Text 10064, 94 rader
Skriven 2008-01-19 04:46:52 av Jeff Smith (1:14/5)
  Kommentar till text 10063 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
Ärende: Myths
=============
Hello Bob.

18 Jan 10 05:51, you wrote to Michiel van der Vlist:

 BA> Replying to a message of Michiel van der Vlist to Jeff Smith:

 MV>>>> What *we* see is a law abiding citizen that is lured into the
 MV>>>> territory of another country by a method that is considered
 MV>>>> unethical and unlawful here and by someone who has no authority
 MV>>>> in the first place. It is a hostile act.

 JS>>>     You are trying to paint Blom as some innocent law abiding
 JS>>> soul who was tricked into wanting to have sex with a child. Give
 JS>>> me a break Michiel.

 MvdV>> Nevertheless from our POV, that is precisely what happened.
 MvdV>> Someone who operates within the confines of the law is a law
 MvdV>> abiding citizen. When Menno Blom was approached by the US cop,
 MvdV>> he was residing on Dutch soil and had broken no Dutch law.
 MvdV>> Ergo, he was a law abiding citizen. And tricked he was. By the
 MvdV>> LEO who presented himself with a false identity. And a dirty
 MvdV>> trick to boot.

 MvdV>> How can we ever trust the US when their officials pull dirty
 MvdV>> tricks like that on our citizens?

 BA> It seems to me that the folks you're arguing with want it both ways.

     I can't speak for anyone but myself but what I would like to see is
children who are unable to fully understand the consequences of having
sex at ages of 12-16 protected. By that age they are likely able to
conceive but many at that age are yet unwilling or unable to see beyond
tommorow or the next day at school let alone fully understand what sex
can mean. Especially when an adult is involved as the adult I would think
probably looks at the situation quite differantly than the child. I know
I probably don't have a modern view of things here. But I think that there
are some basic concepts that should not go out of style. I think the US
has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the western world. A situation that
is compounded by adults that solicit, talk, bribe children into having sex.


     Am I sorry that Blom got caught? Not for wanting to have sex with a
child. If he was truely tricked or entraped. Then I would I guess have
problems finding him guilty. But at the same time I don't think it is wrong
for LEO's to provide the *opportunity* for people to decide for themselves
to commit a crime. The LEO's should not act in such a manner as to make
someone who wouldn't otherwise commit a crime to do so. But I don't see a
problem with a LEO pretending to be a minor child. The LEO should not try to
entice or coerce someone. They should simply provide an opportunity for
someone that was "ready and willing" to commit a crime and were looking for
the right opportunity to do so.


    Children across the country are being preyed upon by pedophiles. I was
reading about a agent for the U.S. Customs Service who posed as a porn
purchaser and found a man willing to sell him child pornography. The man
then told him that he would be able to supply the purchaser with "better
stuff" after he babysat the following week. Or a guy who kidnapped a 13
year old girl from Ohio and brought her back to his apartment in Conneticut
after meeting her on the internet.


    Many who argue on behalf of the defendants' rights forget that the mere
existence of child porn automatically means that a crime has occurred and
another child has been a victim. Unlike adult pornography, the children
depicted in the images are helpless and unable to consent to their
exploitation. Children who are sent pornography by pedophiles are also the
victims of a crime. A child's vulnerability stems from their willingness to
trust people that they do not know. The internet provides pedophiles with
virtually unlimited access to trusting children. The IT technology offers a
good hunting ground for pedophiles who use the anonymity of the Internet to
woo children, elicit their trust and ultimately work to arrange a meeting.
Because of this, LEO's should be given some discretion in using the internet
environment to their advantage to catch such criminals. But as I have already
stated the LEO's should go out of the way to coerce an otherwise law abiding
person to commit a crime that they wouldn't have otherwise.

    Sorry if I sound like I am preaching a little here. I see our children
as a resource for the future of this planet. A resource that we as adults
should do our best to protect and not hurt or destroy.


 BA> Blom in Holland subject to US law WRT soliciting sex from a minor, but
 BA> cop in US immune to Dutch law forbidding the tactic used.  If Blom is
 BA> guilty, then the cop must also be guilty; conversely if the cop is not
 BA> guilty then neither is Blom.

 BA> --- FleetStreet 1.19+
 BA>  * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)

Jeff

--- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20070503
 * Origin: Twin_Cities_Metronet - region14.us (1:14/5)