Dateline NBC has an ongoing series of reports where they trap sexual predators searching the Internet for underage teen sex.
Dateline NBC has had an ongoing series of reports where they trap sexual predators searching the Internet and targeting underage teens for sex. When I saw the highlights from the third installment of the "To Catch a Predator" series, I had several questions.…
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— go to most recent comments26 - orwellian
Its interesting? typing dirty conversations over the internet to a underage person is a felony??? ok so how is it these men can be arrested when the person is a adult posing as a underage person? so if i get online and pretend to be underage and encourage an adult to talk dirty to me if i say i am 13? is that adult commmiting a felony??? recently in utah a young man was arested for talking dirty on the intefore rnet to a undercover, he was tried in federal court and hepleaded guilty . he was sentenced to 3 years in prision. The interesting thing is the young man was a virgin, never having had sex before. we are now putting virgins in prison for sex crimes without having sex???? this is crazy! I hope people wake up and realized this is entrapemnet.......
27 - larry
being a senior (not old man), idont see the the attraction to 14 year olds. i didnt like fourteen year girls when iwas fourteen
28 - Karen
You apparently missed the point of the show if you feel they were doing this "for ratings." Sure, they must have hoped EVERY parent in America was watching so they could show them what could so easily happen to their children if they allowed free reign. Too many parents allow their children too many freedoms, which is why tragic things happen to them. As parents it is our sole responsibility to assure our children safe childhoods; we must protect their welfare. But too many parents are simply incompetent as parents and shirk their obligation to protect their children. It is sick what predators will do if we give them the opportunity. We don't have to scare our children but we do have to be informed. Know what your children are doing or you'll allow them to be victimized.
29 - Karen
ENTRAPMENT? If you subscribe to that theory, then people are not accountable for their actions. Sure there are plenty of idiots in this world that are easily led, but I watched Dateline and these people were SICK. They knew what they were doing; they were adults after all. I don't believe any of them suffered from diminished mental capacity. These perverts were no more entrapped than a speeder caught exceeding the speed limit; or were they entrapped by being sold the sports car? Is someone given a credit card with no education in managing personal finances not responsible for robbing a bank to pay debts? Entrapment? America needs to wake up and realize that society is burdened by degenerates that must be isolated for our protection. Personally, I believe any creep that has lewd thoughts about a child should be locked away; they lose their rights when they exhibit propensity to harm a child. I've often wondered if having a child that was molested would be worse than losing that same child to murder or other death; the suffering would be limited if the child's life was gone while the victim of child molestation is scarred forever. Sure, some people can overcome the violation if counseled, but they will NEVER forget. So forgive me if I applaud the efforts of law enforcement officials to rid our society of these educators, ministers, fathers, mothers, neighbors once they show an inclination to harm a child. Only a liberal would feel we should wait until actual physical crime is committed. The welfare of our children takes priority over giving anyone engaging in lewd conversation with a child the benefit of the doubt. Get real .. they explicitly state their intentions and then present themselves to do it. They have no control over their own actions so it takes someone like Dateline NBC to stop them in their tracks. The community needs to know who the threats are and what better way to do it? After all, all of those who claimed it was their first time may have been seen by other victims who then contacted authorities; I would be interested to know if law enforcement involved in any of these sting operations received calls/contact from others victimized by these "innocent" men!
30 - Eve L. Doer
Entrapment? If it quacks like a duck and it walks like a duck.......Yes, the men they showed were slime, no argument. But just because I post as Eve, do you know I am female? If I send you all a picture, is it me you see? If I invite you to my house, do you know whose house you will end up at? Moral high ground does not give anyone the right to violate someones rights. And isn't the possession and distributing of erotic images of underage people also illegal? If you break the law to catch criminals, I'm calling that entrapment.
31 - hello
the guys are just dumb idiots. they shld just shut the beep up if and when shit happens. geez.
it pains me to see them apologizing or trying to explain things.
go to the pd and ask to speak to a lawyer.
then tell em a friend sent you there saying that your friend made a her online and was busy and so he asked you to go instead. done.
you had no idea she was a teen. easy as pie.
lol.
32 - ricland
These are witch hunts in the fullest sense of the word. The McCarthy Hearings all over again. And if you go over to the Perverted Justice website you'll see exactly how sick this thing is. They now have a Perverted Justice "store" where T-Shirts, baseball caps and other merchandise is sold. This combined with the million dollar paycheck Dateline gave Perverted Justice make it clear these people are now in the business of producing television content not protecting children.
They're not catching documented predators. They're catching ordinary guys lured in by chatroom conversations with adult women and seductive photos of very attractive women that Dateline tells us "look" underage.
