There are some who feel that the justice system isn't doing enough to deal with the issue of child predators and so a growing number of people have taken the initiative upon themselves to try and catch pedophiles in their community.
In the UK, Canada, and elsewhere, people are using social media to try and publicly shame those who they catch trying to meet underage teenagers. They have been trying to cooperate with law enforcement in many circumstances, handing over what evidence they have that might help to lead to a conviction.
Groups like Silent Justice, Creep Catchers, Keeping Kids Safe, Creep Busters, and others, have been using social media to find who they believe to be child predators and their activities have led to the arrests and shaming of many, including police officers and even an elementary school principal.
The police have criticized the groups and their vigilante justice in the past, they don't like competition. Not only that, but these groups have been criticized by the public as well and the media, for what people view as harassing and bullying of suspects. Others say that their tactics are undermining the justice system as a whole.
As a result of the backlash from the media and law enforcement, groups like Creep Hunters have vowed to try and clean up their approach. They have said that they are now more determined to try and carry-out their activities without resorting to shaming tactics, profanity, and verbal attacks etc.
These groups say that they are only trying to make their communities safer by exposing the pedophile threat where one might exist.
Police in various jurisdictions have tried to discourage citizens from engaging in this sort of behavior. They want you to remember that they are the only providers of this service. And not to be outdone, media reports suggest that police these days are arresting more pedophiles than ever before.
The online groups who are seeking to catch the predators have been described as being a part of an online justice revolution that is here to stay.
Many of those who are a part of a group like the Creep Catchers also claim that they themselves were sexually abused or are close to someone who was. It's clear that they are passionate about what they are doing, they see a threat and they want to do what they can to try and help in any way. Hopefully that means they and others like them will try to remain professional. And it would be nice to see police try to work more with these groups in any way possible, so that they could try to do some good in catching real threats to society.
Pics:
Pixabay
via Adam Waito/VICE
Sources:
http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/vigilante-paedophile-hunters-stage-sting-846815
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/our-legal-system-doesnt-work-11605848
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a54240/creep-catchers-canada-pedophile-hunters/
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4xw9mb/predators-or-prey-creep-catchers-accused-of-targeting-people-with-physical-and-mental-disabilities
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/creep-catchers-sociology-1.3758536
https://au.tv.yahoo.com/plus7/sunday-night/a/37834351/pure-evil-police-arresting-more-predators-than-ever-before/
http://www.wisbechstandard.co.uk/news/paedophile-hunters-film-justin-gotsell-wisbech-online-grooming-cambridgeshire-police-one-reason-hunters-1-5300297
http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/we-re-seeing-an-online-justice-revolution-that-s-good-isn-t-it-1.3302840
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/07/australian-police-sting-brings-down-paedophile-forum-on-dark-web
http://www.thejournal.ie/cyber-crime-superintendent-vigilante-groups-3708746-Nov2017/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sports-direct-manager-caught-vigilantes-11597183
If you want to help please report anything you find to #OpPedoHunter on twitter, that is the Anonymous Operation account for hunting these sick pedophile people.
https://twitter.com/Anon_OpPedoHunt
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There are always pros and cons. I do hope that they do thorough investigations to reduce the wrong person being accused of he crime.
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We are a group that does this in Knoxville, TN. I know there are many haters to what we do. We thoroughly check into every single person that wants to meet up with an underage child. We confirm their identity, find their social media accounts, and keep files on every single one. Unfortunately due to current laws, the local police will NOT work with us but we are hoping to have those laws changed in the future. We keep files on all exposures just in case the DA decides to look into them in the future. While we have not been able to get any arrests, exposing them to the world is the next best thing because people know who they are and what they have done. We do not entice, we do not mention anything sexual. They have to take the lead and talk about sex. The fact that the media tries to label us as vigilantes is beyond ridiculous. We do not harm, harass, or bully these people. We simply expose them on live and hope to get a confession on tape. When you think about how many people are arrested for sex crimes against a minor, how often do you look these people up? Most of the time they go unnoticed and you could have one living right next to you. This gets their faces out there and helps to protect our children. We will never stop what we do.
