Disadvantages Of Pedophile

Child molestation and sexual assault is an ever growing problem in the United States today, but an even bigger problem is that these pedophiles are being released after only serving as little as one quarter of their sentence. In California alone (at the time the bill was first passed), there was an estimated 680 individuals on parole for molestation and other sexual assaults including sodomy by force with a victim under the age of thirteen as well as child molestation with foreign objects.

The atypical sexual behavior that I cannot wrap my head around is pedophilia. I have tried to educate myself on this topic and read a book on treating the offender but my opinion has remained the same. I just cannot understand how or why this occurs and I really don’t think I want to.

In the United States, failure to adequately discriminate between and among sex offenses and the overuse of the label “sex offense” has led to the polarization and over criminalization of sex crimes and has resulted in a lack of reintegration options for these alleged criminals. The term “sex offender” needs to be reserved for those individuals who best represent the meaning of the term. (Colbert, 2011, p. 1) According to US Department of Justice, a sex offender is anyone convicted of an offense of a sexual nature under the law of any jurisdiction, this also includes juveniles fourteen years of age and older. (Colbert, 2011, p. 1) In the United States, the term sex offender is too broad and can be very misleading. There is a widespread misconception among society that the meaning of sex offender is pedophile and rapist, but a sex offender can be someone that was caught urinating in public or they can be underage teenagers having consensual sex. This lack of distinction between sex offenses results in a misinformed society and this absence of information in regards to sex offenses and the presence of the sex offender registry fuels society 's ignorance and heightened prejudices towards "sex offenses." The stigma that comes with the label "sex offense” persists beyond sentencing due to the parameters of the law, making reintegration of alleged criminals into society overbearing and near impossible. These registries are public record, however they only state partial information

Is it ethical then to punish people who commit sexual abuse against children? Or should our approach be treatment not punishment? This is an age old debate, while there have been attempts to treat the 'disease' of pedophilia, there are exceptions to this treatment whom despite it do reoffend. Counseling, monitoring, medicating, and even chemical castration are some ways our society has developed to "treat" the biological and psychological side of the argument

Pedophiles: are those that develop a sexual interest over a long period of time. Commit their crimes for a variety of reasons and go on committing their crimes with little hopes of rehabilitation. The internet serves purpose to many pedophiles today, allowing them to commit a crime and computer crime.

Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia have higher rates of mental illness and sexual offending, for example, incest offenders had a much higher rate of psychosis when compared to homicidal sex offenders (Galloway & Houston, 2008). Personality disorders and sex offenders were characterized by pervasive affective instability, poor impulse control, impairment of self-identity and a tendency towards engaging in unstable relationships associated with emotional crises underpinned by a fear of abandonment (Galloway & Houston, 2008). Comorbid conditions seen in those with a diagnosis of voyeuristic disorder or exhibitionistic disorder in addition to the sex offense include hypersexuality, ADHD, conduct disorder, higher rates of depression and substance use disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). There are psychiatric comorbidity of pedophilic disorder they include substance use disorders, depression, bipolar, anxiety disorder, and

With the Pandora’s Box opened, we may find ourselves forced to rediscover morality due to our natural tendencies. This does not mean accepting adult-child relationships. Figure 3 indicates if we are serious about protecting children, then that ultimately requires some level of understanding, which is a problem for most because that is dangerously close to compassion. On the contrary, the risk they pose is the very reason why we need to support pedophiles who do not want to become sex offenders. We all want the same thing. We do not want them to offend nor their potential victims to offend. In 2008, Michael Seto, a forensic psychologist, published a book stating that the onset of pedophilia is right around the stages of puberty, as with any other sexual orientation. I believe we can prevent a greater number of victims if we put more energy into early detection and providing support before the first offense occurs, rather than solely relying on punishment after the fact. We need to be thinking about the children that pedophiles once were and catch them at their vulnerable stages, which are during puberty. There we can find a sense of compassion and support to want to help. In 2014, Margo Kaplan, an associate professor at Rutgers School of Law, wrote an op-ed in New York Times stating that pedophilia is neurologically rooted, supporting Cantor’s research.