Like the McCarthy Trials, Dateline is ruining people for life. They're destroying families. Imagine what life will be like for the kid who discovers his father is a felon child predator. Imagine the hell the wife, grandparents, and in-laws will go through.
And then the thing Dateline is not one bit honest about. When it airs the episodes at prime time before the men have gone to trial it exacts upon them a punishment far harsher than anything our criminal justice system would. How can they possibly rehabilitate their lives after that? A man who desires sex with a 15-year old is not the same thing as a man who desires sex with a 7-year old, but Dateline's treatment does not make this distinction. Hanson and Company tell us it's the same thing -- that they're both "child" predators.
Indeed, when one guy appears before the magistrate he's told that he can't be around his own children "unless supervised." Worse still, for the rest of his life he gets listed as a felon "child" predator.
Of course what Dateline leaves out is the extrodinary efforts Perverted Justice takes to lure these men to the house -- efforts no 15-year old would ever be able to orchestrate.
Pure evil, what else can describe what Dateline is doing?
ricland
33 - Libby Rahl
My favorite comment is by Karen:
"Only a liberal would feel we should wait until actual physical crime is committed."
Oh, you wacky conservatives! You guys just crack me up! I mean, who needs a crime to arrest and prosecute someone? Like the crucifixion scene in _Life of Brian_, where the woman shouts, "Nail 'em up, I say! Nail some sense into 'em!", that's Gitmo Justice, and we need more of it!
(So long as it's not the Secretary of Defense, or his boss, who's caught tellin' whoppers ... right?)
34 - bigstarjosh
Many of you comment that these people are "SICK"...that's absolutely correct. They are sick. Many of the men probably have a sexual addiction that has not been treated.
Does Chris Hansen and Dateline ever try to get these people the mental help they need? Or is it hang them in a public viewing for their ratings sakes and then give them to the cops?
I'll tell you what is "SICK"...this show is sick. It's disgusting and some of the most biased journalism I've ever seen. Not to mention the entrapment...and I'd love to know how they get away with showing the persons face. I believe their needs to be a consent agreement to show a person on TV. I sure hope the accused to sign the consent agreement to use their image on television.
I would love to see how an episode of this is fully produced. I think their needs to be an investigative report done on Dateline. Then we would see some real answers and some real sickness and deceit.
35 - Anonymois
I happen to watch the show by accident. I am truly saddend and was upset with NBC especially. Please don't mistake me. I am not one of those people interested in underage or the fact any other women. It is so sick to watch the show. I can't imagine how much of a pain and anguish their families have to go through. Do NBC offer some kind of mental help for those sick like the last poster asked.
36 - class-action
NB Dateline has accomplished what no other 'news' broadcast or T.V. Show has ever done before. It has me(and my seldom reserved opinion) sitting on the fence.
On one side are those whose opinions are based on having 'common sense', but suffer from terrible visions of one of their children chatting or coming in contact with one of these 'predators'. It is our natural instinct to want to protect our children.
On the other side are those that believe that what Dateline is doing is creating a 'witch hunt' or 'mob' mentality by luring what would otherwise be productive members of society into a situation where their grasp on reality is tested. If their grip happens to slip...they are tarred, feathered, publicly humiliated and incarcerated...and lose everything in the process.
MY OPINION
While the presence of predators in our environment is obvious by the headlines we read each day, why is it necessary to create a completely unreal situation in order to capture these 'predators' that are preying on our children?
37 - Jounalism Critic
Aside from the fact that the series is getting boring, particularly when you hear the same lame excuses every time from the ensnared--and that's right before a detective removes duct tape from someone's pickup and displays an anatomy pump as a significant find--the show creates more societal problems than it solves.
Pedophilia, an illness, exists in our society. You can't turn your head the other way anymore. Our society contains a certain amount of people who are wired that way. As the show has documented, the illness cuts through all races and socio-economic groups. And guess what: the pedos can look like the guy next door too; not necessarily the creepy guy down the block.
Before the advent of the internet, pedophiles meeting your teenager was probably more difficult and cases of abuse weren't depicted as graphically on national television. The internet appears to have enabled the predators to get what they want more readily and more quickly; as well as sleezy vigilante groups and tabloid journalists to capitalize on an ugly acts.
Yes, I don't find this show entertaining. All I get from it is watch your kids and crucify the bad guy. Show no mercy. Shoot to kill. It's clear Hansen and NBC Dateline are doing this show for ratings. 1 segement was enough to drive the point home; we don't need to see teenage rapists every week.
