TV stings raise ratings-over-rights issues

NEW YORK, April 30 (UPI) -- Critics of the latest prime-time, online sex crime show say the segment of "America's Most Wanted" series is more interested in ratings than fighting crime.

Not so -- such shows are valuable law enforcement tools, say advocates, including Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson, who partnered with police on the show to help nab would-be offenders, Newsday reported Monday.

In the segment, Nelson, 20, posted much younger pictures of herself online, luring four men to a house to meet her posing as a 13-year-old girl. Nelson is promoting Internet safety during her reign.

"It's all being done without any judicial decision-making," said David Finkelhor, director of Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. "It's fair to ask ... whether we want our justice system to get involved in such severe sanctions and stigmas against someone who still hasn't had their day in court."

Advocates counter that the TV stings stop would-be offenders before they harm someone.

"There's no question that the people that we are catching are predators," said Stephen Treglia of the Nassau, N.Y., district attorney's office. "These are people who have harmed people in the past and certainly would again."