Paedophile hunter groups.
 

A thread to discuss the rights, wrongs, methods etc of paedophile hunting groups.

The subject came up in the 'Police to get tough on Internet trolls' thread. Whilst it's an interesting subject to discuss, it wasn't felt appropriate to discuss it in that thread.

Do people think that such groups are a good thing or a bad thing, or does it depend on the professionalism of the group?

What do people think about their methods of entrapment and the way that they conduct themselves?

Is it right that the police refuse to support them and what they do?

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

It's hard to say if they are good or bad. On one hand, there is unlimited man power that the Polce simply don't have, they are catching these people and they are getting sentenced.

On the other hand, the very fact they seem to think they have to live stream could be interrupting any live investigation the Police already have going on. They also state things that simply are not true. Do things they shouldn't be doing like not moving the foot away from the door of their home, checking pockets of someone or simply just pure bullying someone. On the very odd occasion, they have even got the wrong person, oops, too late, it was already live streamed.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

I see no reason for them to live stream it. Yeah catch the nonce and get them arrested then report it. I kinda find the live streaming distasteful and more about look at what we are doing than look at what he/she is doing and can also bring trouble down on the family.

One thing I cannot get my head round is why do they always spill their guts? maybe guilt I dunno

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

The live streaming is stupid, putting everyone in danger including themselves and the police. Also the fact of them saying, don't get the house number in or don't get the mother in, it's nothing to do with her, two minutes later, the house number is being shown.

Half the time and when I say this, I'm not sticking up for the suspect, it's because the are forced into by the group. For instance, if they want to go in and shut the door and wait for the police, the group will say something like if you shut the door, we'll tell all your neighbours.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Yeah I have seen them making threats to make the perp talk all for their own self publicity. If they were really doing it to solely protect the kids then they would do it on the hush hush. Had this conversation when it all started with Stinson Hunter who lived just round the corner when he was most active online

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

We have to defend the principle of innocent until proven guilty no matter what the crime is. It is always better to have the guilty released than the innocent punished. A problem with "emotional crimes" is that even rumours can destroy lives/families/livelihood etc. so while we do need to try to protect the vulnerable we can't do it by persecuting a perceived threat.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

I agree and this is why imo the groups if they are to be active shoudl keep it between themselves and the Police

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

I only have the most basic knowledge about these hunters and how they go about their business, and therefore not in a position to comment on whether it's a good or bad thing.

However . .


I think we've all read about incidents where innocent people have been accused, leading to breakdown of family life, job losses, violence and even suicide.

Not saying 'hunters' are to blame for these situations, but in some cases won't be entirely innocent of leaking information, possibly accidentally but it's leaked.
If we're going to condone this, then should we also bring back the death penalty for murder?

oh wait (I hear you cry), but it would be morally wrong to execute someone who is then found to be innocent.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Vigilante groups ? What could possibly go wrong .... :erm:

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Yes reminds me of that paediatrician getting beaten up and forced to leave their home because of a mob of illiterates

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Middle aged numpty's playing at super hero's ,a definite recipe for disaster.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Indeed.


For me it's best that if they have info on someone, they hand it in to the police, and let the system do the business properly and in line with due legal process.


Civilians taking matters into their own hands is a last resort.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

I'm sure palace security will keep them at bay....

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

:D Ouch.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

It’s vigilantism and it’s wrong, especially if broadcast on Social Media.

If you have evidence, collect it and give it to the police.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

In one titled 'Gary Savage Highbridge' on YouTube, they seem to think that they are the police. Totally cringeworthy.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

It's great to know that they are getting these filthy people off the streets and away from children but the videos online are too much.

Maybe do videos and tell us who it is and what they did so we are aware, but no need to do a full film of them.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

A lot of them clearly have learning difficulties so see nothing wrong with it because they either don't realise the seriousness of what they're doing, or have the mind of a child themselves (with the added complication of the sexual urges of an adult).

Obviously they need to be stopped from doing it, but the merciless public bullying for 'likes' (money) appears to be the main drive for a lot of them.

Some of them have found out the hard way that it would be
themselves that ended up in court.

Of course, this doesn’t apply to all of them, but the amateurish way that they do this often leads to the paedophiles (though most that i've seen are hebophiles) walking free. True paedophiles are unlikely to find children they can meet to abuse online.

Perhaps they should only be allowed to do it with police accreditation after training & passing a test/exam as a compromise? It's turned out that a fair few 'hunters have a criminal record themselves and some were probably doing it to cover up the fact that they had an interest in underage people themselves. I suspect that the drive for some is a form of revenge because they were sexually abused themselves. It's known that this screws people up as adults, so how long before someone takes the law into their own hands?

However, this seems unlikely as there are currently calls for it to be made an offence to pretend to be a child online.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

We have a member of a group on the forum but he (likely wisely) has chosen to avoid this thread.

If they do make it illegal to pretend to be a child online then would the groups use actual children (or say they did) I wonder what the law would be around that kind of thing.

Getting a Nonce off the streets is great and I do see that actually catching one on a sting which shows a willingness to actually commit physical abuse themselves would get a stronger sentence.

I would like to know if evidence is passed to the Police even if the nonce does not turn up, or at least after a shortish period of time to ensure action can be taken. These could be up to all sorts but if not actually ever turning to meet could be allowed to get away with it if the groups do not pass on information

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

You seriously couldn't use real children even under adult supervision. It would be too mentally harmful for them.


I remember a couple of years back when Eastenders introduced a character who was a vigilante paedo hunter kind of thing, they actually had a few people who thought he was actually a paedo instead, generally the SL didn't really have much longevity because they couldn't keep showing him getting random extras and the only other ways they could make it run a bit is to make him either snare a resident or use some of the kids in his snaring... Of course, the soaps have had sex offenders and some references to targeting older kids (Maya/Jacob off ED) but would generally have thought that actual abuse SLs involving younger kid characters would be off limits as they'd still have to depict a child being abused.

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

he is still in it and a main character now haha

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Yes, but they don't show that Stuart is doing the paedo hunting any more. They couldn't really keep that career moving for him could they?

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Yeah you are right

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Todays News at One on BBC1 showed a report near to the end highlighting the growing problem of underage sex assaults on girls in virtual reality chat rooms.

Threats to rape, males climbing on top of them, orders to strip naked were shown.

I suspect that predators will increasingly use this as a way to obtain sexual titillation.

I wonder if these 'hunting' teams will start hanging out in these places?

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Umm... assults in virtual reality ?

First of all, surely you can just turn the VR off ?
Aside from that, 'virtual reality' isnt real by definition, so it cant have any physical effect.

Also how do you even 'strip' in VR, surely it has to be programmed to allow that (and it would not be anyones actual naked body, just a drawn simulation).

Re: Paedophile hunter groups.
 

Maybe there's money to be had by becoming a 'virtual lawyer' in these alternate realities . . . probably enough to buy a virtual 8 bed mansion, a couple of Aston Martins and a big yacht in virtual Monaco.

Having said that, you'll probably get virtual scheming wives too :erm: