To Catch a Predator

[general_kill]

For those of you not familiar with the To Catch a Predator and Chris Hansen, they basically have someone from a group called Perverted Justice to pose as a minor (usually around the age 13-15) and lure sexual "predators" in online chat rooms. Ultimately, the topic of sex is brought up and an arrangement is made at a sting house for the predator to meet with the minor. And when the predators show up, Hansen has some fun with them and then the cops arrest them.

I used to have a good time watching the predators' reactions when Chris Hansen tell em what's going on but I felt like it is a little too presumptuous to view these pedophiles as evil or criminal. I feel bad for them that they are born the way they are. I'm sure if they could get rid of their attraction for young boys/girls, they would. For the religious people out there, God made these pedophiles the way they are intentionally. They never had a choice to pick their sexual orientation.

Just two thousand years ago, these pedophiles would be perfectly accepted by many major societies in the world, and many of Rome's elites (including emperors) engaged in sexual acts with minors. I think there really must be a gene(s) that controls who and what stimulates people sexually and can you imagine if a gene that makes adult men attracted to minors were still being passed down?

For the sake of comparison, imagine if having sex with the opposite sex. The gay community would be perfectly fine but what about the rest of us? Just because we have different sexual orientations than what the law allows, we have to risk having our lives ruined and even possible jail time to have consensual sex?

I know the comparison is not completely fair, but it gets the point across. What are your thoughts on this? After looking past the taboo of it all, is it really fair for us to demonize these people because of the way they are born? Not all pedophiles are rapists btw. I know someone will argue about murders and rapists who are born with certain urges but let's not go there for now.

Here's a an excerpt of the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY8BkoyH8m4

 

[Leonel]

You know what I think?

I think... general_kill is a PEDOPHILE HIMSELF! GET HIM!!!

 

[Kozmos]

Watched a few clips on Youtube or was it Oprah...I dont know. It was hilarious, when they caught one guy three times, even though he promised to stop each time. Also funny pic:

 

[amadeus]

I don't think they're all sick, but some of their reactions are awfully funny!

 

[Trajan12]

Isn't what they do there entrapment?

If not it's useless...when you really think about it.

 

[Elta]

these pedophiles

Pedophile means attracted to people who have not hit puberty yet.

I am not condoning grown men having sex with a 13 year old but, I felt I had to clear that up.

 

[emzie]

14 is legal here. Just gotta watch for the ones claiming to be 13.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

I find the show too close to entrapment for my personal liking, and I do understand how it must suck to be attracted to younger men or women. There does need to be a line though.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Do you solicit sex over the internet with strangers? Probably not... so why should it be more difficult for anyone else to exercise the same restraint?

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Do you solicit sex over the internet with strangers? Probably not...

Eh, I cybered with a stranger over Guild Wars a couple times.

 

[emzie]

I find the show too close to entrapment for my personal liking, and I do understand how it must suck to be attracted to younger men or women. There does need to be a line though.

Eye roll. The guys busted on the show aren't just attracted. They're attracted and looking to exploit.

I can say that there are some thirteen year old girls around that I think are stunning. I'm not going to ever start a relationship with one -- not because I'd get in trouble, but because there's nothing more to such a relationship than me exploiting a kid who doesn't know better.

Eh, I cybered with a stranger over Guild Wars a couple times.

Did you end up giving the stranger any epix?

Playing WoW, I leveled an alt on a different server, funding her by pretending to be a chick IRL.

Works wonders.

 

[Merkinball]

It is entrapment. And in some places they have a hard to prosecuting most of these people. They aren't pedo's, they are perverts. And unless they send n00ds over the internet, most of them haven't committed any crime.

 

[mdwh]

I think it'd be funny if it turned out the other person was an underage kid pretending to be older. Wouldn't Perverted Justice then be guilty of some illegal acts? (I mean, pretending to be a minor, and meeting up with other minors for sex...)

I find it hard to take "Perverted Justice" seriously when they list sites like Wikipedia, YouTube LiveJournal as "corporate sex offenders". ( http://www.corporatesexoffenders.com/ ) I mean, what? If they are committing a crime, report them to the police, but otherwise keep your nose out and don't libel them as sex offenders.

Their issue seems to be that "OMG, pedophiles aren't banned from these sites". But it's this sort of attitude that leads to companies clamping down on content, out of fear of being accused by these sites.

If you're willing to go to the pedo-site that is Wikipedia, there's more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverted-Justice (Perverted Justice were even petty enough to redirect all links from Wikipedia so people were taken to a "Wikipedia is a sex offender" page...)

 

[skadistic]

How can you commit a crime against a 13 year old girl who doesn't actually exist?

 

[The Yankee]

Every time I leave the TV on and that show comes up (either NBC or MSNBC), they keep talking about the adult sending a picture of his prime cuts over to the "14 year old" during the chat. Probably doesn't happen every time, but it's more evidence for the authorities, at least.

 

[emzie]

How can you commit a crime against a 13 year old girl who doesn't actually exist?

Laws were written (rewritten) for this kind of entrapment -- in some jurisdictions, if you think you're talking to a minor, that's enough.

To which I would argue I was rollplaying with what I thought I was an adult.

 

[Merkinball]

Yeah Yankee, but that's the only crime that's been committed usually. Sometimes with the real weirdo's you can get endaring the welfare of a child. Like...sometimes they use an 18 year old chick that looks young. If they go after her, they can get them on some charges. Or if they start stripping.

The one time a guy brought his eight year old son with him.

Things like that.

But most are just perverts.

 

[The Yankee]

Yeah Yankee, but that's the only crime that's been committed usually. Sometimes with the real weirdo's you can get endaring the welfare of a child. Like...sometimes they use an 18 year old chick that looks young. If they go after her, they can get them on some charges. Or if they start stripping.

The one time a guy brought his eight year old son with him.

Things like that.

But most are just perverts.

Pretty much. I don't remember them mentioning what kind of punishments get handed out, so the SWAT team that's always hiding in the bushes might just end up giving the guy a night in the slammer, if that.

Then again, I haven't caught any of the episodes lately and I'm actually pretty tired of it, even though I was just a rare viewer.

 

[emzie]

The punishment tends to be social justice.

Their wives leave them. Their bosses fire them. Their neighbours ostracize them.

 

[skadistic]

There was an article in this weeks local city paper about a grand father who got busted molesting his 8 year old grand-step-daughter. Oddly he was booked the same day and same jail as another relative who was molesting yet another family member.