to think the people 'trapping' the paedophiles aren't doing anything wrong

[LaurieFairyCake]

I realise the police are taking a dim view of this but honestly they admit they don't have enough resources to catch many of them.

'Vigilantes' are talking to them online, arranging to meet - and then calling the police when they turn up (and presenting them with the evidence)

I'm with you, OP!

I don't agree with vigilante beatings, you know the sort where the local pedophile is cornered and beaten up. But I don't really see much of a problem with these guys. From what I've heard about these sorts of people they make it clear how old the "child" is and by doing that they give the pedophile a chance to back out. If someone is still interested in hooking up with a girl he thinks is 14, I don't have a problem with people confronting him over it and then giving the evidence to the police. But I'm not a cop so I don't know if it would count as entrapment.

hippy I'm sorry you've been through this too

Would you mind if I pm you later?

chilled you need to read the links upthread. Your belief that they always play by some sort of rule book is misguided.

Does that change your mind about it being OK to let a group of men simply choose to dispense the law as they see fit?

True. And then there are people who think that anything in The Sun or the Daily Mail isn't true and yet anything in The Guardian, say, is not only true and without bias but meticulously researched by experienced reporters.Same goes for right wing broadsheets such as the Telegraph, the Times and my personal favourite fantasy read, The Sunday Times

They then get tied up in knots when the same story is reported in all the papers. It must be true because it's in the Times, but it must be false because it's in the Mail. Oh dear. What now.

The ones who merely confront a pedophile and/or give their evidence to law enforcement aren't dispensing the law as they see fit. They aren't imprisoning the guy, they aren't physically hurting him, they are just forwarding on information of a crime to the relevant authorities and I don't have any issue with them doing that. As I already said, I don't approve of vigilante beatings, like kicking the snot out of a pedophile. Whatever a person is accused of, however obvious their guilt may be, they still deserve a fair trial and they should only be punished by a court.

What about it being put on social media chilled? Because an awful lot of these people/groups seem to do that.

No problem - HH3 - it's a uniquely horrifying experience. You almost feel like you aren't allowed to complain about the impact on you or your kids because you're counted as unimportant, and fair game to splash across the media. Like you aren't victims too. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. There is little to no support afterwards, you're left to pick up the pieces alone.

Of course these vigilantes don't care about any of that.

After the fact vigilantes as well - those that keep constantly republishing these stories with a hint of inciting others to violence. How is this a good thing when the published address is often the previous family home?

These men often have children themselves. The police may be under resourced but this stuff doesn't help - it creates more problems.

But the links above include a man who was invited to meet an 18 year old, then, as he got to the meeting was told she was 14... they didn't beat him, but they did lie in order to have a crime to report...

Couldn't agree with everything you've just said hippy. Especially with feeling like you aren't allowed to complain about the impact.

I'll pm you this evening once the kids are in bed.

On my own Facebook feed, the sort of people who every now and then post photos that are supposedly of (eg) Jon Venables with screaming rants about how this individual should be hunted down and killed are exactly the same people who are forever recycling Britain First memes despite having had it pointed out to them what they are doing. Stupid people are easy to rev up if you give them an obvious target,which is why it's important to challenge stupidity whenever you see it.

I've blocked a couple of FB friends who post pics like that. You could put a photo up of any early 30s guy and claim he's Jon Veneables, and there are plenty of terrifyingly stupid people out there who might act on it.

Saw a frightening documentary a few years back about women who were accused of being Maxine Carr (girlfriend of the Soham murderer who has been given a new identity). None of these women looked anything like her, but rumours lead to them being attacked and having their homes vandalised. One smug asshole neighbour still didn't believe the woman on the documentary wasn't Carr because 'there's no smoke without fire'. And I think this was before facebook was so popular.