Anti-pedophile activism

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Anti-pedophile graffiti in Milan. It reads: "The Court says some pedophiles are not mentally sick" (implying they are therefore responsible and criminal).

Anti-pedophile activism encompasses opposition to pedophiles, pedophile advocacy groups, child pornography, and child sexual abuse.

History

Organized social activism against child sexual molesters occurred in the 18th century, by the Society for the Reformation of Manners.[1]

The

Pall Mall Gazette
.

In the

far right National Front party was protesting in front of Paedophile Information Exchange conferences in the 1970s[3] and against the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal in 2014,[4] alongside EDL and BNP.[5]

Groups

The Blue Angel Association

A French group[6] who successfully sued Gabriel Matzneff in 2020.[7]

Perverted-Justice

Perverted-Justice was an anti-

To Catch A Predator, hosted by Chris Hansen
, to lure alleged sexual predators to a sting house by interacting with them online and posing as minors.

Jewish Community Watch

Jewish Community Watch, a global New York City-based organization with an office in Israel, focusing on prevention of child sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community, received mixed support over their posting the names of suspected pedophiles on their main website. The column titled the "Wall of Shame" listed the names of individuals suspected of abuse, their photos and testimonies from alleged victims.[11]

Letzgo Hunting

Letzgo Hunting is an Internet-based anti-paedophilia vigilante group based in Barwell, Leicestershire, England. A man committed suicide days after being accused and "named and shamed" of being a paedophile by the group.[12]

Others

Another initiative, Predator Hunter, headed by Wendell Kreuth, aims to track down and expose the pornography-related activities of alleged 'sexual predators', as disclosed in his interview with Minnesota Public Radio.[13][14] The activities of Predator Hunter in the previous years garnered more attention, particularly the actions of Bradley Willman, whose anti-pedophile activism is described below:

Between 1997 and 2001, Brad Willman was known as Omni-Potent, an Internet vigilante who would track pedophiles by spending 16-plus hours a day hacking into people's computers from his parents’ house in Langley, a suburban community just outside Vancouver. Ultimately, he was responsible for the arrests of about 40 pedophiles across Canada and the U.S. Willman's successful, albeit unpaid and short-lived venture as "Citizen Tipster," as he was known by police, is now over. But his activities have sparked intense debate over the legality of his tactics.[15][16]

He would verify where suspects were from, and send the information on to Predator-Hunter, an online pedophile watchdog group that would, in turn, send it to other sources to be verified before passing it on to police. "Parents in a number of countries, I think, owe OmniPotent a debt of gratitude for what he did," says Wendell Krueth, president of Predator-Hunter. The end justifying the means is a concept Predator-Hunter supports. "We don't tell people to go hack, but we consider whatever information we get worthy in taking down pedophiles," Krueth says.[17]

Jehovah's Witness community.[18]

In several instances, members of

Chris Forcand. They contacted the police after some members were "propositioned" by Forcand with "disgusting photos of himself".[19] Anonymous were described as "cyber-vigilantes who seek to out anyone who presents with a sexual interest in children".[20][21]

hacktivist group, claimed to intrude on the various servers hosting child pornography resources and pull a various sensitive information—emails, forums' personal messages, credit card details, webserver logs etc. -- on the users of such websites.[22]

Many of these activist groups were inspired either directly or indirectly by the segment

To Catch A Predator that was a part of Dateline on NBC with host Chris Hansen
.

Creep Catchers refers to non-affiliated individuals and groups which operate in 15 cities across Canada, posing as children in chat rooms to sting, record and shame adults who try to meet them for sex.[23] POP Squad ("POP" standing for "Prey on Predators"), a Connecticut-based group, is one of several similar online groups operating in the United States.[24][25]

Wanted Pedo is the main French association struggling against paedophile networks. Their website have been suspended by justice[26] for exposing paedophile websites.

