting with an attorney and being apprised of the fact that no crime had been committed.
Sadly enough, the only one of the men who adequately excercised his rights under the law was the former cop with all the guns. He said NOTHING.
Face it buddy. We need catch these guys.
I hear what you're saying, but are you really going to defends these guys right to contact young girls over the internet with the intent to have sex with them? Why would you want to protect them and not the kids.
I think you're just trying to sound smart.
Think about what you're saying.
Dear abesterfilms,
I am thinking that there are a lot of ills in society but when we start sacrificing civil liberties to cure them we lose the very fabric of society itself.
Its like saying that a cure for disease is to simply kill the patient, thus irradicating the disease.
I am not defending this behavior; I am saying that, as a civilized society, it is incumbent upon us to find a better way to catch them.
Thats the tricky part about holding the moral high ground you can't evacuate the high ground with out becoming some form of what you are seeking to destroy.
As you suggest, I will continue to think about it.
Finding a loophole to protect pedophiles is evacuating the high ground.
When you abuse your rights you lose some of them.
When you contact young girls on the internet cause you want to put your penis in them, guess what, you lose some of them.
This is about society's boundaries.
What decent people believe is wrong.
Were not just a bunch of bureaucratic robots that cant find their way out of a simple loophole.
In most other cases I would agree with you(Drug busts and hooker busts, ect.) but kids dont have the same understanding of society as we do so we have to go the extra mile to protect them.
....plus c'mon. They're guilty. Look at all the evidence.
I am not trying to protect pedophiles. I am just pointing out the problems with prosecution of these cases.
Namely, can the State of Florida prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these men perpetrated these crimes against minors, as the charges state?
Looking at the contents of the program, we both watched, there are no observable instances where minors were involved at all.
All of the charges mentioned on the program require a minor victim and there simply wasn't one involved. Thus, no prosecutable offence.
Absent a guilty plea by the defendant, a conviction by the prosecuting attorney seems unattainable. (I only say that it SEEMS unattainable because you never know what a jury is going to do.)
It is not enough to say you are guilty of SOMETHING or we BELIEVE you WOULD HAVE committed a crime, the state has to prove that the defendant committed the crime with which he or she was charged. Which in this case is not possible. The charges have to be perpetrated against a minor. There was no minor.
"Your Honor, I move for a summary judgement in light of the fact that there was no minor and therefore no crime committed."
"Case dismissed."
Sometimes it sucks. There is no fair way to set up a legal system that only protects the pure of heart. It must also protect the scoundrels. It either protects everyone or it will protect no one.
That's all nice, but you're forgetting the fact that judges are allowed to use judgment.
Everyone knows what there intent was.
Again, if it was anything less then a child being victimized by an adult, I would agree with you, but we can't just sit around and say, "there's nothing we can do, oh well."
If you want to meet someone underage then there's a chance it might be a cop.
I'm not going to treat them like victims.
It's called staying out of trouble. Most adults do it.
They should get a new hobby if they feel there rights are being violated.
That's all nice, but you're forgetting that judges are allowed to use judgment.
It was obvious what there intent was.
Again, if it was anything less then a child being victimized by an adult then I'd agree with you, but we can't just say, "We can't do anything , oh well." What about victim rights?
If you want to meet up with someone underage for sex it might be a cop. Too bad. I'm not going to treat them like the victim.
They should quit crying and get a new hobby if you feel like your rights are being violated.
Quit feeling sorry for them.
I am afraid that you, my friend, are forgetting that we can't prosecute on intent. A crime has to be alleged and then proven to have been committed, beyond a reasonable doubt, in a court of law.
While it is true that judges are incredibly powerful, they are entrusted with that power because of a knowledge of the law and a sense of prudence.
If a judge convicted one of these men without there having been a crime committed, which there was none as everyone one involved was past the age of majority, that conviction would very likely be overturned.
A judge with a history of overturned convictions will not remain a judge for long because that history will shed doubt on that notion of prudence
Further we can't prosecute in the abstract meaning we have to try all alleged criminals on a case by case basis. In these cases we can't possibly address the notion of victim's rights because there was no victim.
I am not feeling sorry for these guy I am just telling you that it doesn't matter what these men intended to do or to whom they intended to do it. Absent a minor victim there is no crime and absent a crime there is no conviction.
Lastly I am not saying "Aw Shucks" and just walking away. I don't know the cases personally but I would be willing to bet you that all of these men were investigated further because what a judge will do is issue a search warrant. Because the information collected from the sting operation gives us an abundance of probable cause, I would further bet that their clothes, computers, toiletries, grooming tools, as well as other personal affects that I haven't thought of were gathered and tested in what I would assume was a fruitful effort to find the missing peice. A real live victim.
The one kid said he had sent nude pictures of himself to some twenty underage girls. Chances are those images are still on his computer as well as a record of who he sent them to, both on his computer and with his ISP. If we can match the recipients (underage girls) with photos of him, in their email then we've got him. We can prove he sent them and she received them and his life gets a lot more complicated.
Sadly though, the ex cop, who said nothing, is a much tougher nut to crack. Oftimes the people who get away with crimes are sociopathic. They carefully cover their tracks because they do fully intend to hurt someone and they don't care. They anticipate the inevitable call from a prosecuter and thusly protect themselves. Its the more humble ones who wind up in prison.
So what can you do? While I would never endorse vigilante justice I can certainly see how it occasionally crops up in society.
You're right.
We should just let them rape little children without the fear of being harassed by the authorities.
Cause our hands are tied.
It's better if we just turn our backs and do nothing.
Why do you think they are allowed to do it.
It's cause that's how rational people think.
Absent a rational legal process that protects the rights of all citizens equitably, we move quickly toward facism. Thankfully we have these rational processes
I understand, by your sarcasm, that the realities involved don't feel good. (I don't believe you are truly in favor of raping little children)
We have a symbol of our justice system. You may have seen it. It is a statue of a woman who is blindfolded and holding a pair of scales.
The implication of this symbol is that justice is blind. It doesn't consider age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. It simply weighs the evidence and renders a judgement.
Thankfully, it can't keep someone in prison without criminal charges supported by reasonable evidence as determined by a judge and jury.
Finally, we don't turn our backs. When crimes are alleged we investigate, looking not for the truth, but rather anything that can be used against the alleged criminal. When evidence of the alleged crime is sufficient as to be beyond a reasonable doubt we prosecute and convict. This last part is tricky because it is subjective in that a judge and or jury might not find the evidence to be beyond a reasonable doubt. as I wrote earlier, just because these men entered a "not guilty" plea in no way means the matter is over. We now have probable cause for a search warrant and the investigation continues.
"Fascism!?" Are you serious?
You think using the few tools we have to discourage people like this from committing such heinous crimes as this.
I think you're blowing this little sting operation out of proportion.
No one is going to prison over this.
The film makers are exaggerating about how much time they 'could' get.
They're going to slap them on their bums and send them home.
(You know that) and maybe, just maybe, they'll think twice about it next time.
I do agree that some of those guys may not have been there if not tempted by the decoy, but sending a picture of your junk to someone you admit you thought was underage is a crime as far as Im concerned.
(Don't worry, they won't get a life sentence. Only the children who are victimized have to live with it there whole lives. Not these guys.)
Priorities, man, priorities.
What are you talking about? These people turn up to sleep with kids, send pictures of their private parts and dirty messages to kids as young as 12 years of age and you call that intent. They turn up with condoms, alcohol and gifts.This people should be given as least 5 years sentence.
Most definitely, a case could be dismissed; but still the guy's name and face were all over the TV.
He'll never be able to live THAT down, and good riddens!(to him, not you!)
damn, not even one pleaded guilty?
PERVS! DONT FORGET TO DROP THE SOAP WHEN YOU GO TO JAIL !!
It's funny how most of comments here are sicker than the people in the video. Seriously, some people need to get it into their mind that they aren't as "right" as they think they are. This all relates to what society view as right and wrong. Allow me to quote, "Child predators act like animals and so they should be treated as such. Hunting season anyone?"
Strait up immaturity.
But no seriously, the people writing the comments here are sicker than those in the video.
What a complicated problem. I really believe that some people are opportunists who need attention and would easily go for someone who's of age. Some other group are driven by the prospect of committing a crime. Others are purely attracted to young people and are persecuted similar to the way gay men were, but theres an additional problem where the object of their attraction cannot consent. Of course, all of them are breaking the law... but our laws only represent our beliefs about how people should act.
In general our approach seems like a witch hunt and society seems willing to treat people with the worst kinds of punishment. Their decisions to pursue sex with youth are terrible ones especially given our understanding and beliefs, but (and its difficult to say this) our treatment of people who make this decision is not always proportional. In other words, we fail as a society to act rationally when confronted with crimes that invoke such a strong emotional response... and this is also pathetic.
this is not right they have a right to go to jail these are children and they should no what they did was wrong
I won't get into the wrongness of pedophilia here, nor the causes, nor treatment or lack of - there's enough of those opinions/beliefs expressed.
SO, to another thought - ANIMALS - please don't equate those who prey upon children with animals. Animals do not have nor try to have sex with their young. Let's give animals more respect than to call pedophiles "animals." Enough said.
On account of the society dictating incest as a taboo it has actually been found to be the only universal taboo. That is, the only one shared by all societies we have found/studied. It is, in fact, the pedophilia that is dictated by society (I am not in any way condoning their actions as I believe that preying on children for sexual satisfaction is morally wrong).
As for treating sexual predators, even child sex predators, as animals you are deeply wrong. Would you condone treating those with mental disabilities that possibly cause violent behaviours as animals? How about using lobotomies to subdue them? Or maybe we should just kill them and be done with it! Think before you speak. Human lives are not to be thrown away so lightly no matter what. Maybe it is people like you that would write off any sex predator as an animal that should be caged or put down. Stuff like this shouldn't be taken lightly. Nor should it be seen in black and white. The world doesn't work that way.
so? than what do you say we should do with them? someone who preys on children is less than an animal!!!...animals do what they have to to survive...humans are different . We have this thing called a soul! YOU know that thing that lets you desiffer right from wrong. thats what separates us from them! they dont have a choice.. we do! and if some jackass cant control himself than they are no better than animals can should be treated as such!!!! and putting them in jail for a while and then letting them out doesnt do shit!! as you said its a stay of mind just like a mental illness..and what do we do with the dangerance mentally ill? I'll tell you. Their locked up!!! but personally me i dont want my taxes paying for preverts to get 3 square meals a day...so they should be killed. and as harsh as you think that may sound it isnt nearly as bad as destroying someones life and then making them live with it....those children are ruined!!1..they are permanitally screwed up!!! and any of you that dont agree with me have never had to see someone suffer the after effect of some pervert!!!
