# I Pit Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 1, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300 "2009-06-01T01:21:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/41 "2009-06-03T10:19:13Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > Laying on the troll bait just a little thick there Diogenes? I haven’t seen such an emotionally charged hysteria rant in quite awhile. You must be new here. For **DtC** , his rant is actually quite restrained. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It’s not a “though crime.” It’s a physical attempt to rape a child. The fact that they fail in their attempt does not make it a “thought crime.” Actually, it does. That’s why these pervs were charged with solicitation of a minor, instead of forcible rape – which carries a lesser sentence, and in most cases (I think) does _not_ require registration as a sex offender. And all they learn is to be much more careful next time. But that doesn’t change the fact that NO child existed, so NO rape of a minor was possible. And it’s disgusting how TCAP only does this for cheap ratings, and they focus solely on the rarest form of child sexual abuse – only 10% of reported molestation cases happen with strangers, whereas 50% are victimized _by their parents._ Why don’t we see THOSE people entrapped and humiliated on prime time TV?!? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/42 "2009-06-03T10:19:27Z")
I don’t want to get into the entrapment debate, but there is one thing Hansen does that I think is a dick move. After he’s interrogated the guy and made him squirm, he says “You’re free to go.” So the guy goes outside, perhaps thinking he’s been given a reprieve, he’ll never do this again, he’ll get help and so forth…and he has about five seconds of that before “POLICE! FREEZE! Get down on the ground!” and they cuff him and take him away. Why toy with him like that? Why not arrest him inside the house? Dick move. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/43 "2009-06-03T12:49:15Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > But that doesn’t change the fact that NO child existed, so NO rape of a minor was possible. And it’s disgusting how TCAP only does this for cheap ratings, and they focus solely on the rarest form of child sexual abuse – only 10% of reported molestation cases happen with strangers, whereas 50% are victimized _by their parents._ Why don’t we see THOSE people entrapped and humiliated on prime time TV?!? I’d like to see a show where Hansen, pretending to be someone’s 12 year old daughter, tricks them into molesting him. At the last minute he says, “Wait a minute. I’m not really your daughter. I’m Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC.” There are some details to work out for sure, but I think it would be very popular and do much more to protect children than To Catch a Predator. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/44 "2009-06-03T13:16:05Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > She disagreed. She saw it more as since I felt ‘bad’ for the ‘pedophiles’ :eyeroll: then I was obviously was ONE OF THEM!!! She brought that up in the divorce proceedings as to why I shouldn’t have custody of the kids and as a reason on a restraining order. She actually put “he’s a pedophile” on a BS restraining order. :eek: Wow. WOW. Please tell us that that was just a symptom of some much deeper problems. And please tell us that the court system saw right through the bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/45 "2009-06-03T13:45:36Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Unless of course the only 15-year old girls hanging out in sex chat rooms are working for Dateline NBC. Then it could very well be the first time for all of them. I’ve been a 15 year old girl on the internet (remember AOL?), and there were pervos abound. I really find it difficult to believe that an otherwise adult-(fe)male-seeking male would one day find himself sending cock pics to teenagers who identify themselves as being 14 years old, \*drive to the kid’s house \* (and in some cases practically take Amtrak across country) with condoms and a case of Natty Ice, and on that first time ever, happen to get caught up in a Dateline sting. I remember seeing one episode before they got police involved where some perv swore up and down he’d never soliciited a minor online EVAR, then the next day the NBC crew set him up again and he stood there like a jackass and tried to pretend it was the most bizarre coincidence on earth. “Err, uhh, this is my second time? Please?” > [@Rilchiam](#): > > Why not arrest him inside the house? Because it’s funny when that man dressed as shrubbery comes out. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/46 "2009-06-03T14:05:20Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I’ve been a 15 year old girl on the internet (remember AOL?), and there were pervos abound. I don’t think you’re as old as your moniker suggests. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/47 "2009-06-03T14:05:26Z")
A guy who sends picture of his own cock to 7th graders on the internet is not Nelson fucking Mandela, m’kay? Puling that one of the 7th Graders is not REAALLLLY a 7th grader, is specious and immature – both legally and morally irrelevant. If he thinks it’s a 7th grader, then he trying to commit a crime. These guys deserve everything they get. If they weren’t genuine predators, these tactics couldn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/48 "2009-06-03T14:05:38Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > I don’t want to get into the entrapment debate, but there is one thing Hansen does that I think is a dick move. ONE? I think that sentence needs interrogating. > [@](#): > > After he’s interrogated the guy and made him squirm, he says “You’re free to go.” So the guy goes outside, perhaps thinking he’s been given a reprieve, he’ll never do this again, he’ll get help and so forth…and he has about five seconds of that before “POLICE! FREEZE! Get down on the ground!” and they cuff him and take him away. Why toy with him like that? Why not arrest him inside the house? Dick move. Why would the guy even be relieved–doesn’t he know that it’s not like Chris Hansen has the power to make reprieves? It’s not the justice system as decided by Chris Hansen. I hate this show. I don’t feel sorry for the guys or anything–they’re creeps, I just hate the whole moral righteousness of the people in charge. Yes, you’re superior to guys trying to sleep with underage girls. Why broadcast that? why do we need to see this? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/49 "2009-06-03T14:08:09Z")
