Social Media “Predator Stings”: How can this be legal?
Over the last couple of days we’ve written about social media “predator stings”, where private individuals orchestrate these pretend stings seeking to catch people showing up to allegedly meet up with minors. These groups create fake profiles, pose as underage “decoys”, bait people into sexual conversations, lure them to a specific location, and then publicly confront them on video. The videos are uploaded to social media and the groups make money from clicks and advertiser revenue. Many of you have asked ‘how can this even be legal’? We checked and they probably are not!
Across YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook, a growing number of private individuals and groups stage these operations. They claim to be “exposing predators.” But what they’re doing may actually be illegal. Perverted-Justice, a popular group active since the early 2000s, used volunteers posing as minors to lure adults into online sexual conversations. But a former producer alleged in a lawsuit that Perverted-Justice volunteers “sometimes beg sting targets to come to the sting locations,” arguing that the approach involved inducing people to do things they didn’t want to do. Following a series of lawsuit against the group, as well as hundreds of failed prosecutions, the group ceased operations in 2019. In Kentucky, a leader of “Predator Poachers” was himself arrested for illegal conduct in connection with a citizen sting. That same group faced defamation lawsuits in a couple of jurisdictions and were found liable for false accusations and reputational harm. In Colorado, the founder of “Colorado Ped Patrol” was also arrested for misdemeanor charges because of his phony stings.
On our state, Florida Statute § 777.04(2) makes it a crime to encourage or request someone else to commit a crime. The law states, “A person who solicits another to commit an offense prohibited by law and in the course of such solicitation commands, encourages, hires, or requests another person to engage in specific conduct which would constitute such offense or an attempt to commit such offense commits the offense of criminal solicitation.” Isn’t that exactly what these vigilante groups do? For that matter, isn’t that what law enforcement is doing? The statute doesn’t appear to have a carve out for law enforcement!
Florida law is clear. Encouraging someone to commit a crime is itself a crime. It appears that this law applies to both private citizens and law enforcement. Nobody should be above the law. FAC calls on our State’s State Attorneys and Attorney General to do something to stop manufactured sex stings and prosecute those who orchestrate them.
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Wouldn’t hurt my feelings if some of those “stings” went terribly, terribly wrong for those who profit off them.
It’d be entertaining to see footage of an undercover agent investigating a child trafficking ring, who goes along with the story into the setup house, and he (plus support) has a stand-off with the ones setting the thing up (ICAC, maybe?).
Furthermore (But a bit off subject), we must encourage individuals and groups (including the Florida State Legislature) to stop use the dehumanizing word “predator”.
Dehumanizing language creates a psychological justification for inhumane treatment and violence.
Dehumanization is the process, practice, or act of denying full humanity in others, along with the cruelty and suffering that accompany it. It involves perceiving individuals or groups as lacking essential human qualities, such as secondary emotions and mental capacities, thereby placing them outside the bounds of moral concern.
Dehumanization is widely understood as a psychological mechanism that facilitates violence and inhumane treatment. It plays a central role in justifying harm by removing the moral consideration typically granted to human beings, thereby weakening psychological restraints such as compassion and empathy.
Using the word “predator” to describe a human being is dehumanization in the extreme!
How can be this legal?
It looks like it’s not. I remember reading on this site a few years ago about an instance where they wanted the guy to travel so bad. He kept coming up with excuses why he couldn’t come. Apparently one of the excuses was that he couldn’t afford/didn’t have money for gas. The detectives offered him gas money to travel.
My argument has always been that there is no ‘minor’ in these stings. These people are traveling to meet a detective. So, if a person is guilty of traveling to meet a minor when there isn’t one, why can’t the detectives be charged with child endangerment of the same ‘minor’?
Now, apparently, we should be asking for warrants for Judd and his cronies, as well as other agencies, for violating Florida Statute § 777.04(2).
Lawmakers failed to pass any legislation prohibiting these vigilante groups and actions despite all the public criticism and crimes committed by these groups. And in recent years, these vigilante attacks have only escalated.
A couple of these vigilantes have been attacked. Dads Against Predators members were shot when they assaulted one person they entrapped at a Walmart. Another vigilante going by the moniker “Boopak Shakur” was killed after confronting someone he (falsely) accused of trying to meet a teen. And many of the vigilante groups are going beyond mrely “busting” those they entrap, many are outright assaulting people, so maybe more of them will inevitably meet the wrong person and more people end up hurt. That is why legislators should’ve made these operations illegal years ago.
Egregious Outrageous Conduct is Egregious Outrageous Conduct! Entrapment is Entrapment!
Seems like the laws against stalking might also apply.