It makes me very sad that someone like you has an equal vote as mine in this country. so you say they should be killed? isn't that a worse crime? shouldn't your "soul" as you claim, guide you to right and wrong as you said yourself? is not killing supposed to be the worst of all sins? you would kill them so your valuable tax dollars don't have to keep them alive? by your post, and your general level of intelligence indicated (things like desiffer instead of DECIPHER) i would wager to say that you have never made more than 35-40k in your entire life, so i doubt very much that any considerable amount would go to such a cause. by the way i don't endorse religion, i am an atheist. i also don't endorse cruel and unusual punishment like making someone register their address online and have random ppl come to beat their asses. the fact of the matter is that men have desired younger women since the beginning of time, and are genetically programmed to do so. In fact until fairly recently in human history it was perfectly acceptable to take a 12 year old wife. THAT DOESN"T MAKE IT OK, AND EXPLOITING CHILDREN IS WRONG. the punishment needs to fit the crime. they should be thrown in jail, made to pay restitution, or anything else that is common in the US penal system. ask any rape victim, brutal crippling assault or attempted murder victim if child molestation is any more brutal. it is unconstitutional to make these people register on those lists. sure today it's just sex offenders, but tomorrow, maybe people who are late on child support (this is already happening in my state, anyone past a certain time/dollar amt has their names, photos, and addr posted online, I'm in AZ check it out, and before you say something about me I have no kids). the point is that the bill of rights exists for a reason, and our justice system needs to respect those rights FOR ANY CRIME COMMITTED, not just the ones they think they should. and you sir/ma'm should ask your god for some compassion, you could really use it.
I must say that this documentary has sparked some controversy in my own thoughts towards the issues of sex predators. Firstly, let's be obvious, all of the men knew that what they had done and were about to do was wrong - whether morally, socially, legally, biologically; whatever spectrum you want to look at. Although these potential relations may be considered "taboo", incest is also a social anathema; seeing a documentary about a mother or father luring their daughter(s) or son(s) into sex would not be taken as lightly. I think what must be remembered is that adolescents are still developing and are unable to reason at the same level as most adults; they are intelligent human beings, but are still incapable of making rational decisions.
Although those involved were overtly sexual towards these men and their actions may be considered a 'trap', I think that such an argument parallels the "they asked for it" statement. Basically, considering the illegitimate and hyper-sexual nature of the internet (and culture in general), I do not think that these apparent young women can be blamed.
Even though I was put off as I heard more "not guilty" than "guilty" verdicts, I do not think that incarceration is the best option for these men, as they clearly stated that they have paraphilic issues with child sexuality. The best option for these men would be therapeutic interventions where they could realize the harm in their actions, and hopefully change their ways. Deterrence has obviously been ineffective.
@Kara
You couldn't have said that any better!
Child predators act like animals and so they should be treated as such. Hunting season anyone?
Makes me wonder how many child predators were themselves inhumanly abused in their childhood and not treated in order to break that flow.
az
People who abuse kids should no longer be considered human beings and therefore, no longer privy to any human rights.
HEAR HEAR11111
wish they would just drag them out and shoot the fcukers...Id watch that too
Hope there is a special place in hell for ppl like this
wow, these guys are such idiots it is difficult to feel bad for them. But they cannot charge them with having been with these girls..because they didnt actually touch anyone... so Im not sure what they end up getting charged with. Probably some kind of intent and the transmission of the porn to a minor. Some thing they didnt actually do in this case bc the girl was actually a male police officer (heh) so it is interesting how the law interprets intent as guilt when no crime actually even took place.
Most people here are extremely prejudiced.
When I was 12 I got my period and entered womanhood. Shortly after that I started sex-chatting with guys different ages on the net. This was a pretty safe way of developing my sexuality. You don't get pregnant or get STDs from internet sex. Neither do you get physically or mentally abused.
When I was 17 I started a relationship with a guy in his forties. It lasted for about 8 years and we are still friends. I am thoroughly convinced that he never viewed me as a child.
It is my life and my sexuality and I believe I should be free to do as I like with it as soon as I don't hurt anybody else. I see people as individuals not as an age.
WTF ?! we're not back in 5,000 BC , its 2012 humans are irresponsible until age 17 or 18
wow that sounds ignorant
at 12 you may enter sexual maturity, but that does NOT mean your brain is anywhere NEAR maturity, and i think a brain capable of making logical decisions is more important than sexual maturity. Okay so you sexed chatted with guys ... but these guys were not simply chatting with minors ... they were planning to MEET them for sex... that is the difference.
17 is a lot different from 12/13 ... i don't think that is a FAR stretch of a comparison, plus a 17 year old has reached the age of consent in almost all states, which means they are capable of making sexual decisions with adults.
Its your life and sexuality ... but where do you draw the line? Do we let 8 year olds make their own sexual decisions with adults? What about 10? 12? What about a willing 11 year old and a 40 year old ... no one is being hurt ... so you see that as perfectly okay? That is MESSED up.
Yes age is a number, but along with age come maturity, life experience, brain development, etc (decision making skills, impulse control, rationalization, understanding of actions and consequences).
I think your arguments are very flawed and quite frankly disturbing
somebody tell me this is a joke please?
ok, i'll spare you the finger-pointing.."institutionalised psychopathy in the US" oh and "complete with thug police on hair trigger arrest with maximum violence mode " -- ha, i'd just gotten through a doc where US citizens pay kings' ransoms to 'hunt' purpose bred animals on a game farm from hides at distances from which they can't miss. So uh, no judge, no jury, just your face published for all to see --- trial by stocks. Abu Graib didn't quite hit the spot for the great american trash-tv viewer? Aw diddums, another series of lynch-the-pervert coming your way. After you with the piano wire.. i saw some weird-lookin' fkkr.. he wuz a mekkin' eyes at ma granny.. an' she don't even have no com-puder.. peeeerrrrverrrt!! etc.. ad nausea..
girls would get their periods in 6th grade god makes them ready now a 20 yr old shouldnt be with a 6th grader but if we ran around naked in teepees it would be different but we dont and peoples love for other peoples families and being a productive american u should be able to abstain young girls are hot and older women are jealous of the younger hotter girl the law is protection of adult women no marriage would last if 30 yr olds could date 16 yr olds or even 18 yr olds is socially not right because younger girls love older men and usually younger girls make the moves first and men sometimes jumble women together meaning he remembers certain girls to be similar so they think if it was okay with the last one shes showing similar signs so its cool with her too but its not okay because ultimately just watching mtv's teen mom in our society youngsters r prepared and ready for kids sex leads to kids and if you inpregnate a teenager your ruining her life law helps in all acts of crime & drugs that people do and take that ruin lives and laws help people not make that choice and its a good enough reason to abstain save yourself and our children
just a everyday barber
They should do this all over the world....Disgracefull too think it could be ur young child,Guys caught in this act should be locked up and throw away the key,or even left to the public too deal with them ie family.
jbriggs is definately a pedophile then... how can you put a child through any of that? and yest a century ago people werent living as long and morals werent in place... nowadays children should be allowed to have a long innocent childhood not to be soiled by people like you.
jesus woman, people like me?youre the type of person youd find in a lynch mob. i was merely bringing up a point that morality is a cultural thing it has nothing to do with nature. Many muslims are terrified of dogs because the bible says theyre unclean. so close contact with a dog would traumatize them. i was just curious about if society didnt view screwing a young teenage girl as wrong would it still be harmful to the girl. im not even attracted to girls that age, im just being honest. because maybe these men are being crucified over their natural inclinations, it seems wrong, especially when theyre being entrapped like that. lol. yesterdays witches?
i dont think any parent, brother, sister, cousin, uncle, aunty or normal person would agree with you in any way.
normal people who are only normal in relation to an abnormal society. our whole view of sex is warped by thousands of years of religion. thats why we all suck at it. maybe we're not starting young enuff. nyahahaha
Yes, because Victorians were known for their lack of morals and parties.
Jbriggs is making a good point - we only consider it taboo because of our current society. Relationships of the sexual sort between teenage women (women being as the biological term, not the mental term) and men 25+ years older were normal for centuries. Romans did it. Christians did it. It is only recently that this has changed.
It isn't because we have sprouted morals, either. If you want to see the morals of nowadays, watch any reality television show. Even some of the children shows are getting a bit inappropriate, too.
This isn't coming from a pedophile, either. It this is coming from a 17 year old girl who sees age as a number.
-A.
wasnt it normal for 50 year old men to marry 13 year old girls only a century ago? i wonder if wanting sex with a virgin is actually sick on a natural level or just in relation to our current views... just sayin... im sure chimps do it
I doubt any of the people shown in this documentary wanted to marry these children, and also I like how you threw in ''im sure chimps do it'', chimps aren't humans.
I'd never heard of "To catch a predator" till I saw this Documentary on here. As a Englishman all I have to see "Only in America", what sick sense of morality creates programs like this.
we create it to catch the mother ******* ... what does your country do ? oh yeah they dont care
although i support the work these groups are doing and cleansing society of these grotesque individuals this is not a documentary and (i think) should not be on this site. And no i am not a pedo or pedo apologist just for the record.
How to jail bate someone online by role playing. Most people online act like there on drugs. some say there slim when there fat...some say there 19 when there a 55 year old guy with tatoos. Hence when these guys contact by phone who there talking to they get a 40 year old cop with a smokers voice saying how old do you want me to be. Entrapment isnt the word remember cops will go to hell like everyone else help them get there faster
Jason - This not entrapment. Entrapment is attempting to illicit a specific response that you could reasonably expect a normal person to demonstrate. I can say with full conviction as a full grown man that there is NO WAY you could bait me (even with money) to try to have an intimate relationship with a minor, PERIOD! Also it's a little sad that you fell the need to "troll" for high school sophomores as dates. Maybe when you get be an adult, you'll start dating adults.
Amen to that! Couldn't have said it better
Don't agree to meet anyone from the Internet in-person until you've not only seen them on video, but interacted with them on video as well. This rule applies to anyone, regardless of age. People can be so foolish.
they should bring this programme to the uk what a great way to out paedophiles on tv its sick that people even think of doing things like this, they should lock them up and throw away the key
There is something wrong when grown men even want to talk in such a way to kids . They know its wrong and i have no sympathy for any man who gets himself in trouble by going after young girls and boys .....
I am sorry I must be stupid, but why don't the kids just end the chat with these pervs. It has happened I just ended the chat it was a man claiming to be in a wheelchair. I would say all men are at it in one way or another.
anyone upset about a few pedophiles getting arrested without a doubt is one themselves. stating that what perverted justice does is entrapment means that if an adult actually does meet up with a 13yr old from an online conversation and somehow gets caught and arrested then i guess that was entrapment on the 13 yr olds part. it can only be raw stupidity or pedophilia to defend anyone caught on to catch a predator stings
To catch a predator is just a bunch of bull s*** .It is entrapment at its finest . I dont know ANY men who would not jump at the chance to get some fresh meat . True there is a limit .I think the sex laws should stay how they are however , the girls they are trying to have sex with are just a TAD bit to young for my taste. I am almost 24 and my target age group is still 16 - 19 . I see nothing wrong with this till I reach about 30 .
16-19 is too young. what the hell is wrong with you. find some girls who are at least out of school or old enough to drink.
16? What the f***. Pedobear.
then You are just as bad as them. 16 in underage pedophile.
