# Are police stings offering sex with 15 year old HS girls a good use of law enforcement budgets? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457 "2013-10-05T20:18:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/41 "2013-10-07T01:16:43Z")
> [@Brandon Mayhew](#): > > If you ask a woman if it’s a police sting, they can’t lie to you. Is this true? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/42 "2013-10-07T01:24:39Z")
> [@Mrmanface](#): > > You live in a country where it is perfectly acceptable to send a kid with cancer home to die, where it is perfectly acceptable for a kid with working parents to live in poverty and depend on charity, where it is acceptable for kids to get no education and grow up with literally no chance for a happy life because they were born to the wrong family or with the wrong colour. > > Yours is a society which simply does not care about other people, let alone children. Why don’t we just call this what it is you don’t care about any imagined 15 year old girl you care about > > (1) your own sensitivities. > (2) religion. > > The 15 year old girl doesn’t exist it is just an excuse. > > If you wanted to prevent that sort of thing happening, everyone with half a brain knows you get it at the source. By the time she is a drug addicted hooker, you can’t help her in 1 year before she is able to consent and 3 years before she is able to do it legally (oh not in the USA, then you just persecute her for life). > > The problem is every single thing which would help a young person in need you Americans are 100% against. > > So why the big deal with prostitution ? > > Create religious exclusion zones for this kind of thing which you’ve basically done already but as more of a “no go zone” in major cities. First, let’s dial back the method of posting you’ve taken a bit (which seems to be a pretty aggressive/confrontational one)… …but most importantly, feel free to start a new topic about this if you wish to discuss it. It’s perfectly okay to talk about it, but in this topic it seems to be hijacking the subject at hand. I’d suggest starting a new topic either in this forum or, better yet, Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/43 "2013-10-07T01:30:30Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Is this true? 🙂 Sure. [It’s in the Constitution](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eVez_EpeuM). ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/44 "2013-10-07T01:34:02Z")
For police stings going after men offering sex for 15-year-olds, yes, I think that I good investment. I do believe there are times when stings are bad. The attempts in “infiltrate terrorist groups” seems very much to be so, although there may be better cases than what I’ve read about. > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Is this true? 🙂 Nope. According to my friend who did a stint as uncover cop before going back to his patrol job. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/45 "2013-10-07T01:45:09Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > … > > I do believe there are times when stings are bad. The attempts in “infiltrate terrorist groups” seems very much to be so, although there may be better cases than what I’ve read about… There was a case where [a US Government mole](http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/471/the-convert) tried to infiltrate a US mosque in order to bust terrorists, but it turned out that none of the worshipers there were interested in terrorism and the mole had to try to stir it up, and the result was that several people there reported _the mole_ to police as a potential terrorist! ---
**Author:** ![knel3030](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@knel3030](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knel3030)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/46 "2013-10-07T03:46:35Z")
A quality brothel is at the heart of a healthy community. Human beings are sexual creatures. I’m convinced that if there was a brothel in every town, then murder rape assault vandalism brawls and other crimes would drop drastically. A man spends years trying to find a woman and is rejected and neglected and finally can’t take it and tries to use a prostitute, only to then get arrested - that is man primed to snap. No wonder there’s so many shootings. As for a 15 year old, that’s messed up, but as for legalized and regulated brothels - an absolute necessity for a healthy society. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/47 "2013-10-07T15:17:17Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Is this where we need to be spending law enforcement dollars? There was a case about 12 or 13 years ago where such a sting took place. The undercover started out as OF AGE, no crime, BUT slowly talked the man into having sex with his 5 year old daughter, he agreed. He said he would, if I remember right, “be gentle” with her. Upon arrival at an Ohio airport he was arrested. He turned out to be a high profile attorney. He later committed suicide in jail. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/48 "2013-10-07T17:08:37Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > There’s a fine line here, perhaps not that distinct as you would like in an abstract sense, but one that is well defined in legal cases. It’s prostitution if you are paying directly for the sex. If you shower her with sweet words, promises of faithfulness, jewelry, dresses, trips, and she reciprocates by going to bed with you, that’s not prostitution, it’s marriage \<3. If it’s dinner and a movie, it’s a date with a loose woman. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/49 "2013-10-07T18:21:32Z")
> [@Mrmanface](#): > > You live in a country where it is perfectly acceptable to send a kid with cancer home to die. Sometimes, that has to be done because the prognosis is hopeless. Pediatric oncologists will move heaven and earth to see that a child gets appropriate treatment, without bankrupting the family if that’s at all possible. Lots of kids go to St. Jude facilities, which do not charge the family a penny and often provide housing at no cost to them while the child is there for treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/50 "2013-10-07T18:30:59Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [I saw this news item](http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/27/cheerleader-sex-sting-nets-high-school-teacher/) and wondered how far police should go with this. It’s a sting like most stings where an illegal service/good is being offered, in this case sex with a presumably hot 15 year old girl. Predictably they found someone stupid enough to fall into the trap, and what makes it semi-news worthy is that it was a HS teacher. > > In the context of this baited trap and the people being ensnared I’m wondering what the social good is in this specific sting. Is it clearing the streets of child predators? Is it clearing the streets of people stupid enough to think these kinds of ads are real? Is a very foolish man that wants to have sex with a 15 year old who is offering to sell her wares a true potential menace to society? > > Is this where we need to be spending law enforcement dollars? Damn straight. Anything that nails baby-rapers to a wall is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/51 "2013-10-07T18:37:50Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Damn straight. Anything that nails baby-rapers to a wall is a good thing. 15 is not a baby and is only a year away from the age of consent in 30 states. Granted, there are federal laws that come into play and state laws dealing with the power differential between adults and teens that apply and these people are still predators. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457/52 "2013-10-08T02:06:51Z")
Three reasons a man would be caught in one of these stings: [ol] [li]He doesn’t believe she’s 15[/li][li]He doesn’t care that she’s 15[/li][li]He’s looking for a 15-year-old[/li][/ol] We clearly need to get the third type, quibbles over the specific age aside. The first type is pretty clearly harmless, more or less. The second … hard to say. I’m inclined to think that’s also harmless, and setting up stings for such people is a waste of resources, and at least superficially meets the definition of entrapment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-police-stings-offering-sex-with-15-year-old-hs-girls-a-good-use-of-law-enforcement-budgets/670457.md?page=2)