You know, when I saw Stoid’s comment I thought “Wasn’t there a thread where Bricker explained the law in this case?” But until your comment, I didn’t notice that it was Stoid, the autodidact who knows more about the law than any lawyer. That’s hilarious.
What if you attempt to have sex with a minor who claims they’re 18?
Since I said the guy in the first example was TRYING to commit a crime, then obviously intent is what matters as far as what the person is TRYING to do. There is no question a guy TRYING to fuck a 13 year old is TRYING to commit a crime.
The guy in the second example may still be committing a crime, just not necessarily the same crime. I don’t know if “She said she was 18, your honor” is a legal defense or not, so I can’t say if crime was committed. It’s certainly possible that no intent was there, and intent usually is a prerequisite for a crime to have been committed.
The attempt to commit a crime, is, in itself a crime.
Accidentally committing a crime may or may not be, depending on the circumstances; a crime which is a result of recklessness or lack of ordinary care, for instance – like if you back out of your driveway without looking behind you and you reverse T-bone a police car which just happens to be rolling by. It’s unlikely you’d be charged with assaulting the police, but you could probably be charged with something like reckless driving.
I don’t know the exact laws on stat rape, but it may be possible you could escape charges if you showed an ordinary amount of caution and common sense in trying to assertain age, and the prosecutor is satisfied that you neither knew, nor should have known the truth. I’m dubious that taking a someone’s word for it will always be accepted as a credible defense, but I imagine in some cases it’s more credible than others.
Well not always. I’m not going to get a ticket for attempting (and failing) to surpass the speed limit on a motor scooter. I think it has to be a felony for a failed attempt to be illegal. But in the case of this show, the person he’s attempting to sleep with isn’t even a minor. They just pretended to be. So I find it a bit conflicting that you can be punished both for trying to sleep with an adult who pretends to be a minor and sleeping with a minor who pretends to be an adult.
I loved this show. Haven’t seen it in ages. But I loved it. I always felt that they shouldn’t be setting this guys up the way the are. But I enjoyed the results, none the less.
My husband and I love the way the decoy always offers sweet tea. Haaa!!! My husband can still crack me up by glancing at a young attractive girl and saying to me, “Sah-WEET! A- TEEEEE!!”
sorry it took me so long to reply. I can’t seem to stack quotes.
I stand corrected. You didn’t actually type the words, but you implied that instead of throwing these guys in jail, we should look for the root cause. I guess I should re-write the sentence as “How would we find out why these guys went to the sting house, and dig out the root of the problem?”
Fair enough. Well, here are the new questions. Please answer these instead. “How would we find out why these guys went to the sting house, and dig out the root of the problem?”
So, if I understand you correctly, these guys get a “do-over” to screw up, we get to study them to find the root of the problem somehow and fix it so it never happens again. Is that a fair assessment?
I don’t see why this behavior against the laws of society should be treated like alcoholism, or anything else that has a built in “let’s find out why” program.
This is a crime, and should be treated as such. Now I know we can debate the methods used by NBC, Perverted Justice, over-aged models as lures, etc. and that’s fair game. But the potentially harmful behavior of these over-aged men preparing to perform illegal sex acts on a child need to be addressed behind iron bars. And if this program in any way stops just one perverted jackass from getting his keys and heading out the door, it’s a success in my eyes.
Unless of course this whole issue is created out of thin air by NBC for ratings. How big is this problem, anyway?
There was one guy (a newly hired Alabama small town cop) who drove way the hell across Florida to meet his underaged “date”, and they found a small arsenal of weapons and ammo in his vehicle.
Hopefully he was just out to “impress” his new love. :dubious:
According to several threads I’ve read around here, it is not. Statutory rape is a “strict liability” crime: having sex with a minor, regardless of what hoops they jumped through to prove they were over 18, is a crime. There is absolutely no “she proved to me she was 18” defense.
SFP: I already answered your question: Counseling.
Also, I didn’t mean to imply they should go about their daily lives while receiving said counseling. They did break the law and I agree they should do the time warranted. The counseling/therapy should be in addition to jail time.
My question is, are these guys given an opportunity to have sex with an adult woman that they passed on because they’re pedophiles and only want sex with young girls?
Or are these guys who are so desparate to get laid that they’re willing to take a big risk for what appears to be a sure thing?
Howabout Traci Lords? I don’t think any of the actors who did it with her on film when she was a minor, but lying about her age, was ever prosecuted.
How old was Traci exactly? Age of consent isn’t 18 in all states. Quite frequently it’s lower than people think. Perhaps that has something to do with it?
I’ve often thought, watching this show, that Sweet Tea and Mike’s Hard Lemonade
are simply avatars in a Good vs Evil knockdown, drag down fight. The creep usually brings a 6 of Mike’s, the decoy always has the tea (or maybe lemonade).
IIRC she was 16 which makes the act legal in most states but filming of the act and possessing the images illegal (in the US).
I am still waiting for a pizza delivery guy to get the wrong address and deliver a pizza to the house and get busted as a perv and just keep repeating, “but it’s just a sausage, but it’s just a sausage!”
It was. She was molested by her dad and watched it happen with her sisters growing up. I know SURPRISE, SURPRISE. She never went to therapy for it because her dad beat it into her head (sometimes literally) that she was crazy and needed to be committed and put onto therapy drugs.
And no. They didn’t. I had to take an anger management class because she said I was prone to fits of rage, an alcohol awareness class to prove I wasn’t an alcoholic like she said I was, and psychosexual exams to prove I wasn’t a rapist and pedophile. This was all on her word, mind you, she had no proof except for porn she found on my computer she ‘lost’. Said porn was the normal (meaning legal) kind. But the State has to OMFG PROTEK TEH CHILDREN and since I’m a male obviously she’s been oppressed. If I didn’t, I would never have seen my kids again.
Innocent until proven guilty MY ASS!
And KGS, no, I’m not new here, but usually Diogenes’ rants are a bit more, ah, refined I guess? Or maybe I’m just a bit biased in this subject.
No, I’m not bitter at all.
They’re sleazebags, sure, but I must confess I have qualms about some of the techniques used to draw them in if they at first prove reluctant to engage in sexual chat. The supposed minor will keep steering the conversation back towards sexual matters if the guy isn’t taking the bait quickly enough. That troubles me a little. (Not that most of these people need any such steering!)
From the FAQ’s at PJ
Standard parts of the tactics are actually the opposite of what you imply. Act uncomfortable, act unsure, express timidity and fear over the idea of leaving the house or meeting a stranger, and dodging meets due to potential parental oversight.
I saw this once, and the “reporter” was dressed in a nice suit. I thought that was hilarious. He should have been a fat, balding middle aged, unshaven guy in greasy clothes. The respectable looking “reporter” is just a hoot. And now, we cut to commercials, because we are really selling soap! As for the perps, I think they get what they deserve. Bed and Breakfast in Isengard!!
There is no torture at Abu Ghraib.