Heh, Epicurious, you guys missed his point...at ages 16-19, girls are still too naive to see a loser when he hits on her. Once they get out of high school and start dating real men, they learn the difference.
@Johnathan: Sweetie, if you are still so immature at 30 that you find a 16-year-old to be your preferential date, I'm sorry for you. Hopefully by the time you're 25 you'll have actually dated a woman or two and learned the difference between an adolescent and an adult.
Makes me wanna be a cop. I'm frickin' proud of those guys. Dateline, Perverted Justice and the Police. HEROES protecting the innocent. Hell yeah!
But obviously not Police Officer Spikes who was one of the predator's caught!
Watch the one with" Joey Greco "they arrest a cop plus he had an arsenal of weapons in the back of pick up
This is pretty freaky... Do those guys actually have the choice to not show their faces on TV?!
I'm just happy that 95% of the people posting to this thread aren't blaming America for pedophilia around the world.
This is f--ked up. Good idea though, get those messed up monsters. Good reality tv though, the fact that they're real is strange.
NO KIDDING!
Mike Evil That's Really Evil and Not Nice you and Chris Norton should Seek Help and a Hurry and Leave Chris Hansen Alone Please He's just Doing his Job You Juke Box Brain Goofs and One more thing Stop Defending The Child Predator Ya Murdarers.
You do realize that you are only suppose to capitalize the first letter of the *first word* of every sentence, right?
Chris Hansen You are doing a Great job on What Your doing Protecting the Childern From Sex Predators and seeing them go to Jail And As For Chris Norton the Thaty Comment Suicide that's on Him And Dateline gets Sued Please Give me a Break is not Chris or To Catch a Predators Fault Agian is On Him.If you Comment a Crime so be it Don't Take it Out on other people for your Action You Are Responsible for your own So there Take that Buster Brown,Jr And Chris Hansen You rock dude.
Hey Chris Norton Don't get me Wrong but Are y'all a Sex Offender dude.If y'all Surport The Child Predator Then Y'all Must be one think about it Dude.
Hey Chris Norton are you retarded or what Chris Hassen is doin a Wonderful Job getting these Preverts off the streets and for are Children you nerd these Child rapists need to be in jail for what they done.This country we Live in is what God made for Us These Kids are our future you nerd face goof These predators Took Advantage of our Kids Laugh it off and Go to the Next one is Chris Hassen's Job To get These Lugheaded Child Bangers Off the streets And Jail Where They Belong This Is America Dude and Chris Hassen And Perverted Justice is The Future Learn to love learn to live with it these Child Predators Should Not Be Messing with Young Childern Age 8 to 17 or even 12 for that Matter No Child should be Lured into sex PERIOD. Online is Dum and Stupid And Anyone Who Protects these Predators are just as Stupid as They Are and And Does not Deserve to Own a Computer or be Online i Say Chris Hassen Y'all Rocks Get These Child Bangers Off the Street And Offline Before the Next Child Be The next Victim.Chris Hassen I Thank Y'all.
I don't care what the means are - ratings or money - as long as it produces positive results. Sick, twisted men who want to do minors are now behind bars. The show has saved the lives of many minors and their families. There are young girls and boys out there who could have been potentially abused by these ba$tards, which would've ruined their lives and self esteem, bringing emotionally damaged citizens into our society.
Chris and all the people involved with the show has done the local area a favor. I wish every country could have a dedicated team of specialists like them to catch the predators out there.
Throughout my teens, sometimes when I'm online I get approached by older men looking for sex (sometimes 20 years my senior.) It's disgusting and I'm glad I told them to f--k off. But I didn't realize just how bad things have gotten until I watched this show.
When I have daughters, I will be vigilant in guarding them against scum like those men. And I'll make sure they don't end up marrying creeps like that!
I work with sexually abused kids and have been for a number of years now...
I lobbied for people like this, how ever the law in Holland says that even people who molest kids do have rights.
The politicians don't see the devastation it brings to a youngster when something like this happens to them, I do and i want these bastards of the streets....
Right now a big case in Holland is in all the media where a child care worker at a daycare center is accused of molesting 82 kids ages 6 months and up...
It hit the news last year December and so far this guy confessed 82 kids molested over a period of 4 years...
And where not there yet, even the CEO of the daycare center is under suspicion... It makes me literally sick to my gut...
lol and you know this how? do you not realize that there is a whole internet conversation going on between these people which is more than enough to have them arrested let alone them coming over to meet with the intent to have sex with someone who told them online they are underage?
what are you smoking man? you would make a terrible lawyer.
ur prolly a perv tryin to helpthese sick f**** out dont give them ne more excuses wat if was ur kid nd not an adult???? but wit the way ur make s*** up for them if it was ur kid ud prolly b the sick f*** talkin to them like that im sure wel c u on dateline
So...everyone who keeps crying entrapment learn what it means first.... Don't blame NBC, Chris Hansen, or perverted justice, but blame soceity and the laws. There are alot of twisted views surround pedophillia and molestation, they are more frowned upon than murder for christ's sake some places literally exile you to a island for commiting those acts. At the end of the day NBC is in the television business, I don't blame them for making money from the program that what I expect but the fact that in the past 5 years it's brought a greater Awareness, I say keep up the good work!
having sex with a minor is worse than taking a life?
Of course it's worse, if you die, you die. But if you survive an attack like that, you have to remember it everyday for the rest of your life
In criminal law, entrapment is constituted by a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense that the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit.[1] In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal liability. However, there is no entrapment where a person is ready and willing to break the law and the government agents merely provide what appears to be a favorable opportunity for the person to commit the crime. For example, it is not entrapment for a government agent to pretend to be someone else and to offer, either directly or through an informant or other decoy, to engage in an unlawful transaction with the person (see sting operation). So, a person would not be a victim of entrapment if the person was ready, willing and able to commit the crime charged in the indictment whenever opportunity was afforded, and that Government officers or their agents did no more than offer an opportunity.
Nick,
You must be a predator, that is all I can come up with on why you would have that opinion of Chris Hanson.
Aha...let go of the keys, but there my keys, *everyone in unison* LET GO FO THE KEYS. lol serves him right
why do you all hate him so much? if it wasnt for him these sicko would still be out there.. i mean im sure their back out.. but dang at least someones doing something about it.
kool . down with pedofiles
Graham
You are totally wrong about what NBC was doing they were showing parents how easy it is for kids to meet sick adults. I knew one of the sick f*&* that was caught and is serving 20 years right now becuase he was caught in bed with a young 15 girl at 27
I do think sex offenders, especially the pedophiles are not curable.
pure animals,... seeing them playing innocent It makes my stomach sick...
Let's not forget the damage it causes a minor when a 40 year old man tells her he loves her, has sex with her, takes her virginity and then goes on to the next minor. Thats what important here. The ultimate goal is to prevent the abuse. The wounds caused can NEVER be completely healed. So who pays? Maybe the harsher the pedophiles are treated the less likely others will be to go through with meeting a minor. Which brings me back to my point, PREVENT THE ABUSE!
@every hater in these comments:
why dont you take a seat over there.
You, sir or madam, just won my respect.
I for one question the validity of the chat logs being used as evidence here. The "volunteers" from Perverted Justice used to carry out the chats are not law enforcement, they are only temporarily deputized in the states that require it in order to get a conviction. If you've ever been to their website you'll realize that Perverted Justice is a vigilante group whose methods are questionable. They post transcripts of alleged chats between themselves and supposed pedophiles along with personal information like phone numbers, addresses and places of employment and then actively solicit their readers to harass these people, even going so far as to suggest various methods with a wink and a nod; occasionally they give out the wrong address or phone number leading to a totally innocent and unrelated individual being mercilessly harassed.
Some of the alleged predators on the show have been chatting with undercover Perverted Justice members for several weeks to a month before Dateline or law enforcement ever becomes involved. Are we just supposed to take their word for it that the chat logs are all 100% accurate? The conduct of the Perverted Justice volunteers displayed on their own website, the large sums of money paid to them for each episode of "To Catch a Predator" and the trend toward sensationalizing this topic should be enough to make anyone question whether the chat logs are being altered. Yet Dateline never shows us how the logs are verified - in fact from the screenshots shown they seem to be copy and pasted out of the chat box directly into Microsoft Word! How easy would it be to change 23 to 13? When a one-digit difference is the only thing that separates legal interaction from a sex crime, there had better be some strict safeguards in place to prevent an innocent person being convicted and humiliated on national television.
By using Perverted Justice to run their sting operations without revealing whether measures are being taken to verify the chat logs Dateline has lost all credibility on this subject. Let's not forget this is the same news organization that was forced to admit they rigged a crash safety test to generate a spectacular explosion because they tried several times and the fuel tank wouldn't explode on its own.
catch them all and throw the book at them. We have to make society scared as hell to have sex with a child. Monitor the internet world wide and prosecute, prosecute , prosecute. If you saw Oprah you now they are messed up for the rest of their lives unless they get help. Guess what most of them don't talk about it. It tears them up mentally so they become alcoholic, drug abusers, and criminals. What Irony , the real criminal is free and still raping and the victim is so unstable because of the rape that they end up in jail. You have to be off your rocker if your against to catch a predator. I know this the show doesn't go far enough. What they are doing is 1 fraction of 1 % of what the federal gov t should be doing. These people drive 3 1/2 hours to see a kid. The 1st problem is a jurisdiction issue. Local police, but it starts out as not a local crime. Today how many predators are in one state trolling for a child in another state. The hole public safety system has to be changed. this crime needs to be , geographical boundry free. The world is flat and the the people are moving with light speed into unsuspecting patents homes. 186,000 miles per second. In less than a blink of an eye he is talking to you child. They talk vey well and can trick a child.
fukin briliant,those duchbags shud go to afrika or sumthin,cud probly buy 10 kids 4 a dollar
Ok I'm drunk (sorry for spelling spelling) and here is my take on the subject:
From what I can gather it seems that the major part in all child abuse cases comes from someone within the family. I mean kids these days are tought that any stranger with candy is a threat and they will hurt them. How many of you actually said simething like 'I know what you are doing while on computer' to your kids?
Coz seriouzly, I once tlked to my niece (who is only 5 years younger than me) about sex and her activity while on internet (purely educational) and she told me not to open any of the bad sites while on her personal computer... I mean I know her dad is strict but clueless about PC and her mother is not that much of a user either (they dont even know how the defragmentation works) but non the less the fear is there.
Is it so hard to scare the shit out of your kids that you know and I mean KNOW what they are doing while on internet?! There are some programs that you can buy for a few bucks so you know what chatroom your babe is and wheather you did a good job raising her to not to fall prey for preditors!
and while on the subject, loonatics seriously? Are you that rich for your child to be kidnaped? if not, have you ever told your child NOT to trust just about anybody on the internet or on the street???
Yeah if you hear it on the news is scarry but you know whats even more scarry?? Here ( and I am not afraid to addres this) in LITHUANIA we have like a judge circle who are pedophiles going on YES THESE THINGS DO HAPPEN!!! One parrent killed one of those that abused his doughter ( with the permision of her mother) and was killed right afterwards THE INVESTIGATION IS DRAGGING FOR A YEAR NOW or is it 2 I donno it's that long!
