Andy Borgmann's Blog

Ok, I need to say right off the bat that I do not support child molesters, nor do I support using the internet to solicit underage girls (or boys) for sexual activity. Remember that.

Last night, Dateline did another segment of what seems like the never ending "To Catch a Predator.” If you don't know what I am talking about, flip on NBC on any random night and you should be able to find it. Anyways, the premise of the show is they act like teenagers and solicit older men to meet them in person. When this event takes place, Dateline guy pops out, lambastes them for their actions, and then lets the person go. Only, once they get outside, the police take them down (violently I might add) and haul their butt off to jail.

Now, while still keeping in mind what I said at first, I have to say, I think the real criminal here is NBC (not that the others aren't criminals, but in this instance, it is NBC). The last time I looked entrapment was defined as, "agents of the government inducing a person to commit a crime he or she otherwise would not have committed." Now I know their are two things someone will say right away. 1.) Dateline is not the government and 2.) these people would commit these crimes anyway, therefore its not entrapment.

First of all, the government is using Dateline, so therefore, Dateline is a tool of the government. So that response is invalid. And to point number two. How do we know these people would have committed these crimes had they not been solicited by Dateline. Maybe it was a one time thing. Maybe it was the beginning of a downward lifestyle pattern that the individual would never recover from. Either way, it is Dateline’s fault. Also, I personally know how hard it is to resist the temptation to talk to someone online that is "eager to meet new people" and then turns it into something else. Now I am not saying I ever followed through with anything. In fact, when that conversation turned south, I would leave. But nevertheless, to say that someone would do it otherwise, just because they did it now, is not valid logic.

All I can say is, I hope Dateline never decides something I do is especially heinous for society. Because I imagine I'll fall into that trap easily and then it will be my face on Dateline, sitting across from Scuba-mcgee saying, gee, I don't know what I was thinking.