Mental health workers offered mixed support for the treatment program. A rape crises advocate and support counselor suggested that diverting offenders out of the criminal justice system denied the victims the closure that they needed to move on with their lives. However, two psychiatrists indicated that they believe that treatment programs can be effective, and that treatment is the appropriate course for mentally ill offenders, rather than incarceration. In addition, because they work with mental commitments, they indicated that both of them have already participated in civil commitments for pedophilic child molesters who offended within the family group, and indicated their belief that the civil commitment process actually made it easier for the victim to begin the work to repair his or her life.
Finally, it is important to consider the criminals. More than in almost any other area, the idea of possibly indefinite civil commitment for those who sexually offend against children is terrifying. Some offenders suggest that the threat of indefinite civil commitment is cruel and unusual punishment, effectively giving them a life sentence for crimes that the legislature has determined should be punishable by smaller periods of incarceration. However, all three of the offenders surveyed indicated that they did not believe that they could get better without treatment and that, if they continued to have sexual urges towards children that they would eventually reoffend. One of the offenders discussed suicide as a possibility, and spoke of his attempts to have his family doctor castrate him when he first realized he was sexually attracted to his two-year-old niece. While it is easy to demonize sexual offenders, especially those that prey on children, the reality is that many of these people are deeply ashamed and horrified by their sexual urges. All three of them suggested that they would have turned themselves in after their first offense, if they had thought they had a reasonable chance at getting effective treatment rather than facing prosecution, conviction, and a horrific experience while in prison.
Policy recommendations
Divert all offenders accused of the sexual assault of a child into the civil commitment process for an emergency 72-hour hold to determine whether or not the offender is a pedophile and whether or not the offender poses a continuing danger to self or others.
For all offenders who are not determined to be pedophiles or
Do not ever allow a judge or treating physician to order any type of castration without the patient's consent; the default is continued confinement.
Give the District Attorney the discretion to prosecute the pedophile for any acts of sexual assault, as well as any other crimes committed to further the sexual assault or hide the sexual assault. Any pedophile engaging in torture, aggravated assault, or murder would be subject to criminal prosecution for those crimes.
While conventional wisdom suggests that treatment for sexual offenses against children is ineffective, that simply is not the case. Pedophiles have a horrible disease. While that disease does not give them the right to victimize others, it like other mental illness, becomes more difficult to control when a person is experiencing "fear, lack of trust, low self-esteem, feelings of rejection, inadequate social skills, lack of empathy, isolation from others, and poor communications skills." (Freeman-Longo, 2001). Prison increases these feelings, making it unlikely that treatment in a prison setting would provide the same type of success as hospital-based treatment programs.
Furthermore, one-third of sexual offenses against children are committed by teenagers. (Chaffin, Bonner, & Pierce, 2003). Because many child molesters are, themselves, children, it stands to reason that there are many teenage child molesters who are pedophiles, though most adolescent sexual offenders do not meet the criteria for pedophilia. However, across the board, adolescent sex offenders are more responsive to treatment
Sex offenders: How should the legal system deal with them? Dealing with the problem of sex offenders is one of the most serious and emotional issues any criminal justice professional can confront. Even otherwise rational people often become irrational when the subject of sexual abuse arises. This fear that sex offenders could be anywhere and everywhere is terrifying for parents and the public at large. The idea that a sex offender
Sex Offender Civil Commitment Civil Rights or Societal Rights Civil commitment is a legal process typically introduced into society for the mentally ill, or those individuals whom the Court or other professionals believe are a danger to themselves or others. Society realizes that, at times, an individual may pose a danger to themselves or to society and be unable to make rational decisions. In fact, in most jurisdictions in the modern world,
Sex Offenders and the Internet The types of sexual habits occurring online range from very unusual behaviors to others that are plain illegal (Caroline & Klein, 2014). A considerable amount of literature on sexual abuse of minors occurring and getting promoted online is being developed although there is a scarcity of information concerning other internet sexual based interactions that touch on manufacturing, dissemination and online viewing of sexual materials (Carolina &
Considering this, many have contended that once a priest's pedophilic drives have been revealed that "All minors are potential victims in [their] presence." (Wheeler, 2005). But this is analogous to saying that all women are in danger of having sexual relations with a heterosexual priest. Clearly, such an act is not necessarily a crime, as pedophilia is, but both opinions suggest that celibacy is impossible -- doubtlessly it is
The website explained that the law's necessities turned on a person's finding of guilt alone a fact that a person had already had a procedurally protected occasion to challenge. Even if the person could show that he was not liable to be presently harmful, Connecticut had determined that the registry knowledge of all sex offenders had to be openly revealed. The offender had relied only on procedural due process,
There is also the idea that the child will not be believed, and the idea that a child (or even an adult) might tell this humiliating and painful story only to be laughed at, ignored, or turned away, is too much for many of these victims to bear (Denov, 2003). b. DSM-IV AND SEX OFFENDING Paraphilias appear to be presented as a primarily male problem. An addendum to the section of
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