So this is all I wanna say educate children yourselves DAMN I wouldn't allow my kids to surf the net if they didn't have a clue whose there! And if your kid did got ciought then you FAIL as a parent PERIOD!
ok I'm drunk (kind of, able to correct myself atleast)
Abusing a child is wrong and the public should be educated and conscious of the dangers of sexual and violent offenders. However education and news content should never be sacrificed for ratings and showmanship. It is a news network and expresses an unprofessional bias rather than reporting the risks and discussing them from an educational perspective. The bottom line is that the media needs to smarten up and demonstrate leadership in conveying truth and information, rather than primarily focusing on controlling interests and fiscal revenues. I'm all for entertainment, but sexual and violent behavior should be discussed, criticized and understood, not sensationalized and devalued.
Okay I have read a lot of these comments on here and it absolutely disgusts me that there are people actually sticking up for these men who want to have sex with minors. Whether it is a sting or not..there is going to be some child out there one day, maybe even right now getting abused by sick people like this. As much as it is for ratings it's also about educating people that this is a serious problem. And it's getting more common everyday. And like a lot of the men have said on To catch a predator, it's all about getting that sexual excitement. And just like anything addicting, it gets boring very quickly when only going so far. And even if they would've chickened out eventually these men will get to the point of hurting a child eventually! I remember when I first got the internet and I was in chat rooms at 14 I would have guys talking to me in their 40's and with in minutes they were asking me personal questions. About my body and if I was experienced.. WITHIN MINUTES!! Luckily I was able to realize I wasn't ready for anything like that. And that it made me very uncomfortable. And as far as people wanting these men to get help instead of jail time is ridiculous. They need to realize how serious their crime is, then start therapy. And as for these men's families if they can't grasp the fact that these men were caught trying to have sex with a minor then they need therapy too.
The show to catch a predator is an unethical and misleading device that instills blind fear into the minds of the masses. I understand they may be shedding light on a internet predators but to go about it in a tasteless trash tv way completely devalues any information that could be interpreted from these individuals. As a news based show they should lead with intellect and integrity rather than emotional rational and sensationalism.
Realistically the majority of these individuals are pursuing game-play interactions and have a narrowed view of what that pertains to them. Maybe its a social problem that causes us to seek out sensation and stimulus (gambling, investments, competitive sports), it doesn't make it right but it does mean that its deeper than face value and needs to be understood not only feared.
Would you have a seat over there please ?
=)))
This is the most used meme.
I wonder if Chris Hansen thought what would his plea for those to stand on the chair , would become =))
Funny how they trap all these guys.. However, you never see them tring to trap the women!! And yes, they are out there! The reason? Ratings! True, more men act on this than women. But just the same, there are women who do the same thing! And as for the green lic plate thing... bad idea! So what if a sex offender was driving and someone shoots his car??? Yeah, so what you say?? What about that sex offender driving his kid to school!! Then the kid gets hit too! And don't kid yourself thinging all sex offenders are all the same. There not! Some do this, some do that... Some were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some guys are sex offenders because they were 18 and they girlfriend was 17! or 16! But because he was 18, he is now a sex offender. And the law doesn't differ between an 18 yr old boy and a 28 yr old guy! To them they are the same! In California even with the parents knowing that their daughter was 16 and the boyfriend was 18, he will still get prison time. The people and the law don't see different levels of sex offenders, even when there should be. This sickness these guys have won't go away with a pill. But they can try and control it. Prison is not the answer, having to regester is not the answer, nor the stupid idea about the lic plate. The reason why when you look up sex offenders on the net and you NEVER get the address is because what if someone wanted to shoot up the house? or set fire to it?? REMEMBER, once a sex offender has done his time and is done with parole, he can be with his kids. His wife could take him back and they can be a family again. How would you feel about hearing or if you shot up a sex offenders house and learned that kids and a woman died! Should there be punisment for sex offenders? YES!! It's called going to prison, doing their time and behaving while on parole! Going to see doctors and getting the help they need! Should a stupid t.v. show make law's for them? NO!! It's not their damn job to do anything!!! What they are doing is setting up men to fall into a trap!!! What should people do? PARENTS SHOULD TALK TO THEIR KIDS!!! That is the bottom line!!! PARENTS SHOULD TALK TO THEIR KIDS!!! There are many ways to stop this from happening to your child! It's call CHECKING UP ON THEM ON WHAT THEY ARE DOING ON THE COMPUTER!!!! IT'S CALLED BEING A PARENT!!! If you have to dig through their history files, e-mails, or whatever it takes, DO IT!! But more importainly, TALK TO YOUR CHILD! Cause remember, that perv that hides in the bushes doesn't really happen. That is really only like 3% of the time. 97% of the time, it's someone either a family member, or a friend of the family. REMEMBER THAT!!
I know your post was posted like forever ago... but don't say that they're only targeting men for ratings. If anything, I'm sure they would've loved to catch a woman, and I'm sure it would've been good for their ratings.
Alright. So in the past, I (and a couple of my friends) had gone online on a couple of websites while seeking pedos to troll the hell out of. Out of the (probably, lost count) hundreds of people we've trolled, we have /never/ managed to get lucky enough to troll a female pedo. Never.
On top of women being less likely to go on those chats to seek out minors, I'm /assuming/ that women would also be even less likely to actually follow through with meeting up.
Also, learn how to make paragraphs. It makes things hella easier to read. I also stopped reading after a couple of lines because personally, I hate reading a huge text orgy.
the organizations involved actually go through a lot of analysis and legal stuff to make sure there is no entrapment. The girls were not flashing their breasts on screen, they were just present, and told the man their age, and they agreed to whatever the men wanted to do to them. That's not entrapment, thats just showing intent, something that trial lawyers do every single day. Someone who is 13 or 14 is a baby, and any measures should be placed to protect them, and i think this show has done a lot for that cause.
Anyone who thinks that this is unfair to the men shown, I ask you this question? Would you like your daughter/sister in that situation? Anyone who defends these men should stop and think about the effects that rape can have on children. Anything that is done at all to reduce the number of lives ruined is good.
bwahaha
I love these shows. The guys have the look of ultimate fear on their faces. Quit talking dirty to kids ya sicko whether you planned to do it or not - for some reason they think it shouldn't count if they could have got away with it secretively. They all send pics of their privates too, wtf is wrong with them - even grown women don't want to see a hanging worm covered in a furball. I think that some of them think old enough to bleed old enough to breed but seriously, how young will they need to go before they call themselves pedos. 8, 6, 2? For some reason guys think 12 yr olds are mature, what fools. I want a grand list to post of their faces all over. If public humiliation is all that will help them stop then that's what we need. Much better than some adult man banging little kids because he can't whack it himself.
If any of you 14 year olds wana meet up with me some time. I got some real nice cake and a lot of cokea cola. Maybes you wants to stay for the night? I dont mind stay as long as you want.
anyone interested call me 0358 798 65 65
P.S. If your coming bring your own condoms, in not paying for em.
@Juamnji
That's what I'm thinking. There's a better way to take care of this. It's obvious that this method of catching predators is successful, so why don't the police do it?
There's no need to televise this.
There's no problem in having NBC televise a show trying to educate families, but this is ridiculous. It's obvious that they have no compassion to the families of the accused and that it's only about the ratings.
I agree with that statement, but isn't Chris Hansen supporting this police behavior under the idea that they are accused are indeed child molesters and should be treated as such?
I think Chris Hansen does a great job. But what is up with American police?? Most of the predators on the show walked calmly out and didn't resist and yet the policemen are shouting and grabbing them violently, pushing them onto the ground. I've never seen any other country where the police are allowed to misuse their position of power like that. It's disgusting.
These people are paedofiles. They should be f--king shot dead. They don't f--k about in the US. Its about time they brought this show and kind of law enforcement into the UK and other countries. I personally think its a great idea and the show makes a great watch and it eliminates that kind of scum from our streets. Also anyone who fiddles with kids should be put to death or at very least have their genitals removed.
I'm not saying the police are right by using the approach they choose; however there is a "method to the madness". The shouting, grabbing, and aggression is all apart of psychology...if you did something illegal and an officer politely escorted you to the police car so to be discreet there's no fear or shame in that as it concerns the person arrested, where as someone humiliating you in public and scaring you by being aggressive and over powering creates such a horrible memory that next time you might think twice before doing something illegal...now it doesn't work on everyone, but it does work. The object is to make being caught in criminal activity a horrible experience from the moment of apprehension to the end lol.
The people responsible for going after those they consider criminals are obviously holding a grudge of some sort. As somebody that has been raped himself as a teenager and never had anybody come to my rescue, I would rather see these topics being addressed in public to bring help to those that suffer from sexual deviancies, rather than showing these individuals that they are criminals, doomed to a life of prison and scorn. The disclaimer takes absolutely nothing away from the fact that this show is for entertainment and financial gains only. If it was for actual "exposure," the focus would be on the pedophiles in the government that have been profiting off of sex with children for the past thousands of years, founding our entire country and the Democratic world on their sick, pathetic ideals.
I have been watching TCAP on Justin TV for the past few months, really trying to give it some credit, because I consider this show a scam. I have been thinking about something for the past few months. These are internet crimes, definitely, and should be charged as such. After watching every episode about 100 times each I've noticed that a relatively small amount of these are charged as internet crimes, and the majority of the crimes are "attempted molestation of a child." To charge these pedophiles with "attempted molestation of a child" is ridiculous, in my opinion. Why? If this is to be given credit as a sting, we should be able to make comparisons between a sting of this nature, and stings of other sorts. The only EVIDENCE here is internet-related. The only people I would ever consider charging with "attempted molestation of a child" would be those that bring condoms and guns and such... however, even then, the only evidence is internet-related. So, I consider this show a scam. Internet crimes are taking place, yes, but the American Government commits crimes on the internet against the general population everyday and nobody does anything about it.
dude who the hell feels sorry for child molesters?! these guys need the worst of treatment. THEY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF KIDS! this show is amazing.
In response to Steve:
I personally believe that a 20 year old sleeping with a 15 year old would not be okay even without the laws in effect, I also believe that the majority of people would agree. As for the rant about Nickelodeon, I think this is pretty irrelevant, 14 year olds kissing on a television show aimed toward teens is hardly going to inspire kids to have sex. Honestly now, you might as well be saying that characters that kiss each other in Disney movies are going to inspire the same in even younger children.