And I question the ethics of paying a vigilante group, (PJ's fat guy, fat girl, and butch girl who seem to want to cut the bad guy into 1,000 pieces and then spit on each piece) 100K to do law enforcement work and sensationalize a story. Since when does journalism pay for law enforcement? Since when do our government officials PARTNER with vigilante groups? I hesitate to say bribery here, but there is a financial element to this story that no one is discussing. It's all being burried under "protecting your child" and the saints of Dateline taking the bad people off the streets.
I don't have much sympathy for the slime that are caught, and I believe these people are dangerous and do damage lives when they get to their child prey, but I question the ethics of taking a doctor or a homeland security officer who's mentally ill, publishing them on TV as being mentally ill, turning them over to law enforcement, giving them hard prison time, destroying their jobs, devasting their family, taking their car, putting a felony conviction on their record, so that they'll never work again. Two wrongs (the predator preying on children and the journalistic/criminal killing of the perpertrator) don't make a right.
Who's going to pay for the mentally ill creep who's now on welfare? Trust me: It'll be you and me. We're the taxpayers that are going to be supporting the Dateline special interest group.
The other problem with the show is that it has no solution. How about treating these people? Someone brought that up. The problem isn't going away. The rodents keep pouring into to the trap houses. (I keep thinking of a "roach motel" for some reason.) I'd rather see them castrated and put back to work than jobless, except for those that are in professions that mentor children. Those people should lose their jobs. First non-violent offenses should probably be misdemeanors in lieu of felonies; along with years of required counseling, castration, and heavy fines. Repeat or violent offenders are felons who get locked up and the key thrown away. (They had their chance at redemption.) It's just common sense.
38 - K
That show and what they do to those guys is a form of entrapment, plain and simple. These men are enticed to a home by a decoy, from an agency that is at best, very controversial and has rather sleazy tactics (read up on Perverted Justice), and before being told that they are under arrest and read their rights, they are interviewed by Chris Hansen and asked questions about why they are there..........You better believe that everything they say to Chris Hansen is being used if they go to trial..........I watch the show and I want to scream at these men, Shut Up! Say Nothing! Get a Lawyer!.......but alas, they can't hear me.
39 - nugget
ok parents listen up:
I am a guitar/music teacher. I teach private lessons in a relatively secluded trailer every day. I am amazed by the fact that most parents don't even care to MEET me. Some of the fathers don't even know that their son/daughter is taking guitar lessons until I call the mom's cell phone and he answers.
Firstly, if I had kids, I wouldn't let my 4th grade daughter be alone with a 25 year old man for 30 minutes. The truth is, most 25 year olds look at pornography regularly. This is a (new) fact of life. Does pornography attribute to such taboo and illegal things as victimization and rape? YOU BET YOUR ASS IT DOES.
To today's adult male, (and probably men of the past, but we're just now figuring it out), if given the chance........my guess is that OVER 20% of men would follow through with lude pedophilia acts if they were confident that no repurcussions would follow. Am i talking about myself??? no. But I know men. i know the slippery slope exists. Women should be more aware because most of you are ignoramooses!
40 - nugget
oh and K (post above)....you're full of shit. the only people worried about due process are people insecure with their tendencies to acts like these.
My advice, see a psychologist.
41 - nugget
"mentally ill"
what a bunch of horse shit.
mentally ill = horny....imo.
Idiots.
42 - E
If men know that pornography leads to rape and pedophilia, it is still their responsibility to stop looking at it. Drinking and driving hurts and kills many innocent people too, but who in this case feels sorry for the DUI driver? They drank to escape. Porn is an escape too. In porn girls don't get their periods, get pregnant, get HIV or PID, or orgasm for real. They have to be sexy, perfect, and psychologically invisible.
Men need to wake up and realize that porn offers more "entrapment" into deviant behavior than any Dateline: To Catch a Predator show ever will. There is no doubt that all the men caught were looking at porn several times a day. It was a choice that allowed them to disvalue other human beings.
Nugget, you said that 20 % of men would act out pedophilia if there was no punishment. This statement shows how hypersexualized and disconnected you are. Teenage girls get their periods around the age that these predators are scheduling their rendez-vous with them. Teenagers under 18 are busy trying to figure out what is going on with their changing bodies and emotionally don't have anything to offer an older man. Some people are still psychologically not ready for intimacy or should i say non-intimate sex at 18, but this age is used for legal justification.
The real injustice occurs when men believe that young girls are sex objects or understand the meaning of sex...which is to reproduce of course. Do you really want to get a teenage girl pregnant or give her herpes at 13? Is that fair? Is that normal? Do you understand that you are consenting to paternity, even accidentally, if you have sex? I know women who have gotten pregnant without intercourse. It's reality.
