Perverted-Justice

For the legal term, see Perverting the course of justice.
Perverted-Justice
Founded 2002
Website Perverted-Justice.com

Perverted Justice Foundation, Inc.,[1][2] more commonly known as Perverted-Justice (also known as PeeJ), is an American organization based in California and Oregon, which investigates, identifies, and publicizes the conduct of adults posing as minors in order to solicit online sexual conversations with actual minors.

The activity of the Perverted-Justice website consists of volunteers who carry out sting operations posing as children or teenagers (the age range chosen for the decoys is 10–15) on chat sites and waiting for adults to approach them. After obtaining identifying information of adults posing as minors, who may offer their telephone numbers and other details so that meetings can be arranged, the organization passes the information on to law enforcement.[3] Perverted-Justice's methods are controversial, and a number of critics have labeled these actions harassment and possibly legal entrapment.[4][5][6][7][8][9] The site additionally attracted media attention, both laudatory and critical, as a result of their collaboration with Dateline NBC on a series of televised sting operations called To Catch a Predator.

Perverted-Justice also operates a site that targets groups and individuals it identifies as being involved in the pedophile activism community,[10] a site that provides information to abuse victims on their legal recourse,[11] a site that gives advice to children and teenagers on dealing with grooming on the internet,[12] and a site that targets organizations that Perverted-Justice believes allow pedophile activists to use their services.[13] The foundation also offers free online training to law enforcement officers[14] and has an intern program for college students.[15]

Background

Perverted Justice was set up in 2002 by Frank Fencepost and Xavier Von Erck (born Philip John Eide).[16][17][18] The organization says that its online operations have led to 314 convictions as of March 28, 2009,[19] with over 200 more currently awaiting trial, and an average of 25 arrests a month for the year of 2006.[20] The organization reported an annual income of $825,000 a year in 2006 with Von Erck earning a salary of $120,000.[21]

The site originally started with the posting of chat logs to shame people who engaged in sexual chats with purported children. Some members of the site allegedly went further by harassing the targets of their chats in real life, as well as their friends, neighbors, employers, and family.[22] After a falling-out over a vitriolic chat log with a phone verifier in 2004, Fencepost was dismissed from the site. "Xavier became much more oriented toward getting pedophiles arrested rather than just making them complete social pariahs in their neighborhood," says Fencepost.[23]

Von Erck said he got the idea for the website while watching people attempt to groom young girls in chat rooms in Oregon. He says Perverted-Justice is a computer watchdog agency that works closely with law enforcement agencies. "The media likes to use the term 'vigilante' because it gets attention, but we don't consider ourselves vigilantes. We cultivate cooperation with police and work within the law to get justice, not outside of the law."[24]

Methods

Perverted-Justice functions by supporting volunteers who act as informants in chat rooms where children and minors can typically be found. The volunteers' public profiles have youthful-sounding usernames, young ages, and pictures of children. The administrators of the site say they do not initiate online contact with the users,[25] and refuse to act on tips from the public as a result.[26] If a user starts chatting to the volunteer and turns the conversation to sex, the volunteer responds positively and encourages them to divulge personal details, particularly a telephone number, ostensibly needed to verify their identity so that a meeting can be arranged.

In the past, around this point the chatlog and details would be published on the site. Volunteers on the site's forums would then engage in "follow-up", attempting to identify and notify family members, employers, and neighbors. However, in December 2003, the organization set up its "Information First" program, in which interested police departments could contact Perverted-Justice, and any "busts" made within that department's jurisdiction would be sent straight to them without being posted to the website.[27] In the early days of the program, Perverted-Justice.com did not initiate contact with the police, professedly because officers were skeptical that its information could be used in a court of law.

Since July 2004 when they facilitated their first conviction, the site's operators switched to a policy of cold calling local police with the information they obtained.[28] If a government agency is interested (police, FBI, military CID, etc.) then the chatlog and other information is not posted to the site until after a conviction has been reached.