The deal is that children this young (13 & 14) are alot different then any of us who were born in the early 80's. I in my twentys lived next door to some younger highschool kids (Around 14 & 15) and was a friend of the family; these kids were doin things that even in my twentys I would never even think of doing (ex. every drug known to man) I have no idea how to roll a joint yet these kids were buying selling and smoking. Children are different now we have to accept that anyone who thinks differently are niave. The way parents and television shows allow kids to act and dress I could be in a bar and meet a 15 tear old with a fake ID and not even have a clue we need to grow up as a society and quit pretending kids are as innocent as they once were. I see a lot of sex predators who are very young (early twentys) b/c they slept with a 15 year old; Hell parents barely pay attention to their kids anymore so how can you blame a twenty one year old who hangs out with 19 rear olds (Very common) and some 15 year old shows up who drinks like a fish and does drugs like it is going out of style and sleeps with him or her not knowing, is that the type of sex offender we want to nail and ruin their lives. It is one thing to be 50 years old with a 15 year old a complete different thing to be 20 with a 15 year old but until we realize that society is forcing us to accept younger children as adults (Nickelodeon has kids kissing and they are supposed to be like 14) we are heading in the wron direction!!!
I think the fluroscent license plate scheme could be a winner..those thinking its okay to chat up children online,downloading child pornography etc WILL THINK TWICE!!
I understand that paedofilia is a "SICKNESS"
and there are many tools used by paedofiles where they try to "Normalize" it. I am so glad the law is doing everything to catch these people but it should be made understandable that they NEED HELP!! Chemical castration is always a good option...
A Question for all you outraged people here how come you let your kids chat with strangers unsupervised on the INTERNET?
Would you drop off your kid in the Inner City and return three hours later expecting them to be unharmed or what?
Sure there are pedophiles on the net along with terrorists, drug dealers, smut peddlers and so on. Maybe you should consider caring for your children instead of trying to eliminate all possible dangers for them. Cause face it if it is not possible to get rid of these things in real live, why should it be possible on the net?
Please pardon my grammar english isn't my native language, thanks.
If you go to the Perverted Justice website, you can read the actual transcripts in their entirety. It might give some of you screaming *entrapment* a different perspective when you see who is actually making all the moves.
And as for few arrests and convictions? Pretty much 100% on the Dateline operations, and for being too terrified to do anything but plead guilty? Consider the recent case of the Oncologist who has been fighting for years complete with celebrattorney and finally realised there was no other option but to plead guilty and make a deal when motion after motion was denied.
Even a Craigs list post warning that Dateline was in the area didn't stop these people from showing up with condoms and weed and beer and all the other niceties listed in *Perv 101, How to rape a minor*, I'm sure there must be a handbook, they all use the same lines and bring the same crap.
I have children of that age and I can't imagine what goes on in these sick freaks heads to even think about it.
But having said that, what about the REAL minors who go in chat-rooms and I have come across a few (chat logged and reported to the relevant moderator and user blocked) the onus is still on us as parents to monitor our kids computer use and be aware of who they are talking to. It won't stop the pedophiles trolling but it won't be MY children they are trolling on.
Preach it, Rene and Kevin!!! I would absolutely KILL someone if they did this to my children!!!
no weapons needed either
How on earth are people speaking against this show? Sure, NBC is profiting from this show, but they're also exposing and prosecuting these less than human scum. These guys deserve to fu*king die, what would you think if your child was molested by these horrible people?
Hey, Nick. What's the matter? Are you another kiddy- lover looking forward to NOT being on camera? The guy helps take down PEDOPHILES, so piss off. You can go to hell, faggot.
In my opinion this is really wrong. This isnt just to get Predators of the streets/online, its just for the ratings. Im glad that they caught the men that were commiting a discuting crime, but really, what does this do?
This is pure entertainment. Imagine the extended familys of these predators, How much hate and disctust are they reciving? If I was ever in their position (which I never would be) my first thought would be to kill myself. What happens to these people? They may aswell be shot, because their whole life will never be the same, with no love and only hate. I f****** hate these pedofiles, but at the end of the day, they are humans, allot of them ARE mentaly ill, and allot of them just have strong temptations. This is sick..
i think every one of you that take up for these ped's are most likely to try and have sex with a minor so why don't ya'll just back away from your pc's and hand them over to the police and see what you have been doing if ped's will get on a pc and talk sexually to a 14 year old kid than who's to say they want try to have sex with a kid and also the ped's are always the first to ask sexual ? to the decoy there is no entrapment no one put a gun to there heads and made them go to a house thinking they are going to have sex with a 14 year old girl
I can't believe you guys know nothing of Mens Rea, the intent to commit a crime. You do not have to commit a crime to be prosecuted in our system, just have the intent to commit a crime. Now if they got online and literally talked a guy into this or played on his natural excitment to get him to break the law, that's entrapment. But you would really have to solicite a person after they say they are not interested to constitute entrapment. Entrapment says that without you thier to intice the person would not have broken the law. We can't create criminals so we can prosecute them. Of course I put nothing past Date Line or any other sensationalized T.V. show, entrapment is a real possibility.
let me start out by saing that i think it is great that thay catch the bad men who want to do sexul things to young childern becouse if we dont stop them it could be your chiled thay do it to and what if you were like me and has a wife whom was sexly mulested as a young child by her own fother she is 22 years old now and still has bad dreams about her fother doing things to her and some nights i have to hold her and comfert her let her know she is safe and it was all a bad dream i wouldnt want to see any child have to live with that reality so for all the kids that are safe god bless the savers whom puts these ppl away
Hello and nice to meet you. Why don't you take a seat over there? <<<Best line EVER
Chris Hansen is the man. I'm not too fussed about the paedos. I mean they're funny and everything, but it's all about the Hansenator.
Very entertaining stupid people deserve what they get why so young? sex is in the brain anyway.probably abused when they were young
just a thought possible defense gee i thought we were role playing she's over 18 right first time we talked she said she was....
good job dateline
I actually felt embarrassed for those pervs too!
That's it! My kids won't touch a computer until they're 32! I wish that were true (within reason) as my 3 year old can do Youtube by himself for hours after I get the right category for him, and I was dismayed beyond words when my 18 month old tried to click the mouse on the video she wanted too. Almost successfully. "Lord, protect my little genious babies even when I can't!"
And yes, I too did the experiment where I went into chat pretending to be younger (I was 18-19 anyway) and my computer nearly tipped off of the desk i got so many private messages from older guys (this was early 2000, in the days when yahoo chat was still kind of relevant).
Oh believe me there is a tidal wave of these perverts and it's not small. They immediately ask your A/S/L and if you tell them your 13-14 they just get more excited.
I'm glad there's groups like pervert justice, but perverted justice is never going to be able to cover all the bases. You would hope shows like this would scare these guys at least...i don't know maybe it has. If it has then that's excellent and that's some more good the show is doing.
LOL! This is soooooo embarrassing. I can't even imagine anything more embarrassing then this. Makes you wonder why these guys keep doing it? I think it was the first season of "to catch a predator" where they were just getting started and didn't arrest the guys. After the perps were humiliated on national TV some of them STILL got caught again in later shows (I think after that they were arrested).
And I'm not shocked at all the pedo's who are on here wishing death on "Chris Hanson". Chris Hanson is just the host of the show. He's not the police, law maker, agent or judge. But I wouldn't expect people who need to shock sex off of little kids to be able to figure that out :P
I watched the first one of these dateline did, and I still cant help but be shocked at this. I was concerned and wanted to see just how common this was. I pretended to be a young girl in a chat room without provoking any sexual conversations, was bombarded by messages by adult men wanting to talk about sex and such. This is more common than anyone can imagine. People like this make me very sad.
this all took place during their Sparks/Lenox, Georgia investigation
Unfortunately for the men being arrested, America was founded on the Accusational System from Great Britain, "Guilty Until Proven Innocent," which means that even though they may not have the particular crime pinpointed, and may be making a billion mistakes, they will still charge the person for the crime CLOSEST to the one they may or may not be guilty of. That is not Justice at all, but yes, the tactics and techniques they use very definitely ARE perverted.
Yes, they are extending their reach beyond pedophiles. Believe me, I know this quite well as somebody that was contacted from a member of Perverted Justice on an adult website, posing to somebody underage.
No, the problem is not solved. There needs to be a new crime in the books if these laws are going to continue to stick. This is not "online solicitation of a minor" because there was no minor involved. The people being arrested are being terrorized and are terrified to fight back. They could definitely fight and win a case against Perverted Justice, and every other perverted group targeting lonely, horny men, NOT pedophiles. If they are going to consider this some sort of crime, which I do NOT argue that it may be, it is obviously NOT online solicitation. The laws need to change to incorporate these equally perverted systems, which are the ones that have the urges themselves, not the people defending Civil Rights of American citizens.
The comments so far are focused on 2 different sets of pervert. It is easy to see that some believe that Dateline is ambushing persons who have been convicted of molesting kids multiple times. There have been some of these. Some believe that the victims are those who will talk dirty to a voice in cyberspace but would not do it face to face. I have seen some of these. I think the first group should be taken off the streets, and I think the second group should not be entrapped.
I am concerned because I perceive that in order to make a buck Dateline might have to extend their reach to the second group without any concern for their criminal rights. They get a confession on the air with a plead for mercy, and that is used against them at trial. One guy shot himself rather than being tried on TV. It is not a homogeneous group of perverts.
its crazy, the people that gave us democracy used to love loving small boys they where teaching, just a few hundred years ago it was the norm for a man aged 30 to marry a girl aged 14, society dictates laws depending on the direction of the wind, i believe in the 50's it was still a capital offence to commit sodomy - with a consenting partner! (still is in eastern parts of the world)
im not saying paedophilia is ok, i just think its wrong to make paedophiles seem worse than CEO's that are happy to fund wars whipping out entire populations so they can gain better product reserves - i guess paedophilia isnt morally wrong so long as no ones being hurt or taken advantage of. in this day and age where you have an almost openness about 14yo girls throwing themselves at 20yo guys, i wouldnt say its wrong, just immature and visceral of the older party.
personally we should be more careful when branding people in society, just because someones a paedophile doesnt make them a rapist, something far far worse - but as Dr. Gonzo once quoted, 'why should i f--k children? their too small!'
oh and by the way
for all those people who are claiming that the people who the predator's where talking to can't really be charged because the girls on the other side of the computer weren't really 12,13 or 14, but that they were 18+. The fact remains that they CAN, WILL, and SHOULD be prosecuted because they had the Mens Rea (criminal intent) to send it to a minor. they did not have to have the actus reus (actual criminal act) along with it. Each individual crime (the intent, or the actual act) can be punished individually, or collectively. Thats why we have laws against conspiracy. If you plan on killing someone, show up with the gun, and someone knocks the gun out ur hand just before you pull the trigger, does that mean the police should be like "ok, let him go cause the bullet never left the gun"? uhh NO! you will be punished for the crime; may not be "murder" or "mans slaughter" but for everything else you did leading up to you not following through due to the interference of another.
I think all the people who are screaming out entrapment are CLEARLY people who have the urges themselves to mess around with 12 year old girls.
Word of ADVICE: GET HELP!!
You come on here and try to justify what these people are doing? are u serious. They are not "Creating bait". because there are already 12 year old girls in chat rooms. so it's not like if Dateline people weren't posing as 12 year old girls, that there will be NONE in the chat room.
Secondly, these people INITIATE the conversation with these fake teenage girls.