I went to a college campus the other day on business. I was not attracted to the younger men. They looked and acted like children not fathers. The problem with men is that they think teenagers will look older and be ready to deal with sex. Everyone on 92010 was in their late 20s when this show premiered. Most girls in the "barely legal" magazine are in their late 20s as well. You are distorting the reality of what a teenage girl looks like and talks like. Being attracted to teens is not normal.
If a teen is dressing provocatively, she is not normal and emotionally needy, which should scare you away from having sex with her. If a teen suggest sex, she is not normal. That teen has emotional problems and seeks sex for validation. Why would any adult man want to get mixed up with that?
Adult men should know the reasons behind promiscuity and not take advantage of them. The guideline should be: if you don't want it to happen to your daughter, don't do it!
43 - Hansen
Entrapment?!? Do you realize that in order to be caught by this sting, that you'd first have to be in a chatroom, then you'd have to send a "child" a message (or respond to a message), then you'd have to bring up sex as a topic (or respond). Next you have to write that you want or intend to have sex with this child, then you have to get their address, and then you actually have to show up at their house. I don't see how a non-predator will ever get caught by this sting. And, please don't tell me that this sting is unrealistic - there are plenty of kids who have given their address to adults on the internet.
44 - mental_chess
Selfishness. When a man or woman will destroy a childs innocence for sexual gratification it is pure selfishness. We live in a selfish society and even teach it to our children. This behavior, as vile as it is, should be expected.
45 - Tabitha Morris
Thank you all so very much for what you are doing to protect our children. I am sick of hearing about the sexual preditors rights. What about our innocent children's rights? What I want to know, is if there is any way that, we as a community, can set up an operation of our own like this. Can I as a regular citizen work with the local police from my home to help catch these criminals? Keep up the good work. I pray that what you are doing is not a temporary series, but one you will continue to do. Thanks again from a mom in Kentucky. Thanks again from a mom in Kentucky.
46 - Dana
This is a great thing they are doing. If there was a task force like this in every police dept. or even just parents banning together and doing the same thing maybe could put a dent in what is happening to our children. PLEASE continue the show. Awareness is the best defense.
47 - june
I agree. These guys are weird and need to be monitored all the time. What worries me, though, quite frankly, is the 13-year-old sexuality and willingness to open it up on the Internet! Our kids are way too knowledgeable about sex and 13 is too young to even care about it. Sorry, but little girls @ 12 and 13 should still be playing with dolls, not wearing provocative clothing and talking sex on line.
That is all our fault.
48 - Angry Mom!
You slam towns for thinking it doesn't happen there and then use the town in Ohio as an example.
Well, what about the fact that Perverted Justice and Dateline scout "ideal" locations and then invite the predators to make "good TV?"
Right now there is a sting going on in my neighborhood. Two homes owned by investors in a shiny new neighborhood - one used for the sting and the other to house the staff. And if you look from the front porch to the view straight down the street, you get a fabulous view of the local elementary school and the playground. Wonderful shots for the show.
Our small town hasn't had 10 arrests for this type of crime in 5 years but suddenly in one weekend we are a hotbed of child predators?
What about the pervs who got spooked and drove by? But now they now about our neighborhood and exactly where the local school is so they can come back later.
I'm all for getting these guys off of our streets, but they weren't on our street to begin with. Our neighborhood got sold out by the city for some TV publicity - "look how tough we are on crime!"
49 - B.
isnt it sad that our news has nothing better to report than news that it has paid to have created and in fact has been the reason for 100% of the story to have happened. Since there was NO MINOR involved and everyone knows that ANYTHING on the net is subject to verification of fact such as all the FREE stuff advertised that we see everyday and wind up being so expensive the advertised age is also known to be subject to unbelivability.Some examples are the so called teen sites that are people no younger than 35 to 45 years old but no does anything about false advertising because it would not make for show ratings or political gain. Shame on Dateline it has forgotten what a newsstory is!
50 - Ron
I don't understand the show To Catch a Predator whatsoever. Internet chat rooms give no credible information. You can go into a chat room and say anything about yourself and there is nothing to prove that what you are saying is correct nor is there anything to prove exactly how someone else feels about your comments. Chris Hansen goes after these guys and says they are attempting to have sex with a 13 yrd old. How does anyone have any proof that the so called accused pedophile has credible information as to the age of the person they are talking on the computer to. If these perverted-justice people go into a chat room and type into a computer that they are 13 yrs old does that prove that another person who makes contact with them believes and knows for a fact they are in contact with a 13 yr old? This seems ridiculous to me. Nobody has any information whatsoever about how old the person is they are in contact with in a chat room. If the chat rooms did provide credible information then the perverted-justice people would not be allowed to post in the chat rooms because what they are claiming to be isn't true. They're adults, not 13 yr olds they are lying about their age so how can internet chat rooms provide credibility? I don't understand why people aren't looking at this side of the issue. Also, all 13 year olds have a parent or guardian and by posing as 13 yr olds these perverted-justice people are taking away a parent's right to monitor what their kids do on the internet. Its like these pj people are a bunch of parentless 13 year olds who go on the internet and do whatever they want. I think people are unclear about the legalities here and this show is an embarrasment. Someone explain these issues, because I do not understand this show whatsoever.
