Pedophile Activist on BBC Radio 4 Behind The Crime

[BitMuch]

A convicted pedophile describes his crimes against girls with great self-pity, says his victims did not have negative reactions and if they had he would have stopped before he got caught and argues to reduce stigma for pedophiles. The presenters psychologists Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken do not challenge him and repeatedly call for viewers to sympathise with what they call his 'compulsion', comparing his 'attraction' to our desire to eat unhealthy food. Is this the next target for 'just be kind you judgy bigot' propaganda?

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001b43m

It was produced in partnership with the Prison Radio Association. Does that mean this episode is being played to prisoners?

Ian talking about reporting to the police station as he’s on the sex offenders’ register for life

What does that mean to be on the sex offenders’ register?

It’s a very shameful thing because I have to keep going into the police station in a public area and saying, “I’m here to report.” It’s just in the open, reception desk, people hanging about. I mean I’m feeling awful anyway and I’m very worried because it’s been in the local paper, all the neighbours know, all the friends know, everybody knows what I’ve been up to.

Can I ask you a bit about that Ian because I and Kerensa speak to people quite regularly who have done something in their past that they regret and caused harm to another person and very serious harm. The public reaction to somebody who’s committed a sexual offence seems to carry an extra stigma than somebody who’s committed a very, very serious say violent offence and I wonder if you’ve pieced together any of what that’s about?

The fact that it’s a child, that’s something that’s really hard to live with actually is that it’s harmful and I don’t think of myself as a nasty person who wants to cause harm. I’ve always tried to do it in a way that wasn’t going to be frightening or whatever and now I’m confronted with, I can’t duck this anymore, what I did was horrible, it hurt people and I’ve got to live with that for the rest of my life. I can’t go and apologise to these victims, I can’t make their lives any better, I can’t help them in any way. There’s nothing I can do about that.

Remember that this is a conversation for the radio. It’s not how they’d conduct a risk assessment- type report for a parole board or any other professional meeting.

Removing the taboo has little guarantee of stopping those who say it will stop them offending. It's an experiment with children's lives at stake. The offender will lose nothing if this experiment goes wrong.
Removing the taboo also opens the flood gates for all this who don't offend because of the taboo. Again the worst affected will be the children of the failed experiment.

This is not a risk anyone should be willing to take to enable a potential offender find comfort.

The day I listen to pedos on what we should do to reduce offending, is the day I put foxes in charge of keeping chickens safe 🙄

How about we listen to victims?

Genuine question, but when has removing the taboo from something, ever led to it being reduced?

I actually agree I don’t think paedophilia can be ‘cured’ but I would like to see more research and interventions aimed at reducing offending.

If people were able to admit they have a disorder like paedophilia without e.g. getting their house burned down, their lives threatened, then they could get help which would mean they are less likely to offend further down the line.

The psychology of paedophilia is poorly understood because obviously people are reluctant to come forward and say "yes, I have a sexual attraction to children".

There are theories that it is innate (i.e. you are born with it) and / or that it is formed through childhood experiences or childhood abuse.

Some paedophiles will develop / realize their attraction to children when they are still children themselves and going through puberty, so anything from age 10 upwards really. Do we condem an 11 or 12 year old who hasn't done anything wrong because he has a psychological disorder? Or do we try and help him so that he never offends?

I think it's important to keep the disorder of paedophilia separate in your mind from child sexual offenders. Being a paedophile is not in and of itself a crime.

I'd rather have a world where there are infinitely fewer victims of CSA because we can identify those who have paedophilia and help them, instead of waiting for a child to be hurt just so we can throw someone in prison.

Quite

Some people learned a great deal from Savile

This is not a sexual orientation, it's a
desire or compulsion to abuse
There is no need to be understanding, only to keep safeguarding as free
From loopholes as possible

Does anyone know if there is a transcript?

👍

👏🏼👏🏼

Like all this MAP bullshit - no you are a paedo!

Some paedophiles will develop / realize their attraction to children when they are still children themselves and going through puberty, so anything from age 10 upwards really. Do we condem an 11 or 12 year old who hasn't done anything wrong because he has a psychological disorder? Or do we try and help him so that he never offends?

Yep. Exactly this.

I’m so used to intelligent woman posting on here that I wasn’t prepared for so many responses from the hard of thinking.

This whole movement has been a long-game to lower societal boundaries and shift the Overton window to make paedophilia acceptable.

www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/psychological-therapies/roles/forensic-psychologist

'hard of thinking' - attack the arguments, not the people making them. Lest someone think you don't actually have a good argument yourself.

If people were able to admit they have a disorder like paedophilia without e.g. getting their house burned down, their lives threatened, then they could get help which would mean they are less likely to offend further down the line.

I think this is a convenient excuse. If we're keeping a distinction between paedophiles and child abusers then it would be more accurate to say child abusers are more likely get their houses burned down when they are caught because any admission at that point would be confessing a crime.

100% agree with this post.

I haven't heard the programme - I'm not particularly inclined to and I'm not on iPlayer but I've seen the programme notes which struck me as unusually long and explanatory, comprising seven paragraphs about the content (three of which begin with 'Ian's' or 'Ian'), plus additional information about the programme. In full:
Title: " 'Ian' "
[The Seven paras]:
"Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken are forensic psychologists who work in prisons.

Their role is to help people who have committed crimes to look at the harm they’ve caused to other people, understand why, and work out how to make changes to prevent further harm after they’ve been released.

In Behind the Crime, they take the time to understand someone whose crimes have led to harm and in some cases, imprisonment.

In this final episode they talk to Ian*, who pleaded guilty to the offence of indecent exposure. Ian received a non-custodial sentence, was placed on the register of sex offenders and was ordered to attend a sex offender treatment programme.

Ian’s story is one of a compulsion that started early in childhood and continued into his adult years. By talking through the key moments in Ian’s life and upbringing, we can start to understand how he, and others, reach the point where they cause harm through shameful acts that cause disgust to society.

Ian's conviction led to him seeking further help to curb his compulsions, and he has successfully learned how to live safely. His behaviour has been under control for over ten years, and his successful treatment may have prevented further, far more serious harm happening in the future.

Ian engaged with a specialist charity called StopSO, which offers treatment to perpetrators and offers support for survivors of sexual offending. www.stopso.org.uk"

[Additional information]:
"*Ian’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
A warning that some people may find this programme distressing.
For details of organisations that can provide help and support, visit bbc.co.uk/actionline
Producer: Andrew Wilkie
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Behind the Crime is a co-production between BBC Long Form Audio and the Prison Radio Association."
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001b43m

Ian’s story is one of a compulsion that started early in childhood

Many/most do.

They are children and young people when they first offend.

What do we do about this?

Some people start their murdering career as young children.

What's your point? Remove the taboo of murder because they are young?

What's your point? Remove the taboo of murder because they are young?

Now that really is hard of thinking. I have not said anything about removing the taboo.

I have asked what we do about the fact that there is evidence to suggest that men/boys who have inappropriate sexual inclinations to children develop this as children and young people. How do we treat this?

The only comments about ‘removing the taboo’ are on here, not on the programme.