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Well... these people have their heart in the right place, but...
The actual child predators hide behind the govern-cement.
They own a crematorium in every town in The US.
The real child rapist, occultist, devil worshippers usually have REAL police guarding their get togethers.
So, these "vigilantes" are just catching pervs or someone who fell for a honey trap. They are missing the real child trafficking. And probably for the best, because the real people make the mafia look like nice guys with kid gloves.
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Agree @builderofcastles a great deal of the media covering the pervs and those being exposed for sexual harassment is of course great, BUT it is covering up and misleading the people to think there is something really being done about those "trafficking" and the much "higher up" pedophile RINGS that are stealing children and using them for their own sick pleasures. It is one of the "watch the right hand" so you don't see what the "left hand" is doing. Par for the course of Operation Mockingbird am pretty sure.
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Shaming and outing of predators has been one of the most successful ways women in African countries were able to band together and support each other and protect the communities children. The law has rarely come through with justice for victims of sexual violence. Both approaches are valid and important. Thanks for the post. Upvoted, following.
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Interesting piece. Creep Catchers has caused quite a stir in the city of Surrey BC.
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Great to see some groups doing stuff like this when the police can't do it or are unwilling to do it. Anyone or any group trying to stop predators is a good thing.
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I could easily see how some of these groups could "pick wrong" & bam someone is being online bullied. But at the same time the general public keeping their eyes & ears open is also a good thing. It's a catch 22
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The post is very interesting my friend. Hopefully criminals to minors can not move freely in search of prey. Thanks for sharing @doitvoluntarily.
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You know some crazy things I have seen, in this year here (in the UK) I have seen in news article of people getting arrested for abusing underaged kids, but a lot of times, mainstream media doesn't report all this. I remember in the summer, someone got sentenced I think about 2 years and a bit more ( how crazy that they get sentenced so low) for sexually abusing kids, none of these get reported.
I remember one day a guy who catches peadophiles trying to carry out disgusting acts on underage kids. These incidents which are doing a great to the society by exposing scums of our society somehow doesn't show up much in the media. However, in a UK show a peadophile hunter, rather than being praised, get actually put down while defending the police.
People need to stand up to filth of this type in our society to make a difference because the authorities are not gonna do it for us.
Great post
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Public shaming the wrong approach. If there is enough evidence it should be turned over to the police.
People doing the public shaming can be persecuted as it can be construed as libel, depending on the country you live in.
Not to mention the lives wrecked by unjustified public accusations.
Child predators are the absolute WORST kind of human beings, but dealing with them the right way requires evidence, else you bypass the rule of law, as shaky it is. Once the faith in the system breaks down and people start doing what they want, we will have bigger issues to deal with.
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Good for you for researching and then summarizing for us. I can tell from your list of sources that you had to read a lot of nasty stuff.
Kudos to Creep Catchers and any other group who do what they can to help save or protect a child or young teen. Altho I'm not sure I like their methods I am not going to critique them. Their intentions are good.
Public shaming did work centuries ago, so maybe it will still work. What happens in darkness likes to stay in darkness - so shining a light on ugly acts just might stop it for someone.
I feel for those who have to be exposed to these perversions while investigating - be that law enforcers or families or the victims themselves.
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We have a group here in the UK called Dark Justice, they do the same thing, they have caught a few
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Excellent post
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Nothing like taking justice into your own hands , vigilante style !👊
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Nice to meet you, @doitvoluntarily!
I wanted to welcome you to the community, follow you, and hopefully watch @OriginalWorks support you as well!
#WelcomeWednessday
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The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @doitvoluntarily to be original material and upvoted(1.5%) it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
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Wednesday only has one S. If the tag actually means anything.
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Oops! Thanks for the catch!
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