Predator Poachers, a Houston-based vigilante group, claimed that as of 2022 its activity had led to arrests in 27 U.S. states.[27] The group was responsible for exposing comedian and content creator Bryant Moreland, more commonly known by his online alias EDP445,[28] for allegedly talking to one of their decoys in 2021. The group was permanently banned from YouTube after the event due to policy violations.[28]

One group, Dads Against Predators [also known as DAP Inc or D.A.P] was founded in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina.[30] According to the man alleged to have fired a round, three men confronted him inside of the store and he claims they began to assault him, during this fight he fired a single shot which struck Jay C. Carnicom of Fremont, Ohio before being disarmed by another member of the group. The bullet struck Carnicom in the leg, though apparently the wound was not fatal or particularly serious as Carnicom did not seek medical care until a day later. The three men who carried out this confrontation have had arrest warrants issued for them in North Carolina in connection to the fight.[31] Dads Against Predators have been trespassed from several retail chains as a result of their disruptive, boisterous and frequently violent confrontations. Dads Against Predators has also been accused of playing a role in at least three suicide deaths carried out by alleged predators who were confronted by D.A.P shortly before their deaths.[32] They have also been banned from YouTube, and upload their confrontations on alternative streaming platforms such as Rumble or BitChute
.

A

Oakland County during a confrontation which started as the result of an online predator 'sting' operation. [33] Allegedly, when Lee confronted two men [17 and 18 years old] inside the restaurant, one of the men produced a knife and the other pulled a handgun after Lee struck one of the men. After the confrontation became physical, Lee was shot several times by the younger man and was transported to the hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries. Lee left behind two daughters and a son, whom he claimed inspired him to participate in his vigilante activities. Lee was well-known online for his aggressive vigilantism, frequently physically assaulting alleged predators, vandalizing their property or slashing tires on their vehicles so they could not leave the area. Funds were raised via GoFundMe to pay for his funeral costs. [34] The two men involved in the fatal fight and shooting were later tracked down and arrested.[35]

Criticism of tactics

A representative of the

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Exploited Child Unit has stated that the NCMEC does not condone investigations by citizens because according to the NCMEC, those actions do not deter predators and can push the predators to move to other locations and become more effective at hiding their identities.[36] The Internet safety organization CyberAngels, an offshoot of the Guardian Angels echoes similar concerns.[36] Police officials in the past have been opposed to working with such groups, or have done so only reluctantly.[37]

A paper from the University of East Anglia states that pedophile hunters might "have the effect of unduly diverting criminal justice resources from sex offenders who pose a considerable risk to the public towards low-risk offenders, the so-called ‘low-hanging fruit'", and that "Paedophile-hunting groups can circumvent procedural safeguards and regulations that exist to moderate state power and protect the human rights of those subject to a criminal process."[38]

Many of these activist groups have been accused by the media, law enforcement and the general public of resembling

vigilante groups more so than activist groups or advocates. They have also been criticized for their tactics, some of which are viewed by many to be entrapment and many are criticized for providing improper or poor evidence
, and some have been criticized for using violent behavior or coercion in their sting operations.

One of the most controversial moments for anti-pedophile activism came when

NBC Universal which was later settled for an undisclosed amount in June 2008. [40]

