Recently there was an undercover ATF operation near my neighborhood that failed rather spectacularly and, thanks to the local newspaper, publicly. In the final analysis one of the things that came out of it was the observation that very few of the folks who were arrested over the course of this operation were known to have been engaged in any serious (say, worse than just being a pot smoker) criminal activity outside of whatever the ATF agents had enticed them to do as part of the sting operation. Oftentimes this took the form of singling out people who weren't too bright, or were in a financial tight spot, and applying a lot of social pressure to encourage them to commmit crimes.
In other words, the vast majority of the criminal activity people were being arrested for were crimes that the ATF had manufactured in the first place. The real burglars and drug dealers knew enough to stay away.
I can't help but worry there might be a similar situation going on here. I'd be curious to know how many of the 1,000 individuals caught in this operation have any prior history of abusing children, and I'd be curious to know if the folks running this operation were using this child persona to actively solicit people. It's not just that I worry about police entrapment (which I do); it's also that I worry that these operations might ironically make life easier for the child pornography and trafficking industries because the investigators are trapping themselves in their own honeypot.
I can see how being in a financial tight spot might lead me agree to commit a theft that I would not otherwise commit.
I'm having trouble figuring out what kind of spot I could find myself in that would let me be enticed into paying money to have children sexually abused.
In other words, the vast majority of the criminal activity people were being arrested for were crimes that the ATF had manufactured in the first place. The real burglars and drug dealers knew enough to stay away.
I can't help but worry there might be a similar situation going on here. I'd be curious to know how many of the 1,000 individuals caught in this operation have any prior history of abusing children, and I'd be curious to know if the folks running this operation were using this child persona to actively solicit people. It's not just that I worry about police entrapment (which I do); it's also that I worry that these operations might ironically make life easier for the child pornography and trafficking industries because the investigators are trapping themselves in their own honeypot.