Before Perverted-Justice's "Information First" program and cold-calling policy became standard, logs that received no interest from law enforcement agencies were posted directly to the website. In November 2006, after the site's 100th conviction, Perverted-Justice announced that chat logs would no longer be posted unless law enforcement was involved first, as "Information First" agreements were sufficient to cover most U.S. residents caught in a sting. The complete unedited chat logs, which usually contain sexually explicit content and obscenities (and sometimes annotated with comments from the Perverted-Justice volunteer) are now posted to the website only after the person's legal case has been resolved. The current follow-up process consists of notifying a community of the offender's status once a person has been arrested and convicted.[29]

To begin the follow-up process, the site's volunteers do a reverse-directory lookup to obtain their target's name, as well as checking on the Web for any other information they can find about them. They then post the target's name, address, and photograph if available, on the website, as well as the chat log: a record of the conversation they had with the volunteer. In a process called "Follow-up," additional volunteers on the site's forums, operating under rules and restrictions set up by Perverted-Justice administrators, will contact the target's family, friends, neighbors, and employer to alert them to the website posting.[30] The intent of this is to warn anyone who may know about the target's activities and persuade them to receive counseling. The volunteers in these "Follow-up Forums" number in the thousands. With the elimination of chatlogs that are posted without law enforcement involvement, the Follow-up process is now directed against those who are convicted and out of prison, making sure they comply with the terms of their probation and/or registered sex offender rules, and notifying neighbors and relatives.

All telephone numbers are removed from the site's main pages after two months (though still available on the site's forums), to avoid another case like that of the Milwaukee bank teller, who received a threatening phone call from a man who had obtained her number from the website. The woman had never been online or even owned a computer, and was forced to change her number, which had previously been registered to the subject of a Perverted-Justice sting.[31]

According to the Perverted-Justice website, the group does not consider its methods to be entrapment, stating that its volunteers initiate nothing, and instead wait for their target to come to them. The group contends that not one entrapment defense has worked in a case with evidence brought by the organization. In one case in Riverside County, a judge rejected the entrapment claim. According to a report in the March 2007 issue of Law Enforcement Technology, "The judge ruled it differs from a police officer presenting a handful of drugs to a subject and asking if he wants to buy some. In this scenario, the person's being invited to make a snap decision. In contrast, driving to a meeting location afforded these Internet offenders plenty of time to change their minds."

Media

Volunteers also take part in what the site's operators call "group media busts," where people are invited to a house by a self-proclaimed minor, who is actually a Perverted-Justice volunteer. When they arrive, they are greeted by a television news reporter. The first of these events were conducted in late 2003, in co-operation with investigative reporter John Mercure at Milwaukee's WTMJ-TV, whom the site credits with initially conceiving the concept. Similar events with other local news organizations took place in the following months.

In November 2004, the site teamed up with Dateline NBC in New York to conduct a large sting operation, or "group media bust," entitled To Catch a Predator. Dateline rented a house and wired it with hidden cameras, while volunteers posed as minors in chat rooms, telling users who talked to them that they were home alone. "Within hours there were men literally lining up at our door," Dateline reported. In two-and-a-half days, 18 men showed up at the house after making a date with a Perverted-Justice volunteer.[32]

After the third installment of To Catch a Predator, Perverted-Justice hired an agent and put the group's services out for bid to several television networks. NBC came out ahead and continued the highly rated series.[33] Since then, the To Catch a Predator series of reports has grown into a widely recognized phenomenon, with busts all over the United States and numerous references and parodies in the media.

Convictions

Perverted-Justice's website documents convictions that include disorderly conduct, indecently soliciting a child, attempting to entice a juvenile to travel with intent to engage in sexual act, transporting child pornography, and possession and dissemination of child pornography.

Other activities

Perverted Justice formerly ran a website targeting individuals and groups involved in the online pedophile activist community. The site's stated objective is to "house our voluminous research regarding the identities and pursuits of those in the pedophile activist community". It notes a number of arrests of pedophile activists conducted based on its profiles.[34]

They have also built a list of "corporate sexual offenders", which they define as "[a]ny company who is informed of pedophiles using their service to advocate the lifestyle of child/adult rape which then does not remove the pedophiles from their service", with corresponding lists of pedophiles who make use of the services.[13]

Perverted-Justice volunteers also worked to match up MySpace profiles with convicted sex offenders from state registries and alert MySpace officials to their presence. They say they have identified almost three thousand such profiles, most of which have been deleted.[35]

Reception

Commendation

Perverted-Justice, as well as its volunteers, have been commended over the years by a number of individuals and organizations, including many active-duty law enforcement officials and child-safety advocates.

Active-duty law enforcement who have worked with the website on arrests have also gone on record speaking about the organization.

Criticism

Perverted-Justice and its volunteers have been criticized over the years by several individuals and organizations. Individuals opposing Perverted Justice see it as an organization that encourages extrajudicial violence and harassment against individuals who have not yet been convicted of any crime in the legal system. Also Stone Phillips from a Perverted Justice related event concedes that "... in many cases, the decoy is the first to bring up the subject of sex." leading to claims of illegal entrapment by the targets of Perverted Justices actions.

