Perverted-Justice

For the legal term, see Perverting the course of justice.
Perverted-Justice
Founded2002
FounderXavier Von Erck
Defunct2019
Location
  • California and Oregon

Perverted Justice Foundation, Inc.,[1][2] more commonly known as Perverted-Justice (also known as PeeJ), was an American organization based in California and Oregon which investigated, identified, and publicized the conduct of adults who have used chat rooms and other social media in order to solicit online sexual conversations and in-person meetings with minors. Their website serves as an archive of collected data on these investigations, which they make available in order to assist law enforcement and the public in understanding the behavior and child grooming techniques of online hebephiles.

The activity of the Perverted-Justice organization included online volunteers carrying out sting operations by posing as minors (the age range portrayed by the decoys is usually 10–15) on chat sites and waiting for adults to approach them. After obtaining the identifying information of the adults who are seeking sexual contact with minors (the adult seeking the minor may offer their telephone number or other details so that a meeting can be arranged), the organization would then pass the information on to law enforcement.[3] Perverted-Justice's methods are controversial, and 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 operated 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 minors 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]

In late 2018, Perverted-Justice announced that, from the beginning of 2019, they would be formally ending decoy operations, and effectively cease all other operations afterwards. They also announced that they would be converting the official website to an archive of past operations and collected data, and removing other site features such as the forums. The data they proposed to compile and make accessible on the website, including thousands of formerly unseen chat logs, is available for research purposes in order to assist anti-pedophile groups and law enforcement with regard to understanding the behavior and techniques of online pedophiles.[16]

  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. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2012-02-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Bonopartis, Nik. (October 4, 2004). "Net vigilantes go where police can't". Poughkeepsie.
  8. ^ "Ethics Be Damned: 'Dateline' Imitates 'Network'". Ethicsscoreboard.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  9. ^ "'To Catch a Predator': The New American Witch Hunt for Dangerous Pedophiles". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 2010-05-07. 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. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  12. ^ "howtodealwithcreepypeople.com". howtodealwithcreepypeople.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-28. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  13. ^ "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. ^ "Perverted-Justice.com - The largest and best anti-predator organization online". Pjfi.org. Archived from the original on 2019-01-03. Retrieved 2019-01-02.