Director David Osit’s documentary Predators examines the controversial Dateline NBC segment, “To Catch a Predator,” which ran from 2004 to 2007. In the popular segment, journalist Chris Hansen used sting operations with online chat decoys to lure and confront male pedophiles on camera, often leading to arrests. At the time, few questioned these tactics, but Osit’s documentary explores the moral and ethical ambiguities of such programs, asking whether the ends justify the means.

Like other early reality TV, such as Cops, the program aired compelling, if voyeuristic, footage. The documentary includes clips of suspects pleading for help or forgiveness after realizing they were being filmed. Osit also features newer versions of the segment, like popular YouTuber Skeeter Jean, who posts his confrontations with predators online.

Osit interviews law enforcement officials who defend these televised sting operations. A former Kentucky attorney general, Greg Stumbo, describes them as a way to bring “hardened criminals” to justice. However, others question the viability of making arrests through TV shows. Following the 2006 suicide of Bill Conradt, a Dallas area assistant district attorney who was targeted by the show, a law enforcement official says, “We’re in the law enforcement business, not show business.”

The film also draws on the perspective of ethnographer Mark de Rond, whose book Dark Justice covers similar topics. De Rond views the programs as entrapment, arguing they exist to provide viewers with morbid satisfaction. During his interview, Osit reveals that he was molested as a child and watched Hansen’s show hoping to understand the motivations behind such acts. He notes, however, that the program “was not interested in that answer.”

Predators is a fascinating and unsettling watch, highlighting the contradictions of such programs. For instance, a district attorney reveals that due process is often not upheld, with the result that some of these cases cannot be prosecuted. Osit also speaks with a woman whose son was profiled on the current TruBlu network series Takedown with Chris Hansen—her son had just turned 18 and was caught with a 15-year-old girl. After the broadcast, the teenager was forced to leave his high school and can only see his 16-year-old brother under supervision. His mother angrily blames Hansen’s ongoing crusade for ruining her son’s life.

In a cordial but subtly confrontational interview, Hansen defends his actions, claiming that thanks from victims and viewers who agree with his tactics prove the decades of work have been helpful. But Osit counters, “I see ‘To Catch a Predator’ as an attempt to make public service entertaining.” Based on his documentary, he disagrees that televised humiliation disguised as law and order has been productive.