AIBU to think that you cannot 'cure'/manage a paedophile?

[ilovebabytv]

In that that is their sexual preference (as abhorrent and fucking wrong as it is) is no more curable/manageable than being straight/gay?

And therefore leading on from this theory, that once caught they should be locked up either in jail/psychiatric hospital for life, (kept away from public in general) because they are always going to be a risk?

Louis Theroux did an interesting programme on this.

He visited a "rehab" centre for child sex offenders that they had to go to after prison. Over 70% (not sure on the exact figure but around 70%) refused to participate in the programme and didn't believe anything was wrong with them.

Most of the people who did the programme still weren't released because they failed the polygraphs and another test where they tested sexual arousal when shown pictures of children in swim suits etc.

I don't know what the answer is but my feeling is that no they can't be cured of a sexual persuasion towards children.

Paedophilia is just having the sexual interest. It doesn't mean acting on that. You do not have to molest children if you are a paedophile and people who sexually abuse children are not necessarily considered paedophiles.

Is your supposition that they can't be cured/ will always be a risk based on expert knowledge or just what you reckon/read in the daily mail?

Anecdotally, I know a convicted peadophile through my old job. He was realised from prison a long time ago and now spends his days sitting outside the local family cafe chatting to children with their parents. I've witnessed him giving children sweets/pound coins as a nice treat from the kind man.

I've never said anything to him or them but don't allow my children near him and they know not to talk to him. I don't think he will ever be "cured"

Pantone On that programme somebody was though weren't they?

Their psychiatrist and the judge were happy that they were completely reformed and no longer had a sexual attraction to children. The man had had a chemical castration to try and control him impulses, that didn't work. So he asked for his testicals to be removed. He then went through years of therapy, polygraph tests, and the sexual arousal tests and he was released.

Waffly, hence saying once caught. If they never act on it, they aren't doing anything illegal and wont be caught ifswim?

paedophilia is considered to be a mental disorder an adult suffer who is sexually attracted to prepubescent children

can they be cured no. treated and managed in some cases yes. not all are happy with how they feel many live very miserable lives

and agree not all people that sexually abuse young children are sexually attracted to them. like not all rapists who rape man/woman are sexually attracted to them its the power/the wrongness and sometimes causing another pain that is sexually exciting

Unfortunately an interest is all it takes we had a talk from a policewoman at work and she talked about how the Internet has encouraged those who may not have acted on their feelings in the past to do so now !

They find others online and this helps them to believe that their feelings are normal and eventually leads to damaging behaviour.

Chemical castration also apparently doesn't work as for the most violent it is about control !

Life imprisonment or death sentence (especially if anyone touched my child and I got my hands on them first !)

one of our tutors at uni works with men in prison who have committed violent sexual crimes has said the same thing

she believes that many who are attracted to children do not act on it, loath themselves and those that do it is about power

I don't think it is considered a mental disorder.

You don't get 'caught' having paedophilia, you get diagnosed with it. You get 'caught' abusing children or having illegal porn etc.

But surely if it is something that they can not control, then that really doesn't fit with the way our justice system currently works? Does it need reclassifying as a mental illness and treated that way? I'm not sure how I feel about all this. There used to be helpline for people who had inappropriate feelings about children, do they still exist? To feel like that, like freudian described, must be horrifying. I can't have any sympathy for people that act on those feelings, but I don't think that 'string 'em up!' is the right reaction either.

What Waffly said

we can not control who or what we are attracted to (do you have control who you are attracted to) but you can control what actions you take

those who go on to abuse are abusers, some may be sexually attracted to children, are paedophiles, others are not

it is something we just do not know how to handle, do we lock these people away just in case, do we throw the fantastic father in to prison because he has admitted to being attracted to little girls but not his daughter but is struggling with his thoughts is he the same sort of person that has raped children and women because he wants the power over others its complex but they are very different people

experts are learning more and more and understanding more so hopefully in time there shall be more help out there

I agree with everyone who has said that having the sexual attraction towards children is very different to making a conscious choice to abuse children.

I can't remember the statistic now, but isn't it the case that something like 80% of sex offenders who were convicted of abusing children go on to reoffend on release?

I suppose if you can draw any conclusion it is that the sort of abuser who decides to molest children is highly unlikely to be cured or managed. S/he may or may not be a paedophile though.

Ray Wyre had a lot of success with sexual offenders - change can happen

YANBU. Paedophilia is a sexual attraction to a certain group of people and is no more "curable" than any other orientation. Acting on that urge is a separate issue, but too many people get the distinction between the two confused. Probably cos it's such a highly emotive and sensitive subject.

There is a village in America where everyone has been convicted of this. They live together in safety and are able to keep up safe relationships with others. I don't know if they have been 'cured' but I do think there are alternatives to 'locking them up' which seems like an inhumane and spectacularly lazy response.

Also, check out this:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/making-friends-with-a-paedophile-we-cant-kill-him-so-we-help-him-not-to-do-it-again-8793019.html

So, does removing someone's testicles remove sexual desire, does anybody know?

No I don't think it can be 'cured', although I do not see paedophilia as an illness, it is a (perverse) sexual attraction to children, not a disease you can take medicine for.

In the same way you cannot 'make' a heterosexual person homosexual, or any of those crazy uber Christian 'gay cure' centres. You cannot, imho, change someone's sexual preference.

Even those paedophiles who know their inclination is wrong, they may want to change, they may try to change, but I don't believe you can ever remove or stamp that desire out completely.

Greetings - I'm sure I read an article that said that in a lot of cases chemical castration merely resulted in offenders using inanimate objects to abuse others.

Although in other cases I think it has had marked success.

I suppose every case is different.

im biast..but they should all be left to rot somewhere as far as im concerned.

People get arrested for looking at indecent pictures of children. Does anyone ever think about the people who help create those images. About the poor children in them.