51 - d
I just watched "To Catch a Predator" for the first (and likely last) time, and it made me among other things sad.
It's a sad reality that there are adults out there who can't relate sexually and emotionally to their peers, and are only satisfied by preying on teenagers or children.
It's also sad that the culture is so obsessed with youth and sex that (in addition to bona fide, sexually dysfunctional pedophiles) even average guys with healthy relationships can be enticed by a purported "teenager" to risk their real life relationships and reputations for a chance at the forbidden fruit/holy grail of consumer society: the virgin slut. I see it as a symptom of a much larger problem.
And I have to agree with the poster who pointed out that the vast majority of the men featured have no police record, that they're being made to act on fantasies they wouldn't otherwise act on, by the decoys. Granted, some of those dudes did seem kinda wrong in the head and quite creepy, but am I alone in wondering if there is in that batch some harmless guy whose life is now ruined? Because his name too is now mud, regardless of what else happens when he goes to court. (I won't even get into whether or not there can be such a thing as a fair trial once you've been "convicted" on national prime time TV!)
The worst of it is that no meaningful dialogue ever seems to emerge from these polemical programs towards finding out what feeds the problem! They just create fear, ratings, and I guess now, bail money for the local police departments that collect the bail. This at the expense of a handful of horny idiots and the wasted opportunity to explore the reasons behind this disturbing trend.
And given that it is an illness and people who have it are sick, shouldn't it be addressed as such? Their arrests treated more as a hospitalization and less like an infidel beheading?
52 - Matt Thiesen
This explains everything...
53 - KIZC
"To catch a predator" is my new favorite show. Chris Hansen has the funniest job getting to humiliate these sick sons of bitches and help bring them to justice although these dumb bastards usually get a slap on the wrist and probably all of them will try it again at one point or another in their useless pathetic lives. These sickos deserve real hard prison and see what it's like when the predator wants to molest them.
54 - fortwynt
Of course the larger issues haven't been addressed much or at all on here.
For one thing, there is a vast difference between an adult man/woman who is attracted sexually to a 15 year old, and one who is sexually attracted to a 5 year old. Anyone who doesn't see the difference there is completely retarded and, I must say, totally disconnected from reality.
Do I think that a grown man being attracted sexually to a 13-17 year old is some form of sickness or mental illness? Well I suppose it could be, but the fact is older men have ALWAYS been sexually attracted to younger women...I would almost call it a "natural" urge. There is always those out there who are hyper-sexual, not really different from drug addicts, etc...but in and of itself being sexually attracted to a teenager is not really something I find to be as "sick" and "evil" as Dateline would make it seem.
Besides, when we are teenagers it is apparently perfect acceptable to be sexually attracted to other teenagers, but later on down the road we are supposed to forget the things that made those same people attractive? Forget the fact that movies and television only seek to hypersexualize the public thereby making the problem worse. But there's still a big difference between fantasizing about a teenager and fantasizing about a 5 year old or something.
So all in all this show is bunk, purely and simply...it's only purpose is to scare the public, and also to ruin the lives of people who have actually committed no real crime....
Prostitution stings are very similar, in that this particular "crime" would not have taken place without the cops MAKING it happen...funny...of course there are always going to be people out there crying about how "sick" a man is who is sexually attracted to a teenager...forget the guilt of the teenager who knowingly LURES an adult to them...not that the scenarios that take place on this retarded show ever actually happen in reality...they dont...
"You wouldnt understand if you dont have kids" well guess what, I do...and I still stand by my assessment...I as a 28 year old man know for a fact that even if I try and have a simple innocent chat with someone who happens to be 13-16, they almost ALWAYS cut me off and stop chatting with me the second I tell them my age...so I find it very hard to believe that there are THAT many "innocent" little girls out there knowingly sending nudie photos of themselves and giving out their address to people that they know are far beyond their age...I just don't accept that...
Are there less-than-innocent girls out there who do these things, yes to be sure there are, the only problem is none of these men are being convicted of talking to a real person, only to a fictional made up fantasy person....what a great country we live in.
