Poll: Morality of To Catch a Predator.

[Kortney]

Note: This thread is a discussion of the NBC program "To Catch a Predator". For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it involves police posing as young girls online and enticing men to come to a house. Once the person arrives at the house, he is greeted by cameras and eventually arrested by police.

I was recently watching To Catch a Predator on the internet out of curiosity when something stuck me.

Is this show morally right?

Now, for the most part - I believe that the show does arrest and weed out dangerous individuals. But sometimes I get the sense that they have been conned into doing it.

Take a look at the gentlemen in this video:


Would they of done this if it wasn't for the show enticing them to do so?

Discussion: Is the act of enticing people to commit a crime morally wrong?

EDIT: I'm editing this post to include the fact that a man was killed because of the show. He was a well known district attorney who was talking to a minor online and arranged a meeting. The district attorney decided not to go through with the meeting, so the police went to his house to arrest him anyway (Texas law enabled them to do so - even without him physically doing anything). They knocked at his door and got no response, they broke in and encountered him in the hallway where he shot himself in head. He is dead. Because of the show.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

Doing so in order to find out if a person would commit a crime doesn't seem that bad. After all, while criminality isnt a disease that can be easily cured (Edit: Criminality in that of itself isn't actually a disease), this process can be used to at least inform the person being enticed of the dangers that come with actually going through with a real crime. Furthermore, in context with "To Catch a Predator", it is important to note that some of these caes were people who have done something similar before (some people have been on the show more than once, in different episodes no less) so the argument that they wouldn't have done it if they weren't enticed isn't always the best defence.

That said, entcing a person to commit a crime and then aressting them for it seems a little morally questionable to me, especially when the authorities have to contantly badger them and pressure the person into doing the deed. It's like the person is being arrested more for even considering commiting a crime rather than actually trying to. And that just seems silly to me.

 

[The Austin]

I can see it both ways. Some of those guys might be perverted bastards, others might have good intentions.

 

[Dango]

Look, to an extent, I'm fine with them tricking and catching sexual predators, 1) here are much, much better ways to go about catching them, and 2) Televising it is definitely just morally wrong.

 

[Madara XIII]

Well if I may

Although it does seem morally questionable, but if the guy gives in then well I find it kinda hard to feel sorry for them. Idk for me, it's like a bait car.

Oh well I'm not on to start an open discussion.

 

[LastMondaysHangover]

I will admit that seeing some of the "predators" on the show makes for some very interesting TV. Plus how couldn't you laugh at the name "KinkyManInCorona"?

 

[snowman6251]

I think what the show does is not morally wrong.

Putting it all on TV so we can laugh at the caught Pedo's suffering is a little morally bad however. In the end I don't give a fuck because pedo's are kind of douchebags but its a little perverse the way we get so much joy from their misery.

 

[VanityGirl]

Maybe putting it on TV is questionable, but enticing sexual predators is not morally wrong. To put it to you this way, would you rather the predators be caught by the police, or would you rather them end up sexually molesting a young kid?

If you think that what the police do to catch sexual predators is wrong, then you would hate the idea of a bait car. It's pretty much the same thing.

 

[rekabdarb]

Yeah wait a minute... isn't this technically entrapment? Considering i'm looking at the definition of it right now for a stupid research paper. Are they arrested after chris hansen makes them take a seat over there

 

[feeback06]

Now I'm no law expert, but if you've never done it before and if you don't tell these "under-age girls" that you intend on having sex with them. Isn't that entrapment?

 

[lacktheknack]

I see it both ways, but how would the predator "otherwise not have done it"? Do the police pose as little girls outright ASKING for sex?

 

[kouriichi]

Eh, i dont see a problem with it.

If theyer a pedophile, they need to be rehabilitated to help controll theyer desires.

What if it was a real boy on the other end of the internet?

This is a case of "Better safe then sorry."

 

[crimsonshrouds]

hmm i find it interesting how pedophillia is now against the law when not even a hundred years or more ago a girl would get married as soon as they hit puberty.

Now i don't support it in any way but from a historical stand point its interesting to see how civilization has changed.

The only thing that bothers me is when the police bait people with hookers.

 

[Good morning blues]

The show is entrapment, which is not only a pretty morally reprehensible practice, it makes it impossible to prosecute these people for luring children.

 

[Nouw]

If they do it in order to do something morally right it's morally right. I thought this was about the other Predator...

 

[DoubleTime]

Doing so in order to find out if a person would commit a crime doesn't seem that bad. After all, while criminality isnt a disease that can be easily cured (Edit: Criminality in that of itself isn't actually a disease), this process can be used to at least inform the person being enticed of the dangers that come with actually going through with a real crime. Furthermore, in context with "To Catch a Predator", it is important to note that some of these caes were people who have done something similar before (some people have been on the show more than once, in different episodes no less) so the argument that they wouldn't have done it if they weren't enticed isn't always the best defence.

That said, entcing a person to commit a crime and then aressting them for it seems a little morally questionable to me, especially when the authorities have to contantly badger them and pressure the person into doing the deed. It's like the person is being arrested more for even considering commiting a crime rather than actually trying to. And that just seems silly to me.

Whenever I watched this show with my mom the police weren't encouraging or badgering them into it. They always let the people who were eventually arrested solicit first, then agree to go along with it and set up the people showing up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_catch_a_predator

 

[Kortney]

It's also worth mentioning that the show caused a death of a well respected district attorney who was found to be a paedophile, cornered in his home and shot himself in the head. That's all in the video in the first post.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

hmm i find it interesting how pedophillia is now against the law when not even a hundred years or more ago a girl would get married as soon as they hit puberty.

Now i don't support it in any way but from a historical stand point its interesting to see how civilization has changed.

The only thing that bothers me is when the police bait people with hookers.

Thats because of a big change in womens rights, they are now allowed to choose who they marry, instead of just being told to marry someone