Demonization And Dehumanization Of Sex Offenders

I would like to tackle an issue that has been on my mind for a long time. That is the demonization and dehumanization of sex offenders.

In America at least, being charged of a sex crime is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. It gives them what is known in Russia as “the wolf's ticket” - a designation that bars them from just about anything. The person gets treated as less than human. A person who has committed a theft or a manslaughter re-enters society after serving the prison sentence. Whereas these people are barred from society even after serving their prison sentence. This is not how constitutional law is meant to work.

Am I in favor of sex offenses? No, but I am also not in favor of demonization and witch hunts. And this is what we see here. The major claim about these people is that they can only be bad and that they will keep re-offending. That denies these people the most basic humanity. Anything human is capable of choice. Anything capable of choice is capable of changing their behavior. That a man gets bad urges does not mean that he is doomed to acting on bad urges all his life. He can simply tell himself no.

The way in which these people are regarded and defined denies them this basic fact – fact of choice. It is claimed that they will never stop offending. That is irrational, that is dehumanizing, and that is cruel. Once again, anything human is capable of choice. And that means also the sex offenders.

So I want greater scrutiny over such practices and over such beliefs. We are dealing here with demonization and dehumanization. Neither of the above are meant to happen in the free world. And it is wrong that this be happening in the name of feminism or in the name of anything else.

 

Anyone who wants to know the mind-boggling extent of this atrocity by the Catholic clergy against children should watch the movie Spotlight. It's based on the true story of events in Boston by the Boston Globe newspaper. What an eyeopener it is.

 

It doesn't stop with actual sex offenders. All it takes is to be accused, especially by a minor, and boom! Facts be damned. People's lives are often ruined just by the accusation. I am all for the punishment of actual sex offenders. But let's wait until we actually prove they are a sex offender.

 

This is a tough subject. Sex offenders are truly the most hated segment of our population. More so than murderers. I think it is because, with most crimes, even murder, we can imagine a time we could do it; not so with sex offenses especially against children.

I am against the sex offender registry for several reasons:
1. It doesn't differentiate for exactly what the person did. And I have heard a lot of silly reasons for people to be put on it, such as peeing in a public place (there may or may not have been a child in the vicinity). And since we know of these cases, it invalidates the good that the registry could have done, because we don't know if the person is truly a child molester or rapist or if he (or she!) just peed somewhere they shouldn't have.
2. I do think it somehow violates constitutional rights such as that people aren't supposed to be punished indefinitely, right? In fact, I think eventually one of these folks will successfully fight this and then all these people will begin to sue and the government will be paying them A LOT of money.
3. It keeps people from ever being able to redeem themselves.

I do believe that pedophilia is some kind of a brain abnormality, as well as a crime. So perhaps those folks should be housed in mental institutions where they can be kept forever, instead of in prisons where we let them out but never actually forgive them. Another reason to bring back the mental institutions.

 

And if that is true, and it very well might be, why not keep them locked up forever?

That seems like a given doesn't it? Yet it isn't.

 

If such was the case then anyone getting a life sentence would be having their constitutional rights violated.

Pedophilia is not a crime. It is a disorder akin to kleptomania. The reason neither of these disorders are crimes is because they exist even when the person has not acted upon the impluses that is the hallmark of the disorders. We're not supposed to punish people before they commit a crime.

 

I meant when they are punished beyond serving their sentence, such as put on the sex offender registry or some similar list that follows them for years.

Right you are, but the moment they act upon it, it becomes a crime as well as an affliction.

 

Pedos are outlawed like homosexuals many decades ago. But one day they lose control, rape a child and go to jail. The difference is that pedos can not live their sexuality without harming children. Will there ever be a solution for these poor souls? Sex dolls that look like little boys? Brain surgery?

Difficult topic ...

 

Just because the incarceration portion is over, that doesn't automatically mean the full punishment is. Could not.being on the list be seen as a.life sentence sans incarceration?

No it doesn't. Pedophilia is not on any law books anywhere. Child sexual assault is the crime, and it is a crime that is independent of whether or not the perpetrator has pedophilia.

 

Pedophiles are not outlawed. It is not a crime to be one. The only crime is child sexual assault, and that crime does not require that one be a pedophile to commit it. Additionally, pedophilia is not a sexuality either. For that matter a pedophile's victim's gender might not even match their sexuality. The disorder often overrides such things. The victims are more often chosen by ability get to them than by gender

 

I think you are splitting hairs.

 

They are something like psychopaths? They mainly want to have control over others?
Interesting point of view. This also means that they do not necessarily have to attack their victims on a sexual basis. That possibly means that pedophilia is curable. Homosexuality is not.

