President Obama had a special meeting with John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted, this weekend to recognize the "more than 1,000 lives" that have been positively affected by that show since its premier in 1988. Commemorating 1,000 episodes in the past 20 years, Mr. Obama praised Walsh for the tireless work he has done to help the victims of abduction -- not just the abducted, but their families -- and to promise funds for the "Adam Walsh Act," a law passed in 2006 that mandates stricter lifetime tracking of convicted sex offenders.
Invoking his own daughters to express his concern in child safety in the United States, the president appealed to Mr. Walsh as both a fellow dad and a politician with enormous influence. John Walsh's son, Adam, was abducted at a Florida mall in 1981.
Child abduction and sex crimes against minors are horrific offenses, no doubt about it. And while I agree with Obama that America's Most Wanted has done society an invaluable service, I have to wonder if the show has also helped increase hysteria and a kind of witch-hunting mentality. Mark Bowden wrote a fascinating piece for Vanity Fair last year recounting the case of a sting operation on an alleged online child predator who was, by some accounts, entrapped by the undercover detective who set the bait that led to his arrest. "A Crime of Shadows" does an outstanding job of revealing how our desire to avenge the helpless victims of child predation can cloud our thinking about who, in fact, poses an actual threat. The subjects of his study turn the tables on who committed the greater sin: the detective becomes the wrongdoer, and the convict becomes an innocent, if troubled, man who merely fell into a trap.
Unfortunately, decent embeddable footage of the interview is hard to find. The below video of the interview filmed directly off of someone's television has OK quality, but for a clear and concise clip visit this site.
Obama on Child Predation



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