Child predators are embedded in society and live among us, often until after it’s too late to prevent a tragedy. These people prey on innocent children who are not old enough to consent to sexual activity. With today’s way of life with the internet, there are some who insist on catching these monsters and exposing them to being child predators.
Numerous YouTube and Twitch channels have been dedicated to finding and catching predators in hopes of taking them off the street. The idea for this started years ago with TV personality Chris Hansen. Hansen made a name for himself on his TV show, “To Catch a Predator,” where he worked directly with law enforcement to apprehend alleged child predators. Hansen would use decoys, people online pretending to be minors, in order to lure grown adults into a meet-up. Almost every time, the messages turn sexual before the meet-up happens.
Hansen’s setups were both effective and entertaining. Putting terrible people where they belong while also making content out of it is a great way to keep the streets safer and the people more informed.
With the internet becoming more popular than cable television, numerous people have come out and started predator-catching content of their own, but their methods differ from the inspirational Chris Hansen.
One of the biggest predator-catching creators on YouTube is a channel called SkeeterJean. When making his predator-catching content, he often goes by Skeet Hansen in his videos, a nod to Chris Hansen. Jean has amassed over 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube. Jean and his crew have always been bold with their catches, planning public meet-ups in stores like Walmart and Target and also luring the predators to a rented Airbnb.
When Jean confronts the predators, he instantly asks why they are there. The predator usually gives an excuse that you can tell is a lie. He then brings out the chat log from online and shows them the explicit messages and images they’ve already sent to the presumed minor that they planned to meet.
Almost every time, Jean does call the police and gives them all the chat information along with it. However, since he and his organization don’t work directly with law enforcement, how the police handle the report varies from county to county. Sometimes they walk home free, sometimes they’re shoved into a cop car. Even if law enforcement doesn’t choose to make an arrest, the video stays on YouTube forever, and I don’t know anyone who would want to achieve fame that way.
I believe this is the most effective way to go about catching a predator. This is due to the fact that most of the predators that Jean comes into contact with are arrested and charged. Not everyone has the same goal in mind. While this is bold and dangerous work, Jean’s methods are a lot more civilized than others.
A popular streamer on Kick, known as Vitaly, has also taken up the task of catching predators. In this case, Vitaly streams his catchings live, which means that it’s unedited and happening in real-time with a chat responding in real-time.
Several months ago, Vitaly did a stream on Kick with controversial streamer Sneako. The two set up a decoy and lured a predator wanting to meet with a child into an apartment they were renting out. Before the predator could try anything with the decoy, Vitaly, Sneako and their crew all came out of the back room and surprised the predator, throwing confetti and other party accessories at him. Not too long into the confrontation, Vitaly passionately decides that he is not calling the police, and is going to take matters into his own hands.
He then shaves off clumps of the predator’s hair and his eyebrows, making him look like nothing short of a clown, something Vitaly manages to remind him of. He then communicates to the predator that he will let him go free if the predator agrees to eat his pubic hair. The predator communicates that he just wanted the cops to be called. Eventually, Vitaly and his crew let the predator go, knowing there wouldn’t be an arrest for the predator given that he was brutally hazed by the catchers.
With all that said, it’s probably important to note that Vitaly certainly isn’t the most morally sound person who had a track history before he started exposing predators. With that said, it’s good to see him put his aggressive tendencies to good use.
There are also many shorter clips floating around online of creators setting up predators for meet-ups with decoys from various people. A lot of times, it consists of the catchers physically assaulting predators in public. These clips often get taken down by YouTube and Instagram for their violent activity.
While the predators’ behavior justifies such brutal responses from those trying to catch them, and while content like Vitaly’s can be entertaining, from a legal standpoint, it’s not always the most productive action to take.
Creators like Jean orchestrate their catchings in a way that they’re able to present the evidence to law enforcement and hopefully have the predator arrested and charged as soon as possible. For that to happen, the catchers can’t be putting their hands on predators and harming them. For Instance, Vitaly let the predator walk free because he knew that taking it into his own hands was essentially throwing any legal case they had. In addition, he also had to worry about the predator after he claimed he was going to the police to report harassment.
Of course, you can teach someone a lesson with your own hands, but after that, they are still on the street. They’re not locked up and away from any children they can victimize. I believe that the most productive way to go about these catchings is to confront the predator, present the evidence and report them to law enforcement.
Overall, working with law enforcement to catch dangerous child predators is an incredible aid in putting these people behind bars. Despite the content being entertaining, doing too much to possibly throw a legal case is doing more harm than good, as it keeps dangerous people out on the streets.