 

Thank you very much. In USA all sex offenders are sentenced to lifetime on the register.

Even murderers should have rights. In Canada and West Europe, even killers imprisoned for life have a right to humane treatment.

Great Russian writers like Chekhov and Lev Tolstoy defended killers who were tortured to death. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson abolished cruel punishment in the time when in Europe breaking on the wheel was common.

 

Such is your opinion, and I can even understand it. However, I do believe that this is an important distinction. Especially in light of not punishing those pedophiles who have never harmed a child.

 

As noted, the closest disorder is probably Kleptomania. And by this I am looking at a disorder that causes frequent strong impulses that run counter to the person's knowledge of right and wrong.

That would be rapists (a distinction that I hope you understand within the context) and why child sexual assault can occur without pedophilia being present. For the pedophile it is an impulse control disorder, where they struggle not to give into the impulses. Or at least not with a real child, which is why some will turn to sex dolls and drawn child porn.

Actually there is nothing to say that we might not be able to alter one's sexuality or gender identity at some point in the future. It is just at this time we have no know type of therapy that doesn't cause more damage than it "solves". And before you start on anything, I am a strong supporter of the LBGT community, having several friends and relatives who fall under that category. But there are people out there that would love to be able to change from what they are, especially among the transgenders who would rather not have to go through the hormones and surgery. That said, the ability to do one would probably result in the ability to do the other. Pedophilia is currently not curable. Treatable, yes, to some degree, greater or lesser depending on the individual. As to the ability not to attack, it just depends upon how strong it is, along with what help they get. It's not like when we get urges and then they go away. These types of impulse control disorders causes them to be pressured almost constantly.

 

I got an idea on how to cure it. It is a form of meditation that Buddhist monks use in order to overcome their sexuality. Whenever the person starts to feel anything for a child, have him meditate on decomposing corpses. Better yet have him meditate on spending 10 years in prison and getting beaten and anally raped every day. If it can help Buddhists do away with sexuality as such, it can help people do away with pedophilia.

 

Which only shows how ignorant you are on such disorders. Even assuming it would keep the individual from committing an assault, it still would not cure the disorder. To be cured, the individual would have to be free of the compulsions. Most pedophiles don't want to hurt children. But the compulsion brought on by the disorder is strong. Simple meditation usually isn't enough. And no the stereotypical reaction of cutting their privates off doesn't work either. The compulsion remains and that piece of equipment isn't required for a sexual assault, not to mention it doesn't address the women with the disorder. Medical help, therapy and research is what will keep children safe, not driving people away without help, to more endanger children.

 

So you are saying that it is a medical problem with medical solutions?
Maybe it is. I am not a pedophile. However I know for a fact that even if you get wrongful compulsions you can tell yourself no.
The reason for my post to which you have responded is that Buddhists can use that form of meditation to do away with sexuality altogether; which means that a pedophile should be able to use it to do away with his pedophilic compulsions. Something that works for a superset can work for a subset. So this is something that an in-good-faith person suffering from pedophilic urges should be able to do himself without burdening the system with his problems.

 

What, you mean let's wait until they rape a little girl or a baby?

 

No I mean we don't ruin their lives until we have proven they actually comitted the crime, not just received an accusation of such. I point to the Duke Lacrosse team as a prime example. And by that I not looking at an example of a child attack, but one of false accusations. A child can be bullied by a parent into such a false accusation, and even if it was shown they did so, the damage is done. The person has lost their job, with little chance of getting it back, and most likely a lot of their friends and family. They are also now likely to be looked at suspiciously, despite it being shown false. This is what I mean by we don't punish before the crime is proven.

 

Actually, once I heard about a guy (18 ) that was busted for having sex with his girlfriend (17) registering as a sex offender when they were crossing state lines.

Since they were both in a relationship years beforehand before his sex offender status was torn up.

 

Sadly, that is a rarity. There are cases of people who were convicted, but later evidence, such as the accuser messing up to the lie, got that reversed, and they having to fight to get removed and they are still on the list.

 

I'm easy going on sexual offenders who do and are proven to do gross sex crimes - castrate them, blind them, chop off their hands and feet, deafen them and brand rapist or pedophile or both on their flesh and let them go. They would be harmless after that. Lesser sex crimes could then be on the registry and well could have time limits a flasher is far less of an issue than a child rapist.

 

What are you doing about female rapists and/or pedophiles? Ignoring that they exist?

 

Such a serious problem ....so many women violently rape men(sarcasm alert)