55 - Be Real People
Thank You #54 Fortwynt For You Comment. I Somewhat Agree With Most Of The Opinions Written But All And Fair #54 Fortwynt Has A Point. There Is A Difference Between Being Attracted To A 15 Year Old Versus Fantasizing About A 5 Year Old. In Case Most Of You Have Forgotten; But There Was A Time When It Was Lawful To Take A Teenage Bride With (Of Course)The Fathers Consent. But That Was Yesterday And This Is Today, And We Must Uphold Today's Laws. MY POINT IS: A Man Should'nt Be Instantly Labelled A "SICKO" If He Finds Himself Attracted To A Mid-Post Puberty Teen, But Acting Out On These Desires Should Remain Unlawful. The Post Puberty Teen Body Is Beautiful And Unique. And I Think Most Of Us Here Reading These Reviews Would Do Almost Anything If We Could Get Back Our Figures When We Were Age 15,16,17,18. My Last Point Is Anyone That Has Any Attraction To A Young Child/Baby Is Very Sick And You Really Should (seriously) Go Seek Help!!!
-THANK YOU- "To Catch A Predator" Staff & Team. *Guys If You're 18 And Up Be Careful, Please Use This Program As A Fair Warning, All Of These Guys Lives Now Are All F*@#ed Up Now* Be A Wise Learner Not A Sorry Loser.
56 - neeco
When are older men going to learn that these are children? Here is a theory I have,and I want people to give some input. Bush has squashed sex education in public schools and replaced it with abstenence, which is a good ideal, but not realistic. I believe that if we start at the root of the problem (teen boys and girls) and educate them on statutory rape laws and the trouble that it can cause, the amount of cases like these could drop. Seriously, in most states a 17 year old can go to JAIL for sleeping with a 15 year old class mate. Education of consequences for these acts is key. Sure, it won't eliminate perverts, but perhaps we could educate young men early enough so the majority will not become perverts?
57 - wicket
how do i say this without people criticizing me? Oh well I guess I can't. I believe there is nothing wrong with having sex with a consenting minor. As long as the child is mature and competent to make a decision on their own about who they want to sleep with, who are we to stop them? I believe 15 and up is generally an appropriate age for a child to be able to consent themselves with or without parental permission. Bottom line, the so called "child" as we love to call him or her is only going to do it anyway, and if that's their choice, then it should be supported rather than denied, and made illegal. I also believe the majority of these adults are not going to hurt or scar the teenagers, however its the minority that do, that make the rest look bad. These adults want exactly what the teenager want, good, consensual sex. Is there really anything wrong with that? These children are sexually mature adults. They are capable of reproducing for god sakes. They can be tried as an ADULT if they COMMIT murder, but they can't have CONSENSUAL sex with an adult? The justice system is fucking ridiculous. What Dateline NBC is doing is an abomination and making something that should be harmless into a BIG DEAL. Yes, if I have a kid, I would be OK with it as long as they are mentally healthy and mature (Generally 15 & up), and consensual towards what is going on. I know I probably went a little too deep into this matter, but I feel this issue needs to be addressed if we are to question the ethics of dateline, then we need to question the originators of these idiotic laws, our government. Time for a policy change? you bet.
58 - William Miller
Good post!You cracked me up with the part about:
"I have to ask the predators themselves: I guess this has to be a rhetorical question since the actual predators featured in the report are probably a little busy right now and hopefully forbidden by the court to use the Internet. Why don't you have the sense that God gave bugs and viruses?
Bugs develop immunities to insecticides and viruses mutate to survive changes in their environment. So why, after the first couple of "To Catch a Predator" reports did you not suspect when you were making your date, that this might be a trap? After seeing the forth installment of the series, I realized that you guys are so sick that your pedophile nature overshadows your common sense.'
I've often wondered the same thing about these guys!I've even heard the guy doing the show(is it Stone Phillips?) ask some of them questions like:
'You've seen this show before,yes;you thought you saw cops outside,yes-but yet you still came in here looking for a 13 year old girl,yes-his next question should be,'how does it feel to be a rocket scientist?':-)
But,all jokes aside,thank the good Lord that there are decent people pursuing these real-life 'monsters'(I used to tell my kids when they were little,'It's not the monsters you see in the movies,like dracula,Frankenstein,etc. that you have to worry about-it's the ones who look like 'ordinary' people!).
59 - Christopher Rose
wicket: the problem with your argument is that people of, say, fifteen or so are sexually mature but emotionally and intellectually they aren't, which makes it difficult for them to make wise decisions.
When I was sixteen, I genuinely believed that there was no point in living beyond the haggard old age of twenty. Oddly, when I got to be twenty, I found there was plenty to live on for.