And as far as this show "just trying to make money". I HOPE THEY DO!! I'd rather people make money doing something RIGHT for a change.
like someone above me said, if you have a problem with these people being punished for soliciting sex with minors, then GIVE THEM YOUR KIDS, or SISTERS to solicit sex with, and leave other minors with worried parents/guardians alone.
PROBLEM SOLVED!
These guys do not go to the little girl's house unless invited by perverted justice. Why not just call the cops after they entrap someone instead of everyone trying to make a buck out of the humiliation? I will tell you why. Cops have to respect criminal rights, at a minimum they get a Miranda warning
I really hate it when someone says, "This was my first time" and Chris replies, "Do you know how many times I have heard that"? Implicitly he is saying, "You are lying". Viewers see this third victim and conclude, "This one is lying like the two before him". They are all guilty as a group.
Let's have a real test. When they get to the house, bring out a prepubesent girl and have her say, Ok, are you ready to do it?" If they say yes, chris jumps out. I bet that seeing a preteen girl would bring them out of their fantasy. This would not bring in ratings.
lol Nick - i totally agree. I count the days for a guy to be like the one in the MadTV parody of Dateline - where he's just like, ''um... i came to have sex? hell yeah, why not show my dick?"
Not for nothing but every single one of these guys most likely got held on jack. A chick says she's 14, but she isn't - she's 19. The girl greeting them isn't 14 - she's 19. The one they sent the pics to is not 14 - but 19. You can't get held or imprisoned for ''sending lewd material'', ''attempting lewd conduct'', or any of that crap cuz when it's typed and sent to an adult, they're not guilty of crimes against a minor, which makes Hansen a perpetrator of entrapment schemes.
Sad thing is the whole thing is for good television, and they're basically setting up potential pedophiles knowing their shit will backfire, sending these guys right back out of the station. Simply legally speaking, I'm surprised NBC hasn't been sued and fined a thousand times over.
They are luring adults from adult websites, and then making all of the prosecuting arrests on yahoo, after convincing these non-pedophiles to send photographs and webcams.
The similarity definitely exists between the Nationalism present in executing people seen as contrary to national good and throwing people in prison during false-flag campaigns so some senators in big cities can busily cover-up the fact they have sex with children, usually travel outside of the country to do so. You are a fool, and you are being misled.
I dunno, I stand divided. I'm from Canada and all of these men would basically get of free under our entrapment rules unless they plead guilty (in canada officers cannot lurer you into a crime like they can in the states seemingly- or at least the courts will not uphold it).
If these guys go actively looking for kids to molest then yes they should go to prison. However if they are 30 or 40 y/o virgins and you have a police officer on the other end posing as a 14-15 y/o girl offering to do all kinds of crazy sexual acts, then these people are not really pedophiles, they are just taking advantage of a situation of an easy girl. To put the shoe on the other foot, if you are a man, think back to when you were 14/15 or grade 9 or 10, would you have had sex with a 30 y/o women who you thought was hot? Would people say that woman is a pedophile or would they say that kid was so cool.
No one truly knows the real intent of what these men are thinking of doing which is why something like 60% of them who don't plead guilty are getting off free. The only thing right about this is the name of the organization doing this, perverted justice because that is what it is.
I mean come on, if these guys are all real pedophiles how come none of them have records?
Just because the gun isn't smoking doesn't mean it's not loaded with a finger on the trigger.
Perverted Justice follows all the law in every way. True, it may not be effective in catching the rapists who like to watch children scream and fight back, but that doesn't mean it's not effective in catching other rapists. We all went through the teenage years of sexual curiosity, that's a given. But our questions should be answered by responsible adults.
If an adult doesn't have the control to just click the little red x above the chat box, then he/she deserves to spend time in jail. It's not like Perverted Justice threw naked kids on them and took photos before they could react. These people think about it all the time. It consumes them and they plan everything out in their heads before they show up.
What these people are doing is the same as a person tackling someone as they raise their gun to point it at someone. It's preventing a crime and saving someone's life. The person gets arrested for ATTEMPTED MURDER just as the pedophiles here are more often charged with ATTEMPTING to engage in sexual intercourse with a minor. There's no Minority Report scandal here that involves 'reading thoughts' or 'mind crimes'. If he/she kept her inappropriate thoughts inside their heads instead of sharing them with a kid who's not ready to handle them, then they wouldn't be getting arrested.
Yeah, Andy... the only thing I'm going to respond to (because your post... it just hurt to read, it was so wrong) is that you REALLY just compared this show to the holocaust? Seriously? You obviously know nothing about either the show or history if you honestly believe this. Just no.
You are speaking purely hypothetically, and I am just stating the facts. You already acknowledge that the show is on for ratings and that all arrests being made are done so because of the television program. If that continues to be the case there should be a new law added to the law books that distinguishes between being arrested because of a reality television program, not an actual crime being committed. These trolls are NOT underage. There is no crime being committed. This IS entrapment.
This is no different than the Nazi's use of the gas chamber to execute Jews. It was seen as a National priority.
Even though it isn't ethical to just go and gas these people, all of you gung-ho Nationalists would go along with it, just for the sake of "protecting our Nation." Exactly like is being perpetrated by the heinous, perverts of Perverted Justice.
These people seek out adult men on ADULT websites. Are you listening to me??? ADULT WEBSITES.
They totally disregard the waiver at the beginning stating that you need to be 18 to even create an account. To pretend to be somebody underage after that is not only completely unethical, it is breaking the "law" of the particular website they are trolling. They don't go to just random "city" websites. If you believe that, which is what they tell you, you are entirely too naive to be alive.
They seek out HORNY men, and lure them into sex with an alleged underage victim.
They need to target the government and the Catholic Church instead of innocent Americans.
@Sammy
The people opposed to this (as I am) are not debating the guilt of those people shown, but rather how effective of a tactic this is. Actually many of the men walked free and got light sentences.
If you would rather these guys in prison as opposed to men who stalk young children and get of on the screams of little girls, then that's your prerogative.
These men would have been entrapped if the decoys had said 'Hi, I'm 14, wanna have sex? Hey, why don't you come over?'
They didn't. They set up a profile and THE MEN CAME TO THEM. The decoys simply responded to the men - when the men said, 'Will you have sex?' the decoys said yes. The decoy was NOT the one inviting the man to have sex.
The men asked to meet in real life, the decoys did NOT invite them first.
That means that the men made the choices, the men called the shots, the men enticed the decoys into agreeing to their plans.
It's NOT entrapment and the show did nothing wrong. That's why the arrests can stand up in court - if they had entrapped the men, it would not be admissible.
ALL of these men are predators who knew full well that they were talking to a child who is not old enough to give their consent. They all knew that it was illegal. They had all ALREADY committed crimes simply by talking so dirty to young children and by sending pics/videos. So you can't say that it's 'Minority Report' style, catching them before they've done anything wrong. They had ALL already done something very wrong, and the show stepped in before it could get any worse.
These people are exposed to deter pervs from trying to have sex with minors. The families of the men getting arrested are necessary collateral damage. Why hate Chris Hansen for making PEDAPHILES squirm before they get arrested.
I wouldn't care if it was entrapment. Do u mean to tell me if a 12 or 13 year old asks a 30 sumtin or 40 sumtin year old man to come over for sex he's suppose to say yes? Naw from my point of view if he's over 18 he's responsible not the kid. I have a 12 year old sister and this just makes me sick that a grown man can even think about having sex with a little kid. Lock em up throw away the key and let them die slow. I wouldn't care if the dateline crew started the convo or even flat out asked. The adult should say no. Point blank
Chris should be lynched. His attempt to promote his career by ruining peoples lives, even causing one suicide, is appalling. He continued his series after that incident without any shame.
Chatting with an unknown voice in cyberspace is the same phenomenon as talking dirty during phone sex. You don't know the person on the other end, you only wanted to get titillated by the fantasy. When the fantasy invites you over, they are extending the fantasy by baiting you to something more than you wanted. A lot of these guys are scum, but I am sure some are not.
This is trial by public humiliation without any criminal rights. When he reads some of the chat text, he is likely taking it out of context from the whole conversation, or series of conversations that may have led up to the statement. Face it. NBC is trying to sell soap by carefully editing a long cheese trail to 4 minutes inside the trap. Mothers see sexual perverts admitting guilt by squirming in front of a guy in a suit, and buy the soap.
The result would be the same if Chris were to walk in a room to be confronted by a sharp IRS examiner with a stack of his tax returns and be questioned about his business deductions. "Why did you think taking Mr. X to lunch on July 6, 2004 was deductible? Did you read the law first?" I would buy a dozen boxes of advertiser's soap to see that.
I think a better idea would be to have the decoy on the internet gather information about the man. The police can consult psychologists to make an assessment on how dangerous he may be. If it a high risk individual the police should monitor his actions privately and observe how he conducts himself in the outside world. This would take time, money, a proper investigation with less pats on the back. The people don't want that. They want results NOW. So the that's what we get. Even if those results are in illusion.
Pheori
I really don't want to respond to you, mostly because I'm much to lazy to formulate my opinions in such an organized and well thought out manner as yourself. I'll make an attempt though.
My analogy is a little flawed and you did a good job at pointing that out. I do not mean to imply that these men are completely innocent people, and yes, when you make a mistake, even if it's just one time, you must take full responsibility.
The biggest problem with this "sting" operation, is that it is giving people false impressions of what is really going on in the world around them and of what a predator is. It perpetuating the culture of fear which when closely scrutinized has no foundation.
I think it's a cop out. Rather than put time and effort into proper investigations they do something like this and give me and you the illusion they are getting things done and making you safer. They aren't. At the same time they give us the illusion that around ever corner is someone looking to rape your kid. There will always be young girls looking for a conscientious sexual relationship with older men, and older men looking to do the same thing. So systematically setting up these men does NOT make your children any safer. It does not take the real predators off the street. The real predators are the ones who get off on control and innocence.
I am not saying that conscientious sex with a 13 year old girl is Ok, but rather that the men who look for consent should not be the highest priority and punished in the same way as the perverted child rapists out there. It's taking up valuable resources that should spent on doing something that will make an actual difference.
Their are essential going after the junkie while leaving the dealer on the corner. Its not the real issue we should be concerned with.
I see the point in your analogy, but I think that you have missed one important point. The person who is having this drug pushed on him always has a choice to make. It is the wrong choice that invariably lands him in jail.
The way you have described it, the drug sting scenario you are talking about sounds more to me like entrapment than the aforementioned method of catching of predators; as I see it, this is what you intended.
The "victim" of the drug pushing, from what I could glean from your explanation, is almost forced to buy the drugs with no other choice. But, in fact, in a true sting, the buyer chooses to buy and the police simply make it available to them. Actual sting operations that are proven to be entrapment are not admissible. An attorney worth his salt would easily have that thrown out.
The "victim" of the child predator scenario is not forced and he is not given no other option but to break the law. In fact, at the first mention of the child's age, said person is allowed to choose whether he will break the law or simply stop taking the bait. It is a small percentage of the population that first, seek the attentions of the innocent then proceed to act upon their desires.
