It is difficult to imagine a more heinous crime than the sexual abuse of children. Yet
terrifyingly a new case of child sexual abuse is reported every seven minutes. In response to
this crisis self-appointed groups of citizens are fashioning themselves as 'paedophile
hunters.' Operating outside the law these groups use social media to bait and expose those
seeking to engage children sexually both on- and offline. Their work has been remarkably
effective but at what cost? Following four years of unprecedented access to the UK's most
prolific team of paedophile hunters Mark de Rond offers balanced and insightful answers to the
perplexing question of why these groups persist in using extreme methods to hold predators to
account in view of less harmful alternatives. In doing so he invites us to consider the
societal impacts of paedophile hunters on our laws and institutions as well as societal
cohesion and safety.