Pedophilia is a psychological disorder in which a person is primarily or exclusively attracted to children who have not undergone puberty. A pedophile, the term for a person with this condition, is not necessarily one who engages in sexual activities with children. However, they have strong urges and sexually arousing fantasies about having sex with a child. Generally, pedophiles are attracted to children under the age of thirteen years. In our society the term pedophile is more broadly used for anyone who is attracted to a minor or someone that's under the age of consent. However, there are different terms used for different types of paraphilias involving minors. A paraphilia is a

Characteristics of a pedophile’s typical victim consist of usually one sex, male or female; and typically under the age of puberty. “Females were [sic] the most commonly abused . . .” sexes (Hall, 2007, p. 461). There are more reports of female victims than male victims with the typical offenses. Males, however, are at a higher risk with “forced sodomy” (Hall, 2007, p. 461). At young, impressionable, and instable ages these youth are set with inappropriate views of what love is and what their bodies were made for. Younger victims are much easier to manipulate than adults. “The gender of the child also plays an integral part in the selection” female youth, in particular, are very impressionable and for an older male figure to take notice

Most of the time when people think of pedophiles, they think of someone from a low income neighborhood or someone with a criminal history; no one think of people

Stories of sex offenders have been increasingly a focus of attention by the criminal justice system over the past years. By legal definition, a sex offender “is a person who is convicted of a sexual offense (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition),” an act which is prohibited by the jurisdiction. What constitutes as a sex offense or normal/abnormal sexual behavior varies over time and place, meaning that it also varies by legal jurisdiction and culture. In the United States of America, for example, a person can be convicted of wide range of sexual behavior that includes prostitution, incest, sex with a minor, rape, and other sex offenses (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition). As the nature of sex crimes have long held the

Most people consider pedophiles to be anyone who has committed a sex offense against a child and that all pedophiles will commit this offense. In both cases that is, at best, a half truth. The DSM-5, which is a tool that outlines the diagnostic criteria for a given disorder, defines pedophilic disorder as, “a paraphilia involving intense and recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about prepubescent children that have either been acted upon or which cause the person with the attraction distress or interpersonal difficulty.” With the latter half of this definition, we begin to open up to the idea that there are those who have sexual interests in children who have had no form of inappropriate contact with a child, but rather just have their daily life affected by the feelings that they are having toward

     Cohen, Seghorn, and Calmas (1969) described three types of child molesters derived from their clinical studies. One type had a history of relatively normal functioning and the incident of molestation appears to reflect a reaction to a severe threat to their sense of sexual adequacy. Another type had a history of poor social-sexual functioning and is regarded as primitive and immature in terms of social-sexual skills. The last type they found in their study had offenses involving cruel and vicious assaults on children and the act of molestation is regarded as more aggressive then sexual. (Mc Creary, 1975)

In 2002 the Catholic Church was rocked with scandalous reports of Priests sexually molesting young children and particularly boys. The scandal is the result of numerous investigations, allegations, arrests, trials, convictions and imprisonment of Catholic Priests. It became largely reported that once trusted and respected Catholic Priests were pedophiles. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) categorizes pedophilia as a mental disorder if the sexual fantasies or urges involve prepubescent children , if they last six months or longer, if the individual has acted on them, or if they cause marked distress” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).

The American Psychiatric Association has declared that pedophilia is no longer thought of as a mental disorder. In early studies, (DSM-III-R), pedophilia was characterized as a disorder if "the person acted out on the urges, or was markedly distressed by them" (Medinger 2). Nowadays, the diagnostic description is that pedophilia is a disorder if the offender is mentally impaired, agitated, or experiencing guilt as a result of what he is doing. In other words, a pedophile can "play" all he wants until he becomes irrational about it. Outwardly, the pedophile may, in today's society, seem to be a perfectly normal human being. Pedophilia, like homosexuality and transvestitism, is just a sexual preference (APA).