While it would be unconscionable to trap these men by not mentioning age at the forefront, the investigative team does not do that. A child who is seeking these types of advances would most likely lie about their ages. Saying that the decoy child is dangling an addictive drug in front of an addict only to catch him in the act an arrest him is indeed true. That is not what is in question here.
The men have every opportunity to stop what they are doing and choose not to engage in adult conversation and activities with a minor child. They know full well that what they are doing is wrong and that they are committing a crime. Even if they are unaware that transmitting hazardous materials is a felony, they must know that getting the car to drive hours with the intent to have relations with said child is also wrong... this is a choice they have made.
Taking the choices out of their hands is entrapment. Making illegal things available and then catching those who choose to partake is not. If a cop were to hold a gun to someone's head and say buy these drugs or I'll shoot you.. that would be removing the person's decision-making power. If a cop were to say, you cannot leave this area until you agree to have sex with a 13-year-old child... that would be removing the person's decision-making power.
Nothing was done to remove the person's power to decide for himself that what he was doing was wrong and that he should stop. As for the example from earlier where a man is attracted to someone who is 18 only to discover that she is 16 and that he should not be attracted to her (Divine Comedy)... while he cannot be expected to turn off his desire for her, he is still given the choice of whether or not to act. If he chooses to (and the age of consent is older than 16) then he has committed a crime... period.
'To Catch a Predator' is not ensnaring the men who choose not to act upon their desires. They aren't even manipulating these men into believing that the girl is of age. These men know full well that what they are doing is illegal and they go ahead and do it anyway. If they do have a terrible addiction, then yes... they need counseling. But, just because someone may need counseling and help doesn't mean that they are not responsible for the crimes they have committed.
@pheori
I'd like to purpose a different anaology to your drinking and driving one.
War on drugs. Sting operation. Rather than investigate the drug trade the police send a someone out on the streets who PUSHES drugs on people and when they finally agree to buy, they bust him. They do this rather than busting the people calling desperately around town, robbing and stealing to get their fix.
I have read through all of these posts and have noticed something missing. These men who fell for the decoy actually did commit a felony BEFORE they entered the house or got into their cars to drive to the house...
They transmitted harmful content over the Internet to persons they believed to be minor children.
This alone landed them in jail and it should have. Irrevocable harm could have been done if these decoys had been real children under the age of consent. Please remember that, although some were first-time offenders, they were indeed offenders. The intent was there; even if these men had opted not to have sex with the child in the end... they still acted upon their desire to do so by first speaking of lude acts, transmitting materials and then showing up to a home where they believed a minor child willing to have sex would be alone and unsupervised. This is a very predatory act.
With full knowledge that what they were doing was wrong, they did not stop the conversation with the decoy whom they believed to be a minor child. No matter how alluring something may be, the fact remains that the wrong choice was made. A wrong choice about ANYTHING could lead to lifelong damage. Why should the choice that these men made be any different?
If you decided one night to get drunk and then made the decision (just once) to get behind the wheel of a car and THEN had an accident and killed someone... should you not go to jail? After all, you didn't intend to do so, you made a wrong choice, it was just the one time, you promise to never do it again and you never intended for someone to get hurt. The answer is plain to see... you deserve to be locked up.
How different is this scenario from contributing to or simply ruining the innocence of a child? I don't think that people understand the damage that simply being shown images or talking about sexual situations does to a child. The child becomes sexualized at too young an age. The child may develop mental issues, eating disorders, mood disorders... it may be even worse than that...
It is the taking of a life, plain and simple. It is not something that ANYONE has the right to do. It is not something that can be taken back with a simple apology.
@snot
Great points! Their has deffinitly been a mass hysteria happening in regards to this issue. True their are not more pedophiles today then their used to be, in fact 100 years ago I would say that their would be more considering how society veiwed the young back then. But what has changed is the way these "predators" can stalk their "prey", mainly the internet.
One thing I think we must consider is what a predator really is, some on this doc were some weren't. I wouldn't consider a lonely man in his thirties who has been enticed by a seemingly hot and horny 15 year old to qualify as a predator.
This is possibly the worlds most horrific and scaremongering TV show in existence - sex criminals are not entertainment - didn't watch it myself (saw an excerpt on TV some time ago).
Rubbernecking at these creeps getting "justice" is somehow almost as sick as being one of them. real justice doesnt have exciting music and flashy graphics.
These people need serious psychological therapy and treatment for how thy behave - Hansen just needs to be put down- under the guise of "informing parents" he is forging a lucrative career by helping foster an alarmist reactionary attitude towards something that is a serious societal issue that requires measured and calm debate.
I wonder what sort of man decides hes going to fight pedophilia on our behalf?
Is there something we don't know?
Has anyone searched his hard drive i wonder?
Here in the uk there are no more paedos than there were twenty years ago but the amount of publicity they get is almost blanket coverage- so much so that parents have gone a bit nuts thinking that there is a predator behind every bush and round every corner.
Whats next? he leaves cadavers on the street to "to catch a necrophiliac"? just to show us how really sick people can be and make us worry about that elderly relative whos in the morgue waiting to be cremated?
This is entrapment and it is wrong. I don't think that these guys would have driven to any teen aged girl's house to have sex with her if they didn't believe they were invited and that the supposed girl was just as excited about it as they were. They are not rapists, they are just horny for young teenage girls, and they think that maybe they can get away with it if they find a young girl who is horny for old smelly internet guys. The decoys are encouraging these men to break the law, where they otherwise would not assuming the decoys never intervened. It is entrapment and it is not a legitimate method of policing. On the other hand, it is pretty damn funny to see these guys when they realize that everyone in the world knows they're a pedderass now.
slash why the HELL do they need a team of 50 officers.. in bullet proof jackets with machine guns to take down ONE freaking bony man!
actually Uk, the recidivism rates are only up to 2.5% of males charged for sexual offenses repeating the crime again in three years...
so putting the general population in prison for life is senseless.
also, statutory law is very blurry.
you're saying that lets say in Massachusetts law which makes it illegal for a 15 and 17 yr old to have sex... that the seventeen yr old should pay for that forever even if (despite age (and the small age GAP)) there is verbal consent... WEAK argument.
don't respect it.
that's exactly why the judicial system is designed to judge these things case by case because, as most things are, it's extremely subjective.
Oh an Rene (a few comments above mine) is 100% right.
I'll quote her as there is nothing more to add to it:
"Hooray for Hanson…
Twenty-one arrests instead of 21 rapes…
I hope Dateline makes bank…
And it makes me feel good to know that these creeps will be registered sex offenders with their names, faces, addresses and offenses on the police sex offenders websites.
And with regard to how many suicides dateline has “caused…” — hey… fine with me that these predators have taken themself out of the gene pool… they’ve done us all a favor in that they won’t molest again…
“Entrapment” — please… You’ve got to be kidding me. Whose really “trapped” when a sweaty, 20+ male is laying on top of a tiny 13 yr old girl…
Study after study after study shows that these predators do not “get well.” They do it over, and over, and over again.
They should be put in the general population in prison….
Problem solved…
I love this program! Im so glad they caughgt so many of them, the police should do this kind of work continously.
There is so many peadophiles trying to hurt underage children, they should be in jail. They're sick and disgusting!
How can they not understand that having sex with underage kids is wrong???
Did you do a breakdown as to race, social status, age group?
"And with regard to how many suicides dateline has “caused…” — hey… fine with me that these predators have taken themself out of the gene pool… they’ve done us all a favor in that they won’t molest again…"
What suggests they've already molested someone, besides the ones with confirmed criminal history? Some of these people are just curious individuals and are harmless. Everyone wants sex, especially guys. Yes there are some who are really perverts and need to be locked up for good, but some of these guys just need a break and they will most likely not do it again.
Wow can anyone say entrapment. I dont think anyone can advocate that having sex with young teens is ok, there may not be anything wrong with it from a biological perspective but in modern society everything that sex implies and the ease with which one can take advantage of children really does make it impossible for them to give consent.
But what these people are doing is nothing short of entrapment and is simply unethical almost as unethical as what the predators are doing. Many of us have urges, some of which may be harmful to others and should be controlled. There is no switch in most mens brains that turns the sex drive on when they hear a girl is 18 and turns it of when shes 16. So they may still be attracted to younger girls, just like some are attracted to drugs, but the point is to control yourself to avoid doing something damaging to yourself and more importantly to others.
But when a guy says i wont touch you because you're under age and the girl hes chatting with say that she wants him. Well that's like dangling a back of crack in front of an addict. Instead of trying to help these men control their urges, they entice them and then say haha you're f--ked now.
Sure we must have self control but when someone tries to seduce you into doing something wrong just to punish you for it, i cant condone that.
On a side not the hypocrisy is incredible, the reason they shoot this program is because it gets ratings. Why does it get ratings, because people like to see things that strike a cord. But why does it strike a cord because to some degree we all have such desires whether it be for sex, drugs, violence. But watching it from a TV screen is just entertainment. Why do you think they read off the explicit parts of the conversations, they could easily say that he indicated he wanted to have sex and came over, and just leave it at that. But they read it so the latent desires in your brain trigger enticing emotions.
Clearly many of these people know what they are doing is wrong, they should be helped to controll themselves not tempted.
I think this "biological" male drive that they cannot control is bull s*it.
Hey, Cami… as somebody that is well-acquainted with the horrors of rape myself I am sorry you are still bitter. You sound like a victim, and this show isn’t entertaining. It’s lewd and gross. You say that, “anyone who devises having sex with an underage child, whether it be female or male, whether the intended victim be 10 or 15, the perpetrator is guilty of attempting or enacting said crime.” Yeah, that’s true… it is a crime, in the USA… but the things Perverted Justice says to entrap these guys is entirely inappropriate. Also, this is getting close to the idea of the movie “Minority Report”. Just because somebody is thinking about committing a crime, they go somewhere to perhaps commit a crime, does NOT mean that they are going to have sex with these children. If these morons on both sides of the law, as they obviously are, are going to go ahead and keep charging these pedophiles, the least they could do is to create a new subcategory of Sex Predator. “I WAS BUSTED ON DATELINE” could be an entire new tier of crime. To treat these individuals like actual rapists if absurd. Furthermore, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these alleged teens that actually supposedly just sit and wait in the chat rooms are actually instigating the conversations themselves. I have experienced that myself, but knew better of course, because it is wrong to take advantage of a child that way. However, these men are not taking advantage of children, and should Perverted Justice or Dateline keep pulling this crap, the least the US Law could do is change enough to create another brance in the Sex Predator family tree.
The "I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING" Sex Crime... because it OBVIOUSLY exists.
Coming from a female rape survivor who was raped at the age of 8 and molested for months after by the same man, anyone who devises having sex with an underage child, whether it be female or male, whether the intended victim be 10 or 15, the perpetrator is guilty of attempting or enacting said crime. Most of these men don't even get charged with their accused charges but, it puts their faces out there. It ruins their reputation and gives the public a general warning of said persons. And its entertaining.
