kittyatthedisco

Obvious I'm not Chris Hansen, but I was involved with Perverted Justice, the organization that did the TCAP "stings". I was only part of the group for a few months just prior to and just after the first TCAP airing.

But yeah, you get a lot of guys "on the hook" who drop as soon as you mention your character's age. Of course a lot of chat convos would start with "a/s/l?" so they'd be dropping out after only a couple lines of chat. And occasionally you'd also get guys whose reaction was "you're too young for these chats, get out" who stuck to their guns and weren't faking it - they were legit worried about there being a 12-15 year old in this chat space.

What's the gender breakdown among dispatchers where you work?

I ask because I'm a female and when I tell people I work in law enforcement they always assume I'm a dispatcher.

Based upon the sample rate, is the US full of pedophiles?

Pedophiles, no. Ephebophiles, maybe. The difference is pedophiles are interested in pre-pubescents, while ephebophilia refers to people interested in teenagers, especially 15-18 year olds. If you read through old Perverted Justice transcripts, the nastiest chatlogs are mostly from folks posting as YOUNG teens, but there are far more not-that-graphic ones where the person is pretending to be 15-16.

No one should be shocked by this given the popularity of "barely legal" porn. Lots of guys out there are into the idea of getting with a 15-16 year old girl, but would be grossed out if they heard about someone hitting on a 13 year old.

Did you ever get women hooked?

I never did personally. PJ has had a few, but men are easier to find and hook. I wound up getting a degree in criminal justice and took some courses in sex offending, and my professor was a leading expert on female sex offenders. There are definitely female offenders out there, but they tend to fall into specific categories and generally their victims will either be a student or their own child. Females generally won't be the type to go trolling for victims online.

Hey Chris, thanks for answering questions!

I got my Masters in criminal justice a couple years ago and elected to do my final research paper on sexual predators online. In the course of my research I discovered that there haven't been any substantive studies done on this issue since 2005.

So, do you think that online predators are still a major issue? Why do you think this sort of story has faded from the news media in recent years?