Anti-pedophile activism encompasses opposition to pedophiles, pedophile advocacy groups, child pornography, and child sexual abuse.
Anti-pedophile activism encompasses opposition to pedophiles, pedophile advocacy groups, child pornography, and child sexual abuse.
Organized social activism against child sexual molesters occurred in the 18th century, by the Society for the Reformation of Manners.[1]
The National Vigilance Association was a British society established in August 1885 for the enforcement and improvement of the laws for the repression of criminal vice and public immorality, in response to articles exposing child prostitution published by W. T. Stead in the Pall Mall Gazette.
In the Netherlands, the pedophile activist group Vereniging Martijn has been protested against by the far right Nationale Alliantie.[2] In the UK, 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]
A French group[6] who successfully sued Gabriel Matzneff in 2020.[7]
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Main article: Perverted-Justice |
Perverted-Justice was an anti-pedophilia, anti-hebephilia, and anti-statutory rape organization with the stated mission to expose and convict adults who solicit and groom minors on the Internet. Perverted Justice had multiple issues with being able to supply chat log evidence in a manner that passes legal scrutiny.[8][9][10] Perverted Justice collaborated with the NBC television program Dateline in their segment 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, 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 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]
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]
Silentlambs and LambsRoar are both web-based anti-pedophile groups that seek to protect children through education, to provide legal assistance, and to provide assistance to victims [survivors] who have been molested as children and silenced from speaking out or seeking proper assistance as directed by religious authorities. To date, most emphasis has been on abuse within the Jehovah's Witness community.[18]
In several instances, members of 4chan and Anonymous have been involved in drawing attention to or gathering evidence regarding suspected pedophiles on the Internet. Members of Anonymous were identified as responsible for the arrest of suspected pedophile 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]
Anonymous, a 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 Ohio and appears to be active in a number of states, utilizing similar tactics to other groups in running 'sting operations' on online dating and social networking sites or applications. They have been criticized by law enforcement on several occasions [29] for the tactics used in their sting operations. DAP tends to be more aggressive when confronting alleged predators, berating them in public, causing a scene, and at times even fighting with or physically restraining the individuals they confront, though usually any physical contact is started first by the alleged predator. They have been widely criticized as utilizing unethical or even dangerous methods, and do not always involve law enforcement in their stings as is usually done by other groups. In one particularly chaotic confrontation, one of the members of Dads Against Predators was shot inside a Target store located 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 Michigan man from Pontiac named Robert Wayne Lee, 40, known under the alias 'Boopac Shakur' online, was shot and killed inside of a restaurant in 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]
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 To Catch A Predator, a segment on Dateline was alleged to have caused a suicide death in the course of a sting operation.[39] Bill Conradt, who lived in a suburb of Dallas, Texas was reportedly contacted by a decoy on behalf of the program Dateline and allegedly interacted with a person he believed to be an underaged boy, including telephone contact and the sending of explicit images. Mr. Conradt eventually was reported to have ceased contact with the decoy, and did not appear at the sting house, but regardless the staff of To Catch A Predator began to stake out Mr. Conradt's home. Reportedly, when officers and the Dateline crew arrived at his home, Mr. Conradt refused to answer the door. Police eventually gained entry and encountered Mr. Conradt in a hallway in possession of a handgun and told the gathered television crew and police that he did not intend to hurt anyone. Mr. Conradt then proceeded to commit suicide with a single gunshot to his temple. Mr. Conradt, being a former district attorney and involved in local politics, was well known in the area and as such media attention and scrutiny was particularly heavy. Dateline, the staff of To Catch a Predator and the police who carried out the raid were criticized as a result of the suicide and the program ceased production shortly after. Particularly, Dateline was criticized for making a spectacle of a man who was only alleged to have done something illegal, and the police were criticized for not utilizing more interagency communication as some believed this may have prevented Mr. Conradt's suicide. Likewise, police were criticized for allowing the television crew and other civilians to enter the home also, which may have made the situation more dangerous for everyone present if Mr. Conradt had intended to harm others. Mr. Conradt's sister in July 2007 filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her brother against NBC Universal which was later settled for an undisclosed amount in June 2008. [40]