See also

References

  1. S2CID 145661721
    .
  2. ^ Dutch paedophiles set up political party Dutch News at Expatica, May 30, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2012
  3. .
  4. ^ "English Fascists Have Descended On Rotherham's Sex Abuse Scandal | VICE | United Kingdom". VICE. September 2014. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
  5. ^ "Rotherham Abuse Scandal: National Front and English Defence League Fight on Streets". International Business Times UK. 2014-09-13. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
  6. ^ "The Blue Angel Association". The Blue Angel Association. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
  7. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2020-09-16.
  8. ^ "DA refuses to prosecute 'Catch a Predator' cases". NBC News. 28 June 2007.
  9. ^ "Perverted Justice chief told to explain how he lost files in trial of East Bay doctor". 4 June 2009.
  10. ^ "Ex-Cop May Get Relief in Kiddie Case".
  11. ^ Silberstein, Rachel."Watching the Jewish Community Watch and Its 'Wall of Shame:' A young man's brazen blog about alleged child sex-abusers in the Chabad community divides Crown Heights." Tablet Magazine. July 26, 2013.
  12. ^ Fricker, Martin (18 September 2003). "Gary Cleary suicide: Man hangs himself after vigilantes accuse him of being a paedophile". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  13. ^ Chasing online predators, April 15, 2002, retrieved May 21, 2007
  14. ^ The Big Chill: Verizon's decision last month to shut off a Montreal ISP for hosting edgy gay chatboards points to a colder, grayer internet ahead, November 2006, retrieved May 21, 2007
  15. ^ Howard, Cori Internet Vigilante in Maclean's, Vol. 118, Issue 23 (2005), pp. 56-57 (or at Ebsco portal[dead link]
  16. ^ See also Casey, Eoghan, Digital Evidence and Computer Crime: Forensic Science, Computers and the Internet. London: Academic Press, 2004. pg. 580 [1]
  17. ^ Howard, "Internet Vigilante", pg.56
  18. ^ "French, Rose Jehovah's Witnesses Settle Abuse Cases Associated Press coverage at Silentlambs (May 10, 2007)
  19. CanWest Global Communications
    .
  20. ^ George Schuurman; Janelle Blackadar (2007-12-06). "Man facing six charges in Child Exploitation investigation, Photograph released, Chris Forcand, 53" (PDF). News Release. Toronto Police Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  21. CANOE. Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2008-02-19.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  22. ^ "Anonymous :: Project Pedophile Unmasked". 2018-11-17. Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  23. ^ Krishnan, Manisha (January 5, 2017). "The Rise of Creep Catchers, Canada's Vigilante Pedophile Hunters". Vice. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  24. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy (January 2, 2019). "He lures alleged child predators and shames them on Facebook. Now one of his targets is dead". NBC News. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  25. ^ Lambert, Ben (February 18, 2019). "CT vigilantes who target alleged child predators draw cheers, concern". New Haven Register. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  26. ^ "La suppression du site Wanted Pedo, vaine tentative de censure - donde vamos". dondevamos.canalblog.com. 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  27. ^ Wymer, Garrett (May 26, 2022). "WKYT Investigates Vigilante justice". WKYT. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  28. ^ a b Asarch, Steven. "A predator hunting YouTuber and a man seemingly caught in a sting both had their channels removed by the platform". Insider. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  29. ^ "Law enforcement calling on Dads Against Predators to cease operations". 19 October 2020.
  30. ^ "Warrants issued for men involved in 2022 'Dads Against Predators' Hanes Mall BLVD shooting, Winston-Salem Police Department". 9 January 2023.
  31. ^ "2 Ohio members of Dads Against Predators wanted in North Carolina, police say". 9 January 2023.
  32. ^ "Deaths after disgrace?".
  33. ^ "Man known for pursuing sexual predators shot to death in Oakland County restaurant". 30 September 2023.
  34. ^ "Online personality 'Boopac Shakur,' known for exposing alleged sexual predators, shot and killed in Michigan". CNN. 2 October 2023.
  35. ^ "Police arrest 2 men in killing of Pontiac man known for fooling sexual predators".
  36. ^ a b Daniel, Mac, "Vigilante Websites Combat Solicitation of Minors for Sex", Boston Globe. Oct 11, 2003. pg. B.3 [2]
  37. ^ Colgin, Chris and Jason Trahan, "Campaign against Child Sex Predators Draws Critics", Dallas Morning News. September 11, 2006 [3]
  38. .
  39. ^ https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Dallas-suburb-cries-foul-after-fatal-sex-sting-1868202.php
  40. ^ https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5238922&page=1

External links