Notable incidents

According to Von Erck, Bruce Raisley, a private pilot and software developer made graphic violent threats against Perverted-Justice contributors and volunteers, and threatened to expose the online identities they used when posing as children. Raisley stated that he was a former Perverted-Justice member who left the group after he discovered that Perverted-Justice used a photograph of his son in a Perverted-Justice decoy profile, and failed to get a swift response from law enforcement. Perverted-Justice denied this. Von Erck "set out to destroy [Raisley] by posing as a woman, seducing him online with graphic sex chats, posting the transcripts on the web, and threatening to release a purported video of the individual masturbating."[58] Raisley was lured to an airport waiting area, where he was secretly photographed by associates of Von Erck. The photos were later posted online along with a warning against further threats and attacks.[18] In 2010 Raisley was convicted of orchestrating a DDoS attack against sites carrying the story.[79] Raisley was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $90,383 in restitution for the attacks.[80]

See also

References

  1. California Secretary of State - California Business Search - Corporation Search Results Archived March 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. "The Perverted Justice Foundation Incorporated - A note from our foundation to you". Pjfi.org. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  3. Official website
  4. "Campaign against child sex predators draws critics" Archived January 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. "Show's vision of justice seems, well, perverted" Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. Page 2 of 4 (2005-01-10). "Controversial Web Site Claims to 'Out' Would-Be Child Molesters". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  7. Bonopartis, Nik. (October 4, 2004). "Net vigilantes go where police can't". Poughkeepsie.
  8. "Ethics Be Damned: 'Dateline' Imitates 'Network'". Ethicsscoreboard.com. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  9. "'To Catch a Predator': The New American Witch Hunt for Dangerous Pedophiles". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  10. "PJFI.org". Wikisposure.com. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  11. "Online Resource Center for Survivors of Abuse". Resource for a Recourse. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  12. "howtodealwithcreepypeople.com". howtodealwithcreepypeople.com. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  13. 1 2 "CorporateSexOffenders.com - Fighting pedophile activism on all fronts". Perverted-Justice Foundation Incorporated. Archived from the original on 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  14. "The Perverted Justice Foundation Incorporated - About Perverted Justice Academy". Pjfi.org. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  15. "The Perverted Justice Foundation Incorporated - All about our Internship program". Pjfi.org. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  16. Salkin, Allen; Happy Blitt (2006-12-13). "Web Site Hunts Pedophiles and TV Goes Along". The New York Times (New York, New York). Retrieved 2008-07-14. "Every waking minute he's on that computer," said his mother, Mary Erck-Heard, 46, who raised her son after they fled his father, whom she described as alcoholic. Mr. Von Erck legally changed his name from Phillip John Eide, taking his maternal grandfather's family name, Erck, and adding the Von.
  17. Dittrich, Luke (September 2007). "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die". Esquire (New York, New York: The Hearst Corporation). p. 8. Retrieved 2008-07-14. Sometimes the fake names become real. A few years ago, Phillip John Eide, the founder of Perverted Justice, legally changed his name to that of his alter ego, Xavier Von Erck.
  18. 1 2 Grigoriadis, Vanessa (2007-07-30). "'To Catch a Predator': The New American Witch Hunt for Dangerous Pedophiles". Rolling Stone (San Francisco, California: Wenner Media). p. 5. Issue 1032. Retrieved 2008-07-14. Though he wasn't molested himself, Von Erck felt robbed of his childhood by his father and legally changed his name from Phillip Eide to eradicate the last vestiges of his paternal namesake. "My dad was an alcoholic scumbag commercial fisherman who hit my mom," he says. "She left him when I was one, and he went on to impregnate ten more women up and down the West Coast. His name is garbage."
  19. Convictions, Perverted-Justice.com
  20. From June 2004 to June 2006: The Numbers!. Perverted-Justice.com (2006-6-18).
  21. "Long battle between online vigilante and Arkansas man will soon be decided in Camden court". NJ.com. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  22. "'To Catch a Predator': The New American Witch Hunt for Dangerous Pedophiles", By Vanessa Grigoriadis, Rolling Stone, July 30, 2007
  23. "'To Catch a Predator': The New American Witch Hunt for Dangerous Pedophiles", By Vanessa Grigoriadis, Rolling Stone, July 30, 2007
  24. Kennedy, Tracy. "Vigilante Web site used to charge city man", The Register Citizen, October 13, 2004 Archived April 26, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