It is a good show, but if there weren't any sex offenders out there the show would not exist. They are fishing for sex offenders and using girls as bait. This show is making an underage girl/setup available to them, so the offenders are going after it. Example, if eating steak was illegal and someone offered it to me, I would eat it even though I know it is wrong. Though it is good to catch them but bad making the bait available to them.
very good job. they must have more of these shows. i think it is a very good way to protect those who needs the protection of law the most, children.
but i think that the first offenders should be left off the hook, i don't think they are predators, it is sure they were more than lured into the trap.
but the real predator should be hang and lynched ...
this isn't entrapment, most people dont understand what entrapment is, just look it up
themselves. That is just the way it should be, too. And what's this, "What if they change their mind halfway through?" shit? "Oh, I have already started raping and ruining the life of a young child, but it's okay because I stopped a before I got my rocks off." It is people like YOU that make it possible for these sick f*** to get out after a few years in jail. It is people like YOU that enable their behavior and sit by while they destroy a child's innocence. And as far as accusations of entrapment go, I say there are no steps that are too radical to get these people off our street and away from our children. And if they decide to kill themselves in shame, good. That is less money our prison system needs to waste keeping these dirt bags alive and well fed. But, if you think that our treatment of these people is too harsh, offer up your children to them. It will keep them away from the children of people who actually want to see justice brought to these criminals.
These comments hating Chris Hansen for shining a spotlight on these baby-raping douchebags are ridiculous! "I do hate them,BUT..."? Are you kidding me?!? There is NO way any of these men were entrapped, and having them exposed and humiliated on national television as the predatory scumbags they are is JUST what the doctor ordered. Kudos to NBC for exposing these animals, while cracking me up seeing them get a PORTION of what they deserve. You should follow-up with a story about the justice they get once their fellow inmates get ahold of them.
For the people commenting on these pedo's with anything but utter distain you should be ashamed of yourselves. Who cares if an adult male who has been given at least 20yrs to address and deal with their "issues" is exploited for his despicable acts? How about the young child who is being robbed of the opportunity to be a child? How about the child who will never be able to trust anyone throughout the rest of their lives because of these animals?
Its easy to feel sorry for someone who you do not see commit a crime however I am sure that you would all be singing a different tune if you saw even a second of what would have happened if it wasn’t Chris Hanson waiting for them but a defenseless child.
I say burn them all in a public place and set an example to the rest who haven’t committed yet or haven’t been caught yet. Anything less than this is going to ensure that this already horrendous trend continues.
@Therasa
You have a wonderful point there, and yes it's counter productive to just stain them for life so they have a low esteem for living that life.
Still, them feeling that way doesn't make it ok that they do continue what they keep doing. But I don't blame them, I'd rather blame us, you know, everyone who's judging. Cause it's our job to help them resolve/find-out the why of how they came there, and the what of what they should do now.
We should love people for they're mistakes cause they get a chance to learn, but not for making the same damn mistake time and again.
I'd rather kill a pedophile then let him keep living, and I think we should have a show/initiative like this in my country. (Netherlands)
But the more I think about that, the more I realize it's more like being publicly ridiculed rather then prosecuted by law.
Cause the men haven't done anything (yet), and entrapment is not unfair word to use when looking at the evidence if it would be court.
But I'd rather have somebody publicly ridiculed and humiliated and still walk free. Then have one of them really rape a child and actually being able to prosecuting them.
Sometimes it's better to scare people really really really good, then to really try to put them in jail. Cause you scare the people just thinking about doing such things, just that lil bit more to make it worthwhile in the longterm.
Just look at them being so scared that they don't want to meet those decoys at they're house. Seems like this social tactic is working.
Ugh, this is awful.
We shouldn't kid ourselves for a moment into thinking that this show is aimed at doing anything but earning money. It's incredibly counterproductive and, while it appears to do something great by punishing terrible people, it really achieves very little in that regard.
I don't disagree with the method of attracting them using a false lure. I DO disagree with exposing and humiliating them on TV while we watch and point thereby prevent them from ever seeking help and living one day as potentially normal members of society (which is the optimal situation for us because it's safer). It's not that I pity them at all. It's that I don't see how this will actually help (by putting it on TV and marking them as evil for the rest of their lives). What will stop them now from continuing to be criminals once they're out of prison now? Not much. They're stained, and may well just continue living the wretched lives they did before. There are no options for helping them change, no reform. It's an entirely lose-lose situation.
Don't hate the messenger for exposing that the world is full of perverts. If it was your daughter or your sister you would want to kick the **** out of the freak. Adults have free will, decision making ability and make choices and take risks accordingly. In fact they are in a power role over a youth. The question to ask is 'why so many males have such low morales and low self esteem that their selfish interests and biological urges take precedent over logic and the well being of another'. The only thing that they are sorry for is that they got caught. They all knew what they were doing and went out of their way for it.
Well said, Sunny1. These men know that what they're doing is wrong.
john doe:
At 13 or 14 a young girl may be physically developed but she does not have the emotional development to start sexual relations. At this age young people will do a lot of things to see what it is like especially without advice, education, or sound thinking. Many suffer huge consequences,sometimes for life...teenage pregnancy, disease, injury, emotional trauma etc. At this age they are just starting to mature (human brains aren't considered matured until around 21)so how can they possibly make informed choices? They still have no idea of what they are really getting into. What selfishness for a grown man to take advantage of vulnerable young girls. How do I know?...I've worked with teenage girls who've been prey and personal experience. I think that some people need more education instead of being driven by their urges!
Actually, these guys aren't really pedophiles. They're ephebophiles. Still illegal to do what they're doing, but not as bad as having sex with toddlers and such.
@Carl: Why don't you think these people are sick? And what do you mean by "make Hansen look like a piece of red Swiss cheese?" Are you saying you want to see a pedophile murder him? Please tell me you don't actually condone murder.
Even though i don't agree with sleeping with a minor, their is a difference between children being molested unwillingly and children actually wanting to have sexual relations at that age. Personally speaking i also believe at the age of 13 most kids know what they want to experience...its just like life, touch fire get burned, unless you like being burned you will never touch fire again. Who really has the say, to say that these dudes are super wrong...and that just because the kid is 13 or 14 he really dosen't know any better! pfft all excuses.
Thank God I married my 15 years older husband when I was 19. :) Otherwise my hubby would be in the jail now
its about time someone bring theses scumbags to justice. They are just rampant on the internet. its disgusting. keep catching them, chris. they'll never stop coming. the lure of young p*ssy is just toooo irresistable. the sad part is that there is no stereotypical "John". its really all types of men. the guy next door, doctors, teachers, military guys, judges, young guys, old guys, married guys, single guys, scary to think about . so selfish, they know exactly what they are doing. Hope you catch a million.
The people Hansen entraps aren't sick. It's Hansen that's sick. You can tell that the pervert loves ruining peoples' lives. If it wasn't this, he'd be doing something else to ruin lives: perhaps running pigeon drop scams, or a pyramid scheme. The whole point is destroying other people; it has nothing to do with the law or morality.
One day some righteous pedo is going to do the right thing and make Hansen look like a piece of red Swiss cheese.
I am shocked to see how many "flies" flew to the honey pot...blows my mind at how many predators are out there just waiting for an opportunity to exploit young people...I wish I'd have had Chris Hansen on my side when I was a teen, it was amazing how many over age "octopi" I had to deal with just being in the community doing ordinary things, not "looking for it"...and there wasn't any internet...I have major trust issues to this day even with therapy...big deal if they want ratings I think it is good to hold these creeps accountable although I'd like to see some (non repeat offenders with a chance of rehabilitation )of them have treatment options rather than just jail...some are pitiful, some are despicable, all need to be stopped! Kudos NBC and law enforcement...don't like the idea of all offenders having special license plates, if they are that huge a risk then life in prison (no parole) is better
dammit hansen, sucka mah balls!!!
Larry knows the craic like. You have too look for the cause of the problem to work out a solution. I mean not that im supporting pedofiles or anything but in fairness its like being gay i suppose its not like they can help it. There should be lots of places to offer help for these people so hopefully they can get sorted before they act. and if they do assault a kid then they should be punished because they had the option of help before commiting the crime
These sick freaks had it coming. And unfortunately there are a lot of them. I'm over 18 now, but even when I was younger I would get men in their 30s, 40s (and even 50s!!) trying to add me as a friend on social networking sites. It's despicable. At that age, soliciting "friendship" from a minor can only mean one thing.
Hanson keeps these douchebags from really hurting someone. And no- I disagree that they would have changed their minds upon getting there. If it had been a real 13 year old who "consented" to sex, the men would have done it. Why else would an adult male drive hours to see a teenage girl?
Good job NBC for keeping some very very creepy men away from the youth of our country.
(Also, I wonder what the results would be if Dateline tried to target women??)
Hooray for Hanson...
Twenty-one arrests instead of 21 rapes...
I hope Dateline makes bank...
And it makes me feel good to know that these creeps will be registered sex offenders with their names, faces, addresses and offenses on the police sex offenders websites.
And with regard to how many suicides dateline has "caused..." -- hey... fine with me that these predators have taken themself out of the gene pool... they've done us all a favor in that they won't molest again...
"Entrapment" -- please... You've got to be kidding me. Whose really "trapped" when a sweaty, 20+ male is laying on top of a tiny 13 yr old girl...
Study after study after study shows that these predators do not "get well." They do it over, and over, and over again.
They should be put in the general population in prison....
Problem solved...
I would like to help in any way possibile to catch these perverts. Does anybody know how to do so?? an answer would be great.
They have websites set up for people to volunteer, just google it.
These guys are sick and what they're doing is wrong but all NBC cares about is getting those ratings and they're exploiting this just for money. And you never know if one of those guys could have been someone who would have realized halfway through wait a second this is really wrong and never done it again.
I'm glad that they do this stuff because these guys deserve it.
they are sick and i don't care if it is entrapment.they KNOW what they're doing is wrong so who cares? they should've known better.THEY ALL ARE ADULTS WHO KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG.
Who gave this douche the authority to arrest these people?
NBC or the police? Granted what they are doing is f***** up on a monumental scale but leave it to the proper authorities not some ratings seeking asswipe. I wonder how many suicides dateline has caused? including extended family of the sick freaks.
although it is good to see their faces go from yaaaay to just kill me
LOL They deserve it! they have sex with underage CHILDREN! They deserve EVERYTHING!!! mu aunt works with kids who has been molested and iv heard stores that would f*** you up. (it sure f*****me up). Chris Hanson is a genius man, props to him.
I am in no way a pedofile, and I do hate them as they are sick. However some of the stuff they do to catch these people borders on entrapment. Also some of the things the states want to do like put green florescent license plates on convicted sex offender vehicles is a scary thought for those people. It totally breaks down any kind of human safety. They might as well just make it a death penalty sentence and save the US government millions in impending murder cases where someone has a bright green license plate and some no mans marshall is gunna blow the stupid people head clean off. Also Chris hanson is a douchebag, He put all those people under constructive arrest.
ok ok maybe not constructive arrest but still, Its not like NBC offers any revenue to help these people.
Chris Hanson is one monumental douchebag...someone needs to do the world a favor and blow this ego-manical, self-hate drivin jerk's head clean off his shoulders.