Front page of the Perverted-Justice website, 2007, with new logo and log of successful convictions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
First I want to apologize to anyone that this blog post may offend. Recently I posted a blog on Social Media and Online Predators, and talked about what people can do to protect their children.
I wanted to take a look at what activist groups are doing about this problem as well. Firstly before I do that I wanted to say that I do not agree with their processes and that it is equivalent to entrapment. They sensationalize the work that they do which is to harass and expose innocent people. In both Canada and the USA, you are proven innocent till proven guilty. In this case I’m talking about groups like PeeJ, Evil Unvailed, wikisposure. These are just a few of the vigilante groups that attempt to entrap individuals for crimes that they “may” have committed.
I concede that they have helped with the successful conviction of some individuals. However individuals these individuals are subject to the same laws that everyone else is. In this, why have then never been charged with a crime, but when questioned about it, they cannot provide proof that they did not solicit the crime. Many police detachments want to try to make a national name for themselves so they used NBC Dateline and PeeJ to shield themselves from doing actual police work. Some have even spoken out against the practices of this group.
In June 2007, Perverted-Justice was criticized following a sting operation in Collin County, Texas that resulted in the charges against 23 suspected online sex predators being dropped. Collin County Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis said the cases were dropped after Perverted-Justice failed to provide enough usable evidence.
In a Riverside County case, Judge Dallas Holmes commented on the merits of a Perverted-Justice-related case. Said Judge Holmes: “I don’t like the smell of this case.” Furthermore, he described the Perverted-Justice witness testifying in the case as “odd,” “weird” and “repulsive”. These comments were made after the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal in a case involving U.S. Marine William Lawrence Havey.
As you can see even the justice system does not welcome them doing the work of fully trained and professional law enforcement officers. They do not have the skills or the training to do the work that they need to. Also what about the many cases that the PeeJ decoy receive Child Pornography? Should they not be accountable with the same laws that the predators are?
These groups maintain that they are going good, but are they really? How can we as society allow vigilantism and allow them to go above the law to harass innocent victims. They beg and plead with their catch to come to a sting, If that is not soliciting an invitation to a crime then what is… Also what of the evidence, how can they guarantee that it has not been tainted and that logs have not been altered. When questioned about this. They were never able to provide the hardware that they say tracks every conversation that they use.
In short they are just pushing the real criminals further into hiding and making them learn faster and more tricks to make sure that they are keeping their own information safe. And that they are also making sure that the children that they are targeting are actually in fact real children.
In my own personal opinion they should be charged for soliciting a crime as should be the people that show up to the stings if they are proven without a doubt guilty. However they are not always guilty of a crime. So I say leave the crime fighting up to the crime fighters and stop the harassment of innocent people.
thecomplainerguy 