60 - wicket
well i believe that until 15 & 16 yr olds who commit murder are not tried as adults for doing so, but tried as children, then they should also be allowed to have sex with whoever they want. don't those who commit serious crimes also have to be evaluated for intellectual capacity? if they're deamed as having an adult intelect and tried as an adult, then the sex thing shouldn't even be an issue. just my opinion, but a strong one.
61 - Christopher Rose
wicket: you are seriously confused. The issue of murders being committed by teenagers has nothing to do with older people having sex with them. Are you an American? They seem to have particularly mixed up views about sex and violence. Can't imagine the cause...
62 - wicket
you seriously don't understand my point. If a teen can get life in prison, for a much harsher crime than an adult solicitating them, such as murder, then the sex with a minor thing shouldn't even be important. If a kid can be treated like an adult in the justice system, then they should be treated like an adult when it comes to who can have sex with them as well. Yes I am American, but never said I was proud of that.
63 - Christopher Rose
wicket: It's you that doesn't get the point as you are trying to establish an entirely non-existent linkage between crimes committed by young people and crimes committed against them.
Are you a pedophile?
64 - True definition
This is to those who accused Dateline as well as anyone or any agencies of "ENTRAPMENT"
ENTRAPMENT - A person is 'entrapped' when he is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that he had no previous intent to commit; and the law as a matter of policy forbids conviction in such a case.
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 informer or other decoy, to engage in an unlawful transaction with the person. 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.
On the other hand, if the evidence leaves a reasonable doubt whether the person had any intent to commit the crime except for inducement or persuasion on the part of some Government officer or agent, then the person is not guilty.
In slightly different words: Even though someone may have [sold drugs], as charged by the government, if it was the result of entrapment then he is not guilty. Government agents entrapped him if three things occurred:
- First, the idea for committing the crime came from the government agents and not from the person accused of the crime.
- Second, the government agents then persuaded or talked the person into committing the crime. Simply giving him the opportunity to commit the crime is not the same as persuading him to commit the crime.
- And third, the person was not ready and willing to commit the crime before the government agents spoke with him.
On the issue of entrapment the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not entrapped by government agents.
IF THESE MEN DID NOT INTEND ON HAVING SEX WITH THE SUPPOSED 13 YEAR OLD, THEN WHY DID THEY SHOW UP? WHY DID THEY SEND NASTY THINGS TO THIS "CHILD"? THEY WERE NOT ENTRAPPED, THEY ARE SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!
65 - B
I'm a 15 year old openly gay guy. Here is my issue w/ this show: some of the "predators" are like 18,19,20 years old meeting what they think is a 15 year old? Yeah, some could call that disgusting but...lots of ppl dated guys in college when they were in high school, lots of ppl dated guys in their late teens/early twenties when they were in high school? I THINK THE OLD GUYS ARE GROSS but, like a 19 year old trying to hook up w/ a 15 year old? I'm 15 and allowed (by my parents) to date up to 19. My dad started dating my mom when he was 19 and she was 15...is he a predator? (they'v been happily married for 25 years now!) There needs to be a greater amount of age b/w the two ppl before it should be criminalized IMO.
66 - think
a much more thoughtful article on "to catch a predator"
67 - Susan Fleming
It's entrapment. Purely and simply. Dateline has no interest whatsoever in "investigative journalism". There's no investigation. There's no journalism. Dateline adds no value whatsoever to the "investigation" which would proceed nonetheless. The part that bothers me is the obvious entrapment that occurs, yet people's lives are ruined purely for the sake of Chris Hanson's ratings.
68 - anon
Not to defend these guys but most of them have seen the show. Sounds more like exibitionists than pedophiles or both issues are there. That being said it seems like a mental illness and therefore NBC is exploiting this. They might be hurting the situation more by televising this. Its like american idol for perverts. One guy asked if he would be on T.V. and to give him a call when it airs before he walk out the house. Police did not have to tell him what to do next. He assumed the position.
69 - Ken
QUOTE
This show was on again tonight, and my wife was glued to the screen. After seeing at least two other installments I had no interest in watching more, so I got up and went to surf the net. I noticed that my wife was not happy about this, but didn't give it much thought.
To my surprise, she seemed quite angry when I came back after the show was over, and grilled me about why I hadn't wanted to see the show. I thought about it for a minute, then told her that when they put this kind of thing on TV once it's so they can tell people. When they put it on twice it's to remind people. When they put it on ten times it's just to whip up hysteria. This made her even madder, and shortly before going to bed she told me bitterly that she "had a lot of suspicions about me".
Probably this will blow over by morning, or anyway I hope so. If it doesn't then one of us at least is pretty sick.
REPLY
Wow heavy post,I hope things workout for you guy.
I have to agree with you though ./
As much as I dont like pediphiles ,I think the show is all about ratings and is simular to rubber necking at a car crash.
