Poll: Morality of To Catch a Predator.

[Treeinthewoods]

Read the OP, skipped the rest. All I have to say is, who cares whether the show is right or not it's freakin' hilarious. Funnier then any sitcom I've seen for years, I could watch a new episode every week! Unfortunately, pedo's caught on to the show and I'm not sure they would catch as many serious offenders if they kept going with it.

The ones where the guy is like 18 or 19 and obviously a virgin (with a face that makes a bag of cottage cheese look sexy) make me kind of sad, but only because people can be so desperate to get some action they will do stupid things that ruin their lives.

If you're that hard up, drive out to good old NV with a few hundred bucks and drive home a man. Frankly, you're just as likely to get laid having some fun with the money in Vegas and meeting drunk tourists but there is always the "ranch" option if you really are that physically repulsive.

 

[MorsePacific]

It's absolutely moral. It's just a digital SWAT operation. No different than someone posing as a drug buyer in order to catch a dealer.

In this case, they're just preventing individuals who normally wouldn't be able to protect themselves when confronted with this situation. It also makes for great ratings.

 

[robinkom]

It's entrapment, even if those guys are perverts. It's the same as planting female cops on the street as prostitutes and ambushing the guys she brings back to the designated motel room.

Or, in an experience of my own of a much more tame degree, I worked a several convenient stores in the past and cops would send in minors that didn't look it to buy cigarettes. And they wait to do it when customer traffic picks up to hectic levels and we were just trying to get everyone through and out of the store. So, because of this, we'd fail to card them and I was fined for it. It was entrapment and complete horseshit. That is an instance where it's used wrongfully. People working at convenient stores generally don't have the money to spare to pay a bullshit fine for something like that... because they're in a goddamn convenient store.

As for these potential pedophiles that are entrapped on that show, I think it more or less comes down to that certain notion someone gets about doing something incredibly wrong. "Who's gonna know? I'll slip in, slip out (no pun intended) and it'll be done." Kind of like the feeling one might get to shoplift, you see an open door, no security, no staff, item right there... would you go for it? Having sex with an under-aged person is obviously not on the same level as theft but the catalyst for the deviant thought is the same. It's that "Can I really get away with this?" notion.

Now, removing the TV show and police from the scenario, let's look at a real minor on the internet flirting with an older person. This is a two-way street, the minor is just as much at fault as the pervert. You might say "oh they're young, they don't know any better" but they would know better if their parents... ACTUALLY PARENTED THEM.

And even if they do, a lot of parents get skittish when it comes to discussing sex with their kids. You had to commit the act yourself to have the goddamn kid, you experienced it and all the emotions involved leading up to it yourself. If you talked to your kid about it as well enforcing proper discipline from a young age, you will have gained their trust and they would have the common sense to NOT talk to perverted adults on the internet!

If there were more young people that were able to control themselves because they were given the proper guidance and parental support, there would be less avenues for these perverted adults to venture down, leaving them with nothing except getting some psychiatric help... or hard drugs.

BUT... because we do not have these ideal situations, we have "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline NBC.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

Eh, I don't watch it but I honestly can't find a problem with it. It boils down to this. You set out bait to catch the predator or prey you seek. If you bait the trap right, only the target will bite it.

Sooooo, as long as they are using obvious pedo bait, I don't see the problem. Anybody willing to bite on the idea of banging an underage partner gets what is coming to them. Especially if they actually drive out there to seal the deal.

 

[Starke]

looked it up, most fo the cases end in conviction, the only time it didnt in mass was the murpy where the guy killed himself, his office (after he died) decided not to prosecute claiming no evidence, the orginization that did To Catch a Predator, claimed they did it out of cowardice because of the suicide (not really they just said the coward part, im guessing the suicide was implied)

so the show isnt even on any more btw

It looks like nominally the show was televising nominal police sting operations, which is fine, because, these are the people who are trained to avoid entrapping suspects. The exception being Murphy, TX, where Dateline was apparently given carte blanche to conduct the investigation themselves, which resulted in every single case being dismissed, and the suicide.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

Now, as for enticing regular guys who wouldn't normally do anything bad? No. If a ten year old girl approached you when you were alone and offered to give you a blowjob and promised not to tell anyone would you take it? I would hope not. The fact that these people openly engaged in sexual relationships with people they believe to be children sets them aside from "normal people". These people need help. Some more then others.

I would and HAVE blocked people like that. I don't fuck with my freedom/morals.

 

[THE M3RCENARY]

I just find it hilarious.

 

[RamirezDoEverything]

sex with people under the age of 18:illegal, however right or wrong it may be. The law is the law. They agreed to go to these houses agreeing to have sex with a minor. Right.

