To Catch a Predator

[MicroBob]

Yeah, the cops getting all wacky and violently tackling the guy is totally ridiculous.
I've seen that too and it seems WAY over-the-top in a, "I'm on TV and look how cool I am" kind of way.

You just know that these guys are watching the program and telling their buddies, "Look how I flattened that guy. Holy crap. Did I crush him on that one or what?!?! Awesome!!

[zPro]

This never sat well with me, I always felt like Dateline was as much of a scumbag as these guys. These men are committing victimless crimes.

These guys think they hit the jackpot when they find an underage person looking for consensual sex. Most people won't do this, but there will always be people who give in. Dateline/Perverted Justice are the real predators.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
These men are committing victimless crimes.

[/ QUOTE ]


WTF?

[trapsetter]

I reserve my sympathy for people who deserve it, like cancer patients and people in car accidents.

Are people like the doctor and the rabbi a bit unlucky? Maybe. But nobody made them go to a minor's house looking for sex.

[inside??]

I am waiting for a whole new craze where predators join Perverted Justice just to meet the 18 year olds that role play 13 year olds.

[Jorge10]

I like the idea and most things about the show, except the host. Hansen seems to get some sort of sick personal satisfaction when he reads the chat logs out loud to the guys. They need to change the host to someone that isnt a douche bag, but otherwise I like it.

It seems like most of the guys who go there arent really forced to go. Its just impossible to defend them from that. You can say perverted justice is sneaky while chatting and might even start conversations or whatever, but the guys drive to meet the underage kids. There is just no way you can defend someone who drives somewhere where he knows he will probably commit a crime.

[RacersEdge]

[ QUOTE ]
It's a news program

[/ QUOTE ]

Debatable. Plus, can the 6 PM news go out to a speed trap the cops have set up and broadcast the busted people's face that night?

The real thing on this show is that the internet is so murky. Yahoo chat rooms used to have all kinds of pretty twisted sexual fantasy room a few years ago anyway, including rape. I just don't see how "it's the interent, I didn't believe she was 13" is not a way out.

[almostbusto]

[ QUOTE ]
I like the idea and most things about the show, except the host. Hansen seems to get some sort of sick personal satisfaction when he reads the chat logs out loud to the guys. They need to change the host to someone that isnt a douche bag, but otherwise I like it.

It seems like most of the guys who go there arent really forced to go. Its just impossible to defend them from that. You can say perverted justice is sneaky while chatting and might even start conversations or whatever, but the guys drive to meet the underage kids. There is just no way you can defend someone who drives somewhere where he knows he will probably commit a crime.

[/ QUOTE ]

what you are saying is largely irrelevant. its not an issue of defending the alleged. the issue is that the people who are trying to serve justice are unethical sleaze balls.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
Plus, can the 6 PM news go out to a speed trap the cops have set up and broadcast the busted people's face that night?

[/ QUOTE ]


I'm not sure they can go to where the cops have done this.
But they can go after bad drivers themselves if they like.

IIRC, the first 'Predator' shows they didn't work with the cops. They set up the guys and did the same kind of stuff but then were disappointed that they couldn't get any arrests when they handed off the evidence to the cops.

So, from then on, they got together with the local cops to do this somehow.


In Memphis, there was one channel that was focusing on the city's supposesly awful drivers.
Some reporter would set up at a different spot each week and then run up to somebody's car-window and stick a microphone in their face and practically scream, "You didn't stop at that intersection" or "that's not an official parking space. What's your excuse!!"


This was a big thing this channel was promoting.
"Wednesday Night Bad Drivers with Jennie Deprezio (or whatever her name is)."

Totally obnoxious and ridiculous.
And we have so much real crime and other serious issues in Memphis that I can't believe they would waste that much time chasing after people who parked in a handicapped space and then calling it 'news'.

[Prodigy54321]

I wouldn't go so far as to call all of these men scumbags..

what they are actually doing is planning to engage in consentual sex with what they think is a 13-15 year old girl.

this is against the law..but what is so "sick" about it again?

as yourself.."what would happen if the supposedly young girl in this case told them that she did not want to have sex with them?" My guess is that nearly all of them wouldn't pursue it any further...probably no more than they would if this were an attractive girl of legal age..maybe even less.

the law is supposed to (or should IMO) protect young girls (and boys) who are not mature enough to make these types of decisions in an educated manner...

let's not pretend that there is some hard and fast line where a person suddenly becomes mature enough to make these decisions.....I'm sure that there are plenty of 15 year old girls that can make a more educated decisions than many 18+ year olds...

still...there is a law in place...many of these guys have children and I'm sure they wouldn't want a random guy soliciting their children for sex..even if their children consented...

so they are breaking the law...and they must be punished for that...

but let's not throw out a broad label of "sick" or "scumbag"

as far as the ethics of producing a show like this...

let's face it..if you want to arrest every single man who would engage in sex with a attractive 15 year old girl if that girl wanted to..we'd be pretty busy..

I think the focus should be on people who are actively seeking out young children...which I think they are generally doing in this case...

but to make a show about it..for entertainment..and give them what I think are special priveleges like being able to show their faces even when they have not been convicted of any crime..that's just ridiculous.