Identifying a pedophile to his neighbours

[Bipitybopityboop]

If you found out, through work, that a pedophile was going to live on a certain street near you.
Would you anonymously let the neighbourhood know?

Would you want to know?

This could not be traced back to one individual.

It's noticeable that the professionals on this thread aren't providing any credible alternative to the OP than sharing public domain info about a convicted child sex offender.

Surely DOING NOTHING is not ok - so what should she do instead? How are parents in that area going to be enabled to keep their kids safe? Minimise risks?

I think the system is part of the problem and enables these life destroyers.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Burke (and I'd add women too).

What about the OP's peace of mind. How can she live with herself if she does nothing and a child is harmed?

If I knew the families in the neighborhood personally then yes I absolutely would warn them to make sure their DC stay away. I'd be more concerned about a risk to a child than the risk of vigilante justice.

I have in all liklihood met many more survivors of child serial abuse, including rape, than almost anyone else on this thread. I assess in detail and advise probably more than 50 such people every year and have done for more than ten years. There is absolutely no chance on earth I would minimise what happened to them.

Perhaps the professionals aren’t being forthcoming about interventions and safeguarding measures due to the vast torrent of criticism being thrown their way? There are numerous measures available.

@IloveJKRowling

It's noticeable that the professionals on this thread aren't providing any credible alternative to the OP than sharing public domain info about a convicted child sex offender.

Surely DOING NOTHING is not ok - so what should she do instead? How are parents in that area going to be enabled to keep their kids safe? Minimise risks?

I think the system is part of the problem and enables these life destroyers.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Burke (and I'd add women too).

What about the OP's peace of mind. How can she live with herself if she does nothing and a child is harmed?

This is my thought process

And the attitude displayed in spades on this thread is WHY some victims will feel worse when a crime is made public (and also why they may be reticent to come forward). Because it's victim blaming bullshit all the way.

Of course many victims would like their day in court and want their perpetrators to be publicly shamed - what about them?.

If we discussed this more openly and parents were properly educated and prepared to look after their kids and more aware of the scale of this, then there would be less stigma. It needs to be brought into the open as the evil shit it is, not minimised and everyone acting like it doesn't happen.

But it's secrecy and collusion all the way.

And you say 'leave it to the professionals' but it seems the good ones who care about kids are often ignored.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/3525507/sara-rowbotham-rochdale-child-grooming-sex-abuse-scandal/

and then we have this... is anyone surprised?

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-social-worker-arrested-suspicion-18212406

Parents, talk to each other, find out who lives in your community and learn how to protect your kids.

What about the 1000’s of other dedicated professionals that just get on with their job?

Presumably they're being ignored and obstructed like Sara Rowbotham. It's not like she didn't raise her concerns multiple times.

@IloveJKRowling where did you detect any victim blaming here?

Thankfully these cultures are changing

And yes, I have met hundreds of people who were not properly safeguarded by professionals (including people from Rochdale as it happens), as well as hundreds actually abused by professionals such as social workers, teachers, doctors, nurses, therapists...the list goes on. I am well aware of that aspect of the issue. That is not the issue that was raised by the OP though.

@IloveJKRowling

What do you think is more dangerous to families?

A registered sex offender who is monitored by police, adult social services and probation services.

A car filled with 17 to 25 yos doing 50-mph down a residential street while slinging rocks from their car windows?

A stoned teenage arsonist with a jar of petrol, a box of fireworks and a willingness to commit murder and his stoned friends encouraging him to do so?

A group of 6+ drunken, violent thugs egging each other on to commit a serious assault if not murder?

Because I've lived with all of those in my street and I'd take the sex offender any day.

You cannot publicise the whereabouts of sex offenders without attracting vigilantes and vigilantes are more like the above than the well groomed professional hit men you see in movies.

Should have said child sexual abuse, not serial abuse above....(although some people are certainly subjected to serial sexual abuse...)

I would want to know op

Parents being able to properly protect and care for their child/children is far more important to me than what happens to a convicted offender.

I would be telling my neighbours, especially the ones with children of course I would.

No

I often see someone who I know is a very violent sexual predator. I would be very disturbed if I saw him with a women

But he has served his sentence

Unfortunately it’s a huge risk no matter how much monitoring sex offenders have

Unless he has been chemically castrated he is still a massive danger to everyone around him. Monitoring is not a silver bullet, people deserve to know.

There are only certain jobs where you know the location of these offenders, I would say it will be obvious who tipped them off. It's the ones you do not know about you should be concerned about.

@youvegottenminuteslynn

Can we all be mindful to not use the awful phrase 'child porn'. They are child sexual abuse images. I know nobody means harm by it, but it's really important to use terms that correctly describe what that content is.

You are 100% right and I apologise for using it. It appeared on a screen shot at the beginning of the programme and they started out by investigating the man for possessing and distributing indecent images of children. It later came to light that he had made, and appeared in, some of those images.

The other thing to bear in mind is that every indecent image, even if copied a million times, is of a real child who was abused. The programme alluded to the idea that the ready availability of such images may normalise the concept of sexual contact with children in the mind of some men who view them and make them more likely to act on what might otherwise have been only a passing idea.

@AMillionMilesAway

No I would not.

1. Confidentiality. Also I can't actually think of any job where this would come up, apart from maybe housing or something? (not relevant but I'm nosy).

1. Are you 100% sure of your facts? The actual offence? The ongoing risks?

Police Probation Social services

Unless he has been chemically castrated he is still a massive danger to everyone around him. There is a good idea.

Parents being able to properly protect and care for their child/children is far more important to me than what happens to a convicted offender.
I'm on the fence here, the DC's safety comes first and like I said up thread always assume there is a predator on your block or within the extended family, watch your DC like you're aware.
Around here if folk got wind of a convicted offender he'd be chased out if he survived the beaten.

In terms of practical advice about knowing who's living in your community, local papers are really good sources of information about convicted offenders. Often with photos.

"Chemical castration" can certainly work well, yes, in very specfic circumstances. An example of how risk can be managed, rather than just saying that nothing can be changed in terms of an individual's risk of reoffending.

The whole tone of this thread is that we shouldn't talk about this among parents. It should be hushed up just on the off chance someone sees red and commits a crime as a result.

It's this sort of culture of silence that shames victims and means that perpetrators get away with it. If there was more shaming of individuals who hurt children in this way then perhaps some of those with these inclinations wouldn't move from thinking to doing. This climate of silence and fear enables the child sex abuser.

If we talked about it more, how abhorrent it is, and shared information as a matter of course, I doubt there'd be more vigilante crime but I suspect there'd be less child abuse.

It's not surprising that children don't speak up - ADULTS don't speak up - this whole thread is people telling the OP not to speak up (just as children are told to 'keep it a secret') - even though with a convicted criminal the information WILL be public domain. OP wasn't suggesting taking out an ad saying 'kill the bastard', she was suggesting quietly letting neighbours know so they can be more vigilant to protect their kids.