Second Circuit Addresses Predator Sting Problems

This outcome is the expected one, but the Second Circuit, in US v. Gagliardi, provides an interesting discussion of the doctrinal problems associated with police posing as children in online conversations with pedophiles.  The Second Circuit found no First Amendment refuge for defendants:

[Gagliardi] argues that § 2422(b) requires an actual minor victim and is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. In the instant case, the targets of Gagliardi’s attempted enticement were not actual minors but adults posing as minors. We now join several other circuits in holding that 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) does not require that the enticement victim be an actual “individual who has not attained the age of 18 years” and is neither unconstitutionally vague nor overbroad.

As the opinion mentions, there is no split on this issue and I think it is almost universally accepted that these sorts of stings are acceptable police practices. 

HT: How Appealing