I think they arrest them outside for the safety of the crew. You never know if one of these guys might pull out a piece or something. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/50 "2009-06-03T15:30:50Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think they arrest them outside for the safety of the crew. You never know if one of these guys might pull out a piece or something. For that reason and also because in the beginning (maybe just the first time) they did not have the police involved. When they let them go they really did just leave. NBC got a bunch of shit for letting them go and changed what they were doing in latter episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/51 "2009-06-03T15:39:54Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I’ve been a 15 year old girl on the internet (remember AOL?), and there were pervos abound. (snip) Of course there were perverts around. There are always perverts in abundance. What there aren’t are 15 year old girls who are willing to have sex with a fat balding middle aged man. Hell, there aren’t that many middle aged women who get off on it either. These guys could have been trolling the chat rooms for years, and couldn’t resist showing up at the house of the first 15 year old that they thought actually fell for their bullshit. I’m sure these guys have long histories of making inappropriate and unlawful remarks to people they think are underage girls. What I’m not sure of is that they have ever touched an underage girl. Heck, I’ve spent a lot of time hunting for black bear, but I’ve never shot a one. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/52 "2009-06-03T15:55:07Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Of course there were perverts around. There are always perverts in abundance. \*\* What there aren’t are 15 year old girls who are willing to have sex with a fat balding middle aged man. \*\*Hell, there aren’t that many middle aged women who get off on it either. These guys could have been trolling the chat rooms for years, and couldn’t resist showing up at the house of the first 15 year old that they thought actually fell for their bullshit. > > I’m sure these guys have long histories of making inappropriate and unlawful remarks to people they think are underage girls. What I’m not sure of is that they have ever touched an underage girl. Heck, I’ve spent a lot of time hunting for black bear, but I’ve never shot a one. Bullshit. Flat out bullshit. Do you honestly think this is just some weird, never acted upon fantasy that Dateline is tapping into? Look, I had plenty of friends when I was 12-15 who would chat with guys on the internet and eventually meet and fuck them. And funny enough, the guy who said he was 20, suddenly turned out to really be some old guy in his thirties, but being 13 and stupid as fuck, my friends stuck with the guy because omg they had sooo much in common and he respected her and understood her. I’m 23. I’m a teacher and I hear my high school freshmen whispering about it all the time, too. This is NOT uncommon. What it comes down to is, though, that kids that do that are obviously fucked up for other reasons and trying to find some sort of fulfillment for something that isn’t sexual, in a sexual manner because that’s all they can get. Because these are CHILDREN, the adult in the situation needs to be responsible and acknowledge the above. When the adult refuses to do that because their dick is straining at their trousers, that is a huge problem. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking all accountability away from the kid, but the fact is that the brunt of the responsibility here is on the adult. We hold adults to a higher standard than children all of the time and this is no different. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/53 "2009-06-03T16:13:23Z")
Hey, most of them bring condoms… what more do you want? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/54 "2009-06-03T16:17:32Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I’m sure these guys have long histories of making inappropriate and unlawful remarks to people they think are underage girls. What I’m not sure of is that they have ever touched an underage girl. Heck, I’ve spent a lot of time hunting for black bear, but I’ve never shot a one. I’m sure many of them have, and many of the men on the show itself have turned out to have records. Regardless of who they’ve touched, or how successful their efforts have been, I still think it’s mighty fucked up to hunt for black bears, that is, attempt to lure 14 year olds into having sex with you. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/55 "2009-06-03T16:23:38Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Heck, I’ve spent a lot of time hunting for black bear, but I’ve never shot a one. If a black bear contacts you through the Internet and invites you to come over and shoot it, DON’T GO. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/56 "2009-06-03T16:28:52Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > If a black bear contacts you through the Internet and invites you to come over and shoot it, DON’T GO. Even if its parents are away for the weekend? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/57 "2009-06-03T16:30:45Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Even if its parents are away for the weekend? In that case, I think you’d have the right to bear arms. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/58 "2009-06-03T23:51:21Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I still view it as “thought crime”. There is no 13 year old. > > Imagine this: 20 year old woman meets up with a man, via whatever method. She looks far younger thn her real age, she’s thin, flat chested, very child-like. She claims to be 14. He fucks her. > > Has he committed a crime? (Hint: NO.) > > Well, it’s no different than what they are doing on TCAP. Maybe you could boomark this thread, and review your analysis after your first year in law school. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/59 "2009-06-04T00:24:26Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > If he thinks it’s a 7th grader, then he trying to commit a crime. So if an adult has sex with someone a year or two underage who says they’re older than they are and the adult believes them, it shouldn’t be a crime? Is it intent or actions that really matter? I could understand you picking either, but picking both is a crock of shit. (Not saying you have, but I know a lot of people would.) ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300/60 "2009-06-04T01:56:00Z")
Apparently intent is paramount on these programs because no child exists. They are getting arrested for wanting to have sex with an underage girl. If however you think your having sex with someone who is old enough, and she is not, then intent is irrelevant. It is the act. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-dateline-nbcs-to-catch-a-predator/498300.md?page=4)