How many sexual predators did they catch per year before the advent of the internet? Since? I'm betting that if law enforcement looked at this realistically, they would discover that the internet is the best tool for catching these kinds of offenders than anything else that has ever been invented.
Previously, the only way to catch someone who wanted to have sex with children was to locate their stash of child pornography, or arrest them after they had already commited a heinous act. The new way is to draw them into discussing their desires with an undercover cop and then arrest them before they actually molest a minor. Entrapment issues aside (not that they aren't vitally important), this is a considerable improvement. Especially for the people who would previously have been victimized first.
To take the devil's advocate position however, I think it is fascinating that people are being arrested and convicted of commiting a crime that explicitly did not happen! I don't understand how they can arrest you and charge you with attempting to have sex with a minor when the person that you had all of the discussions with was not a minor! Apparently it is illegal to make a sexual date with someone you believe is a minor, whether or not they actually are.
-- Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy music. The music will make you happy.
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How many sexual predators did they catch per year before the advent of the internet? Since? I'm betting that if law enforcement looked at this realistically, they would discover that the internet is the best tool for catching these kinds of offenders than anything else that has ever been invented.
Previously, the only way to catch someone who wanted to have sex with children was to locate their stash of child pornography, or arrest them after they had already commited a heinous act. The new way is to draw them into discussing their desires with an undercover cop and then arrest them before they actually molest a minor. Entrapment issues aside (not that they aren't vitally important), this is a considerable improvement. Especially for the people who would previously have been victimized first.
To take the devil's advocate position however, I think it is fascinating that people are being arrested and convicted of commiting a crime that explicitly did not happen! I don't understand how they can arrest you and charge you with attempting to have sex with a minor when the person that you had all of the discussions with was not a minor! Apparently it is illegal to make a sexual date with someone you believe is a minor, whether or not they actually are.
-- Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy music. The music will make you happy.