  25. Do you contact the men or do they contact you?, perverted-justice.com
  26. Can you bust so and so because they're a real perv?, perverted-justice.com
  27. "Information for Police", Perverted-Justice.com. Retrieved March 6, 2006.
  28. "Perverted-Justice conviction report for jaydan003", Perverted-Justice.com. Retrieved March 6, 2006.
  29. ""Volunteer Position: Followup Forums", ''Perverted-Justice.com''. Retrieved August 7, 2007.". Pjfi.org. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  30. 1 2 3 "Controversial Web Site Claims to 'Out' Would-Be Child Molesters" by Jonathan Silverstein, ABC News, 10 January 2005
  31. "Bank teller's phone number mistakenly posted on predator website", Associated Press, 29 September 2004
  32. Hansen, Chris (November 11, 2004). "Dangers children face online". Dateline NBC. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  33. McCollam, Doublass (January–February 2007). "The Shame Game". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  34. Wikisposure
  35. "Recent Updates". Perverted-justice.com. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  36. "Internet Watchdogs" Officer.com
  37. "Transcripts - March 17, 2007" Larry King Live, March, 2007
  38. "'Scarborough Country' for February 6th" Scarborough Country, February 6th, 2006
  39. "Chris Hansen, Dateline NBC and Perverted Justice Honored by Love Our Children USA" Love Our Children USA
  40. "Why is Perverted Justice So Controversial?" Child Seek Network
  41. "Letter from Orrin Hatch", Perverted-Justice.com
  42. "A parade of potential predators in a small town" Dateline NBC
  43. "'To Catch a Predator' III" Dateline NBC
  44. "A cyber twilight zone in Ft. Myers, Fla." Dateline NBC
  45. "The scariest potential predator" Dateline NBC
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  48. 1 2 "Police Info", Perverted-Justice.com
  49. "Online group involved in man's arrest," Roanoke Times, 22 January 2005
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  52. "'Vigilante' Web Site Posts 'Pedophile' Information", WBAL11, February 26, 2004
  53. "Aren't you just driving potential pedophiles further underground with Followup, making it more difficult for them to be caught?", the Perverted-Justice FAQ. Retrieved March 6, 2006.
  54. "If you can add comments after the text, what is to stop you from changing the text to make it look worse? from the Perverted-Justice FAQ. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  55. "Judge rules for doctor in sex case", L.A. Carter, Press Democrat, December 25, 2008
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  58. 1 2 Cook, John (September 7, 2006). "Radar Investigates: Strange Bedfellows". Radar Online.
  59. 1 2 Sandra Stokley (September 27, 2007). "'To Catch a Predator' sex stings net mixed results". Press Enterprise.
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  61. "Internet Watchdogs" Officer.com
  62. 1 2 Salkin, Allen (2006-12-13). "As Perverted-Justice.com battles Web pedophiles, some raise concerns over its tactics - Americas". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  63. Markon, Jerry (September 7, 2006). "Rabbi Caught on TV Is Convicted of Seeking Sex With Boy". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  64. "Is it true that contributors send out pics of child porn when they are doing a bust? That's where they get their pictures!", the Perverted-Justice FAQ. Retrieved March 6, 2006.
  65. Stokley, Sandra (2007-09-27). "Predator' sex sting raises questions of fairness, success". The Press-Enterprise (California).
  66. "Predator show slammed", Karen Franklin, American Chronicle, June 10, 2007
  67. "Bartel vs. NBC Lawsuit (page 6, paragraph "o"), states Perverted-Justice decoys "sometimes beg sting targets to come to the sting locations." ", The Smoking Gun Web Site", May 29, 2007. Retrieved June 14, 2007.
  68. "Caught in the Act", Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times, May 31, 2007 Archived July 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  69. 1 2 Ledger-enquirer.com
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  72. "Court won't order arrest of vigilante group leader", Lee Shearer, Athens Banner-Herald, October 16, 2007.
  73. "Prosecutor faults Internet group after rejection of sex-sting cases", Tiara Ellis, Dallas Morning News, June 7, 2007.
  74. "Perverted Justice should focus on predators, not Collin DA's office", Jacquielynn Floyd, Dallas Morning News, June 8, 2007.
  75. "Collin County predator sting is short on proof, ethics", Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 10, 2007.
  76. "The Biggest Lie Ever Told About Us", Perverted-Justice.com, June 2007.
  77. Kim Smith (28 February 2008). "Web site down after filing of suit". Arizona Daily Star.
  78. "Kruska v. Perverted Justice Foundation Incorporated.Org et al. :: Justia News". News.justia.com. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  79. Goodin, Dan (24 September 2010). "Sex, lies, and botnets: the saga of Perverted Justice". The Register.
  80. Goodin, Dan (15 April 2011). "Perverted Justice vigilante sentenced for DDoS attacks". The Register.

External links

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