 

[Kortney]

It woulld be the equivalent of being talked into switching your sexual orientation.

Yes it would, and that's why these people are unhealthy and need all the help they can get.

You can't take people's rights away just because they offend you. You want people to be charged with a crime before they even do it? That's bullshit and I'm glad the legal system in Western society doesn't agree with you.

All that aside, my main problem is that this show shits all over the names of men who haven't been found guilty. That's disgusting. Our legal system operates on the premise "innocent until proven guilty". That doesn't mean "innocent until you most likely are guilty". By all means, name and shame them if they are found guilty in a court of law - but don't do anything before that. You want to take that very fundamental base of the legal system away, and there will be injustices.

Read my edit in the first post, about them killing a man. I'd like to hear your response to that.

no he is dead because he couldnt face the fact he was engaging a minor online for sexual favors and didnt want to pay the penalty for his actions, the show had nothing to do with it, his own insecurities and issues are why he is dead.

Saying that is completely ignoring the provocation. In fact:

That's like saying bullies have nothing to do with teenage suicide. It's the teenagers own insecurities that did it, not the bullies provocation.

He was cornered in his house and arrested by a squad of gunmen for something he hadn't even done yet. He decided not to go through with the meeting. That doesn't mean you go to his house and kick the door open. For all they knew, the man could of been completely innocent aside from talking dirty to a minor online.

Why does this never happen with people who make death threats online? How come we are allowed to demonise sex offenders but not murderers? It's a social phase we are in.

Anybody who is on To Catch a Predator signs a release allowing them to be put on the television show, they personally allow their image to be used by the show; those criminals agreed to be on.

That's, to my knowledge, completely incorrect. Because they are tied up in child abuse claims they are able to be named and shamed and aren't needed to sign releases. For shows like COPS they have to, but as fair as I'm aware To Catch a Predator doesn't. If you watch the show, many of the men ask for the cameras to not show their face and Hansen says "Sorry, we can't do that".

The fact that the guy killed himself is a good thing too. That means that he won't live on to physically and emotionally abuse someone who is barely starting puberty.

And I'm going to stop reading there. The man needed a punishment and rehabilitation. I'm not going to argue with a person who is in favour of a man killing himself. The DA didn't even go to meet the boy, and for all we know he never has. He might of exclusively done it over the internet and never physically touched anyone.

 

[Thedayrecker]

First things first: I DON'T SUPPORT PEDOPHILIA!

Now, I do feel bad(ish) about this show. I mean technically the people haven't done anything wrong, but at the same time EWWWWW.

I dunno, I'm kind of tired, so I just hope I'm getting my point across without sounding like I'm drunk.

 

[Kortney]

Also, how much you wanna bet the DA who dismissed the charges is a closet pedophile?

He seems more to me as someone who follows the procedures of the legal system. You know... like a DA is supposed to do.

 

[Kortney]

HE ALREADY BROKE THE LAW! Therefor it doesn't matter.

No, it does matter. Are you claiming that he was the only one during To Catch a Predator's investigation who solicited sex and didn't show up? Rubbish. They even mention during that particular episode that many people don't show up. Why don't they go to their house on a sunday afternoon with 2 camera crews and arrest them at their home? Because that wouldn't be as exciting as arrested a DA. That's why.

Like the judge said, they could of arrested this man at any time. They knew where he worked, they knew his daily routines. They didn't need to go to the man's house and act up in front of the cameras. It was a complete mess and never would of happened that way if there wasn't a camera crew present.

This is a well respect man already in the public eye. He looks out his window and sees stacks of guns and cameras and knows he is just about to lose everything. His job, his credibility and his life. The police kick down his door. I can completely understand why he shot himself. He clearly was already sick in the head and misguided - he didn't need that extra, reckless step to push him over the edge.

I'm not debating the fact that they tried to arrest this man. I'm debating the way they went about it. As many legal professionals have said - the way they went about arresting that man was appalling. Downright appalling.

 

[Kermi]

I only caught this program once or twice. These guys invariably turn up at some house with alcohol and condoms with the alluded promises of sexual activity with a minor. Does it suck that a man who technically did nothing wrong was killed? Sure does.
Technically none of them have done anything wrong. It's not illegal to arrange sex meetings with a casual acquaintance online. It's not illegal to say you're 14 when you're really 25. Guys who appear on this show, potential paedophiles or not, have not committed any crimes, and would probably walk if they went to court.
However their names would be forever connected with their actions and their intended actions rather than the fact they were not guilty of anything.

From a purely moral standpoint, the show helps weed out individuals who may potentially bring harm to a minor, and possibly have already done so in the past. I can't object to the show on those grounds.

But is it really justice? I say no.