Recall the case of Internet entrapment involving pedophiles that we described in Section 7.7.1. Which arguments can be made in favor of entrapment and "sting operations" on the Internet? From a utilitarian perspective, entrapment might seem like a good thing because it may achieve desirable consequences. Should sting operations be used to lure pedophiles? Justify your position by appealing to one or more of the ethical theories.

 

7.7.1 Entrapment and Sting Operation to Catch Internet Pedophiles Police and federal agents have used "sting" operations and entrapment techniques to catch members of organized crime involved in drug dealing, gambling, pornography, and so forth. Consider a controversial case of entrapment involving cxbertechnology that was intended to lure and catch a pedophile who used the Internet to solicit sex with an under- aged person. c SCENARIO 7-3: Entrapment on the Internet Using an alias or pseudoname, detective James McLaughlin of Keene, New Hampshire posed as a young boy in "boy-love chat rooms" on the Internet. There he searched for adults attempting to solicit sex with underage boys, and gathered evidence from conversations recorded in the chat rooms. Philip Rankin, a British marine-insurance expert living in Norway, communicated with McLaughlin under the assumption that the police officer was a young boy. Rankin then agreed to travel to Keene to meet his online contact in person at a Dunkin' Donuts restaurant. Upon his arrival at the restaurant, Rankin was arrested by McLaughlin on the charge of using the Internet to solicit sex with an under-aged person.27 & Critics of Internet entrapment have questioned whether such practices for catching child molesters are ethically justifiable, even if they are legal. In the United States, numerous cases of child molestation have been investigated by the FBI where pedophiles have crossed over a state line to meet and molest children they met via an Internet forum such as a chat room. Sometimes police officers have entered chat rooms, posing as young girls to lure unsuspecting pedophiles. In 2003, a three-week sting operation was con- ducted in Spokane, Washington, where a policeman posing as a 13-year-old girl in an Internet chat room arrested a twenty-two-year-old man on charges of attempted (second- degree) rape of a child.28 Supporters of online entrapment operations argue that they can save many innocent lives and can significantly lessen the harm that might otherwise occur to some individuals. For example, one could speculate about the outcome of the Amy Boyer stalking incident (described in a scenario in Chapter 1) if an entrapment scheme, similar to the one used in Scenario 7-3, had been in place to catch cyberstalkers such as Liam Youens. Of course, a critical question from the point of view of many civil libertarians is whether the ends achieved by entrapment operations justify the means. Are such means morally acceptable? At the root of this question are some of the same issues involving civil liberties that we examined in Scenario 7-2 (involving the interception of physical mail entering and leaving a certain neighborhood), where we saw that the end achieved, catching criminals, was desirable, but the means used to accomplish this end were questionable.