To Catch a Predator

[RacersEdge]

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They do absolutely nothing to entice the men who appear on the show. They simply go to a chat room, or set a profile on myspace, and wait for someone to bite. They don't ask around for guys, or actively seek anyone out.

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That is certainly not the impressoin I got from the episode I watched.

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Right, I saw the actor provoking/leading the guy on at least somewhat. It wasn't like the they just typed in "hi, I'm 13" and the lewd comments began. Plus, as far as entrapment goes, they willing GAVE THE ADDRESS to the guy.

There are so many holes in this setup, I can't believe a decent lawyer can't rip it to shreds.

[SirArthur]

I find it outrageous that it's a felony to JUST type something sexual to someone you believe to be a minor. (as is the case in some states). A misdemeanor (maybe, even that's a stetch) but a felony, that's crazy.

A Felony? Holy cow...! That's right up there with rape, murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and oh ya, typing "I wanna sex you up" with someone you believe to be a minor.

This is apparently the law in Texas.

For doing that, the police can come to your home, and barracade down your door & arrest & confiscate your computer.
Of course we know that D.A in Texas shot himself once the police got there, apparently he had been chatting sexually with someone online who he thought was a minor.

What if in the chat room you were drunk and misread the 13 for 18, the 3 kind of looks like an 8. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Next thing you know the police are at your door hauling you away in cuffs.

[Jack Bando]

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They do absolutely nothing to entice the men who appear on the show. They simply go to a chat room, or set a profile on myspace, and wait for someone to bite. They don't ask around for guys, or actively seek anyone out.

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That is certainly not the impressoin I got from the episode I watched.

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Right, I saw the actor provoking/leading the guy on at least somewhat. It wasn't like the they just typed in "hi, I'm 13" and the lewd comments began. Plus, as far as entrapment goes, they willing GAVE THE ADDRESS to the guy.

There are so many holes in this setup, I can't believe a decent lawyer can't rip it to shreds.

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From what I heard, not a single person on TCAP has gotten a not guilty, so no lawyer has beat it.

It's not entrapment at all, if someone wants to break the law and does the intial steps, it's legal to lead them the rest of the way. (If you go up to someone who looks like a hooker and try to give them money, but they're a cop, you're not entraped.)

[Lottery Larry]

Entrapment is generally not my "always say YES!" topic, but I'm not completely rational about child molesters. My general attitude is "screw 'em", but that may be adjusted by this:

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And given that they're seeing a really attractive 19-21 year old actor or actress on the webcam, and chatting with decoys who know exactly what buttons to press, I tend to believe them.

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Are these "predators" getting trapped in a situation where they think they are meeting with legal young women (sad as this may be)?

Entrapment is generally not my "always say YES!" topic, but I'm not completely rational about child molesters.

[vhawk01]

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It's a news program

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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.

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"Uhh...yeah, Chris, I didn't seriously think this chick was 14. Thats part of the role-playing. No 14 year old chick talks like that, I knew she had to be 20 at least. I was playing along with it because I figured she got as much fun out of it as I did. I was definitely coming here to [censored] her, but I was coming here to [censored] a 20 year old who liked to pretend she was a 14 year old. Wait....is there actually a 14 year old here? Oh my god, thats horrible, why would you guys bring a 14 year old to something like this?!?! She could be scarred for life. How irresponsible and predatory, to use a 14 year-old for ratings! For shame, Chris, for shame."

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Can anyone with some legal background tell me why this hypothetical defense wouldn't work in the case of this show?

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I think the reason this wouldn't work is that people are so angered and disgusted at the thought of possible child molestation that all rational thought and respect for personal liberties get traded in for blood thirsty vengeance.

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Kinda what I figured.

[Lottery Larry]

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I think the reason this wouldn't work is that people are so angered and disgusted at the thought of possible child molestation that all rational thought and respect for personal liberties get traded in for blood thirsty vengeance.

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You write this as if there's something WRONG with that..

[MicroBob]

I saw a different one on MSNBC today that might be a really old show, not sure.

It was called To Catch a Con-Man and it has Chris Hansen flying to London to meet up with some of those Nigerian e-mail scam type dudes ("Give me $10k to help me out in my time of need and I will give you 20% of my net-worth, or $2-million").

Hansen strings them along and keeps making up reasons he can't pay them the money yet...meet me here in 1 hour...blah blah blah...and then eventually gives them the news, "Actually, I'm Chris Hansen from an American television program called Dateline NBC."


Before this show I didn't even know that people actually fell for those things and have actually lost money.

[Lottery Larry]

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Before this show I didn't even know that people actually fell for those things and have actually lost money.

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Wow- where have you BEEN?

[Uglyowl]

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I saw a different one on MSNBC today that might be a really old show, not sure.

It was called To Catch a Con-Man and it has Chris Hansen flying to London to meet up with some of those Nigerian e-mail scam type dudes ("Give me $10k to help me out in my time of need and I will give you 20% of my net-worth, or $2-million").

Hansen strings them along and keeps making up reasons he can't pay them the money yet...meet me here in 1 hour...blah blah blah...and then eventually gives them the news, "Actually, I'm Chris Hansen from an American television program called Dateline NBC."


Before this show I didn't even know that people actually fell for those things and have actually lost money.

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Yet the guy walked free because they were in a foreign country in didn't have police back-up. I felt I wasted an hour of my life.

In the Predator shows, I love the guys who say, "I need to talk with my lawyer first" and the start to blurt out everything starting to be "careful" at first, but then everything spills out.

[ALawPoker]

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I find it outrageous that it's a felony to JUST type something sexual to someone you believe to be a minor. (as is the case in some states). A misdemeanor (maybe, even that's a stetch) but a felony, that's crazy.

A Felony? Holy cow...! That's right up there with rape, murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and oh ya, typing "I wanna sex you up" with someone you believe to be a minor.

This is apparently the law in Texas.

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Ya, I agree. I know there are some laws that I tend to disagree with, but usually you can sort of see where the other side is coming from, so I don't get bent out of shape about the "injustice" or whatever. This is not one of those times. It's crazy.

I mean, maybe it's cause in this period of time we're sort of at the cusp where internet use is common and easily accessible, but we're still wired to think of it as sort of imaginary. But chatting online with a 14 year old online about sex, while maybe weird or desperate, doesn't "feel" egregiously wrong to me. And it's scary to think it's possible that I could ruin my life for something I didn't think was particularly wrong or even know there was a law against (not that I sex up 14 year olds online, I'm just saying hypothetically). It's maybe good to encourage society to avoid this behavior, but a felony is way too much imo.