All these viewers getting off on the detroyed life of these guys.
If these guys really want to be with kids then arrest them,but dont intrap them ,dateline admits that the decoy kids sometimes bring up sex first and bring up the idea of meeting ,this is intrapment just for the sake of this media specticle.
By the way one of the guys commits suicide next week instead of being arrested,should make for some really good ratings.
70 - CaRteR
Americans pathologize sex. That is why they have the highest rate of sexual serial killers. These men, somehow, have been made to feel bad about their sexuality. Then they grow up and realize that, as teens (when, incidentally, males are at their sexual prime), they were never allowed to have their innocent sexual adventures; that they were hyptonized or brainwashed by morally sanctimonius American society into demonizing their own sexuality.
This show really makes me sick. If they had a psychologist waiting, to try to help these men come to terms with their issues prior to just handing them to the wolves, I would respect it. But then again, I guess that wouldn't get the good ratings now would it?
71 - Rueban
To catch a predator is a ratings kingpin. Shame on you CBS for taking the side of the perverts citing jounalistic ethics. Your just jealous your lame producers never came up with such a smart program that deters these people from our children.
72 - Average Joe
There's no doubt that Dateline NBC's predator stings make for entertaining television and it may seem like a valuable public service is being done but when considered a little more deeply one quickly realizes what a farce the whole thing is.
I would not assert that these men are being entrapped. Clearly they are online with the intention of trying to hook up with underage teens. But their crimes are ones whose chance of actually succeeding absent the Dateline / Perverted-Justice.com online decoys is highly remote. Remember that for the most part these men are very open about what they are seeking. In the real world how many 14 year olds would agree to sexual liasons with fat, balding, 45 year olds? Should parents be worried? Not if their kids are ordinary kids with ordinary sense. In the miniscule chance that a real young person were aggreeable then you have two persons in a consenting situation and it becomes less a matter of outright abuse and more a matter of the longstanding debate over what age one can give legal consent to sex.
In one instance Dateline sprung its trap on a young man just 22 years of age. Should a 22 year old be trying to date a 14 year old? No, but such probably goes on all the time with little harm and yet thanks to Dateline this poor fellow's life is now ruined.
Far more insidious than the pathetic oafs seen on Dateline are the the predators for whom the show's sting technique fails completely. I'm speaking of those who would try to befriend a lonely child, arrange a visit for ostensibly innocent purposes, for example to play video games, and then take horrible advantage once there. You won't see these on Dateline because this type of individual would take great care to never say anything incriminating and were he ever to be caught in a sting he would claim he only came to play video games and there would be nothing in the chat logs to the contrary. Those are the ones to worry about not the sad wretches seen on Dateline who are open about what they seek and therefore can and are avoided all the time by young people who simply say "no."
73 - graveyboy
i cant wait till cris hansen gets caught everyone knows he is the biggest pedophile out there he does this show so it gets the attention off of him just wait and see you all heard it here first
74 - Cain
There are a couple problems I have with the "Predator" series. One is Chris Hansen, who is the smuggest, smart-alecky arrogant reporter out there. He seems to take glee in catching this stupid (albiet sick) guys in the act of trying to seduce underage girls.
Now the other problem is, is this entrapment? Was a crime committed? The men had every chance not to make the decision to talk to what they thought was an underage person.
Where was the crime? The decoy CLAIMED they were underage, but were not actually so. The decoy TYPED the words 13/F or whatever. THAT'S IT. All the decoys are over the age of 18. They misrepresented themselves and the stupid perverts fell for it.
Is the world a safer place because these idiots were put in jail? I really, seriously doubt it. Maybe there are really 35 year old guys hooking up with 14 year old girls online and having sex. I don't think that there's an epidemic of it going on out there.
This world is looking more and more like the movie "MINORITY REPORT". There was no crime committed, but the INTENT of the men was enough to ruin their lives.
75 - Justin Atheist
Re: post #72 Average Joe
"Should a 22 year old be trying to date a 14 year old? No, but such probably goes on all the time with little harm and yet thanks to Dateline this poor fellow's life is now ruined."
Harm is inherent in the action. No emotionally healthy 22yo would ever consider "dating" a 14yo. It's a purely exploitative relationship 100% of the time. HARM IS INHERENT IN THE ACT. It is worth ruining a million scum bag lives, regardless of their age or career status, if it prevents 1 child's life from being ruined. I'm not praying for it, but I wouldn't lose sleep if pedophiles around the world started getting the Boondock Saints treatment.
The problem is the odds we sane people are up against... because for every addict, there is an apologist or two deep in denial -- as the above commentors have shown.