UK - BBC: "Are 'paedophile hunters' hindering police?" Dark Justice

"Groups posing as under-age girls online to expose suspected paedophiles - commonly referred to as 'paedophile hunters' - say they gain quicker results than police. But is their work undermining official investigations?"

In a bedsit in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, two men are using a laptop and smartphone to monitor the online conversations they have with adults they suspect to be paedophiles.

They form part of the group Dark Justice. It certainly isn't a technical crime unit, bustling with specialist investigators, but they say they are "actively fighting for change".

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Link: http://darkjustice.co.uk/

I find this type of public vigilantism interesting.

Any thoughts?

A man I know was caught by a group, in the same region, which went by a similar name, however it wasn't this group. He went to a nearby town to meet an underage girl. The group released his details before contacting the police. Where I live lots of people know each other and the news spread like wildfire on local Facebook pages. This was a guy I had spent a lot of time with and I never suspected him. I was horrified.

The news broke on the Sunday morning. The police went out to see him on the Sunday afternoon and on the Monday too. He hung himself on the Tuesday, leaving two grown up daughters and a lot of friends and relatives with unanswered questions. I was so upset at the whole thing. I hated that the man I knew had done this action, he was caught on camera admitting he was going to meet what he thought was a child. However I felt that the group went around this totally wrong. If they caught him then the local police should have been the first notified. Instead a local lynch mob was calling for his death both in person and online.

I don't believe in mob justice and I don't like the thought of bodily punishments for actions. I think he should have faced trial, but before anything was sorted he had died.

jane_tennison said:

Link: http://darkjustice.co.uk/

I find this type of public vigilantism interesting.

Any thoughts?

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Additional Links:
'Dark Justice' sting groomer Kenneth Walker jailedhttp://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33809700

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nk2d7http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nk2d7

Stephen Short jailed after Dark Justice internet stinghttp://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-33628558

jane_tennison said:

Link: http://darkjustice.co.uk/

I find this type of public vigilantism interesting.

Any thoughts?

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In the US the group Perverted Justice has monitored chats and so forth and cooperated with police in their efforts, so far as I know. They were an ongoing presence on the To Catch a Predator feature.

Seems OK to me so long as they stick to working through legal channels. If/when it crosses over into circumventing due process then I think we have problems.

Margo/Mom said:

In the US the group Perverted Justice has monitored chats and so forth and cooperated with police in their efforts, so far as I know. They were an ongoing presence on the To Catch a Predator feature.

Seems OK to me so long as they stick to working through legal channels. If/when it crosses over into circumventing due process then I think we have problems.

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I get the impression Dark Justice does not directly work with law enforcement or always use appropriate legal channels/civil judgment...

Margo/Mom said:

In the US the group Perverted Justice has monitored chats and so forth and cooperated with police in their efforts, so far as I know. They were an ongoing presence on the To Catch a Predator feature.

Seems OK to me so long as they stick to working through legal channels. If/when it crosses over into circumventing due process then I think we have problems.

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I followed Perverted Justice pretty close for a while after they caught and exposed a man I knew. This was before the "To Catch a Predator" series and before they had gained enough cred with law enforcement to be working with LE.

I also read up on the specifics of how they operated. They always made very sure to positively identify the person, and they never released anything without a real-time phone call made to the person's own phone number. They had a couple people who worked with them who always did the phone verifications -- they were adults who were great at sounding like a young girl (or young boy).

I've never, not a single time, ever heard of them incorrectly identifying a person.

I had no problem with them back then, and I have no problem with them now. I'm glad someone's doing what they're doing. I think they were a driving force behind law enforcement developing special cyber-sex-crimes units.