Perverted Justice
Chris Hansen did this excellent expose on Dateline NBC last week. I'm talking about it Friday morning.
Late last August three hidden camera engineers, 2 regular cameramen, a soundman, 2 volunteers from a vigilante group that exposes computer predators, a producer, an associate producer, a security provider and I moved into a big home in an affluent suburb of Washington, DC. The mission: to explore the sometimes dark world of Internet chat rooms and to expose predators who seek to seduce children.Read the rest HERE plus watch the video.
Even before I arrived on the scene, Mitch and Eric Waggonberg and their team had installed eleven hidden cameras and essentially built a control room on the second floor of the house. The cameras could be panned and zoomed from the second floor. One room over, the volunteers from the vigilante group called Perverted Justice were in regional chat rooms of Yahoo and AOL, posing as 12, 13 or 14 year old kids. They posted profiles with pictures of boys and girls who were unmistakably underage. And huddled in with them, a computer researcher was standing by to dig into the backgrounds of men who came to our house to meet a child for sex.
Besides the rabbi, there was a doctor, a special education teacher, an army man, a defense contractor, a medical student… the list goes on. Not one of these men, if you saw him on the street would stand out in a crowd. Some were defiant, claiming they’d done nothing wrong. Many said this was the first time they’d ever done anything like this and they weren’t really going to go through with it. Some broke down and admitted an addiction to the Internet.
posted by Pat Campbell @ 4:13 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Vigilante organizations like Perverted-Justice should leave the catching pervs to the police who know how to do this and make the charges stick. Perverted-Justice volunteers are not trained by LE, and have only recently even started turning these chats over to LE at all. Up until a year ago they had a "do NOT comntact the police"policy for their volunteers. PJers then find every shred of info available on the guys and harass them. This only drives the reals pervs further underground. They have learned how to avoid the mistakes they made when getting busted by PJ and hone their predator skills. In two Dateline shows, 45 men altogether walked free. By posting personal information on their website, PJers are inciting nutjobs to act out against these men, who as yet have not had the chance to face a jury of their peers, a right all have as American citizens. While I don't condone predators or pedophiles, I am in favor of everyone having the same basic right to a fair trial. Some day someone will get hurt becuase of PJ's actions. How can we hold accountable this group of anonymous harassers posing as pedo hunters?
I agree none of these guys will ever be convicted of these crimes, since the "sting" was done by a news agency rather than LE. They have no arrest powers and no authority to carry out investigations. They simply show us what we already know, that there are millions of perverts among us ready to prey on our children. I spent a number of years as an investigator of sex crimes in New Jersey, and sting operations however well meaning, do not help us to convict the bad guys.
Peace
Mustafa
All I can say is I wish you were around when I was 13. Keep up the good work.
Mass media has a great deal of social responsibility, and this has escalated with the advances of technology. Horrific exposes have always been good for media, but the time is coming that good reasoning should no longer be ignored. Sex and violence did not portray the average persons experience, but it got attention, and it didn't seem to be any harm--Even though there has been a remarkable affect as if heinous acts are being promoted, and society has been gradually shaped without the media being held accountable for its influence. Then talk to incite fear and revenge became the new dish; but is a better rating worth promoting hatefulness? Along the lines of sensationalism it would be shocking if the media hoped to promote solutions that were socially beneficial -- Instead of witchunts. Among the most recent atrocities is the internet preditor, where people at there computer are often detached from reality, and can be lured into situations that in a face-to-face world not develop in the same manner. The psychological impact of computers has been ignored, and a campaign to entrap people has perhaps made good entertainment, but the time has come when more critical thinking should be added to public broadcasts. Hero/Villan makes for good stories, but it isn't good for society if more scientific facts aren't presented. Revenge is promoted with all the talk about 'closure', and the accectability of vigilantes, and the supposed effectiveness of enforcement in a way that real solutions are ignored. The days when retarded or mentally ill people are beaten to chase the 'demons' out of them should be confined to ancient history. Revenge is evil. Punishment is often counterproductive, and an archaic option to therapy. Sick people would seek treatment, but not if all that is offered is punishment! The wickedness that media thrives on leads to people being wrongly accused, and incorrectly persecuted. Legislation is passed to address fear of crime rather than real solutions. Communities engage in pointless undertakings because the root of the problems are never really explored. The vast influence of media has become more significant that ever, and the time has come to re-evaluate the importance their position in society. Haven't people had enough of hate?
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