Pedophiles Research Paper

Further exploration discovered that the choice of sexual expression correlates more to the child’s age then the offenders (Sanford, 87). Offenders do not form intimate relationships with other adults (Henderson, 39). Eight-five percent of sexual activity was nonorgasmic with one-fourth of activity ending before any stimulation occurred by the offender (Sanford, 83). Now that we know some offenders characteristics, it is paramount that we learn to identify traits that may be common to youthful victims.

When I think of a sex offender what automatically comes to my mind is a creepy middle aged white man who lives in close vicinity to their victims. Through my research, I have found that in certain aspects my vision of what a sex offender is right while in other aspects I was wrong. When looking at gender it has been found that sex offenders are overwhelmingly male, however, offenders can still be female with an estimated of 14% of offenders in the cases involving boys and 6% of cases involving girls being female (Statistics). Female sex offenders is a concept that rarely if ever crosses my mind as I am so used to men being portrayed as sex offenders in the media. As for the age of offenders, it can range from young to elderly, but approximately one-third of offenders are juveniles with 23% of reported cases being perpetrated by individuals under the age of 18 (Statistics). Yet again a 17 or 16-year-old sex offender is something I thought could never be

Sexual assault is a major global issue; sexual deviance such as sexual assault definitely needs a lot of social attention from many different societies across the globe (Nelson, 2007, p. 7). It is a very serious problem that needs to be continuously addressed, through research, government programs, and new fundamental treatment possibilities. As a matter of fact, it is continuing to spread rapidly with a percentage of 25% of women and 15% of men in the United States have been affected by sexual assault (Nelson, 2007, p. 7). Due to rapid growth, public awareness should be made about the different types of sex offenders. The public should be aware of their distinct characteristics and possible treatment options. Public awareness is extremely important; it allows us to know the many different kinds of people that are in this world. Different kinds of people, including sex offenders, it’s important to know what measures one would have to take and the different possible options when faced with such issues (Nelson, 2007, p. 7).

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.

Now the original question asked was, “Why do sex offenders do the things they do?” No single factor or combination of factors can fully explain why someone offends sexually, though some factors may combine to increase people’s tendency to offend. The field of sex offender management has yet to find a clear explanation or cause for sexual offending behavior; however, despite many unanswered questions, research has produced a number of important findings about the etiology of sexual offending:

While sexually deviant behavior among juveniles is not a new phenomenon there has been a dramatic increase in the concern of this problem over the last two decades. As the number of juvenile sex offenders arrested increases, the recognition of it as a serious issue also increases. The anxiety over juvenile sex crimes has led to a wide variety of research being conducted to determine if there are antecedent traits in offenders. The tremendous data collected and analyzed to try to understand the factors leading a juvenile to sexually violate has piloted a wide range of theories and also much disagreement among professionals about the appropriate consequences a violator must face.

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.

When an offender is released he or she must register with law enforcement agencies. This information has recently become public information. Several websites exist to help law enforcement officials and community members. An individual is able to keep track of offenders in his or her community. One of the most popular online websites is Family Watchdog. Individuals can look up sexual offenders anywhere in the nation. Offender’s pictures are shown along with descriptions of their crimes, home addresses, and sometimes, work addresses. All this information can be accessed from this website. The goals of registering, according to Matson (1999), are “deterring offenders from committing future crimes, providing law enforcement with additional investigative tools, and increasing public protection.” These registries can also be harmful to the offender. Individuals living in the offender’s community may set out to harm registrants. This is one of the ways that an offender’s life may be changed due to being branded a “sex offender.” This is also one of the reasons why each case should be looked at on an individual basis. Should every offender be made to register? How long should an individual have to register? Should juveniles have to register as long as adults? These are all questions that need to be looked at and evaluated.

The term “sex offender” implies that those who commit sex related offenses are in essence, the same as one another, but in reality, they are a very dissimilar group. Sex offenders differ with respect to behaviors and patterns, population data, stimuli, and the threat level subjected to the community. For the reason that sex offenders are so varied, the strategies imposed for treatment will not work on a ‘one size fits all model’, rather, an individualized approach based off the characteristics and offenses of the offender (Center for Sex Offender Management, 2008).

442). The pedophile’s age makes a large difference with rates of recidivism. As pedophiles age, their natural hormone concentration decreases and their libido becomes more dormant with age; however, there is “no reason to assume that libido or sexual arousability [sic] will decrease at identical rates in aging pedophiles” (Blanchard, 2005, p. 444). No two offenders receiving treatment will perform the same with recidivism rates. Corresponding with the course text regarding post law sentencing management, “that treatment can reduce recidivism for some offenders better than for others” (Holmes, 2009, p. 282). With treatment for exhibitionists and voyeurs seems to have a lower rate of recidivism, the sexual propensities for offenders’ holds higher rates of recidivism. “The published rates of recidivism are in the range of 10% to 50% for pedophiles” there shows a rather large percentage of difference due to the individual’s libido’s rate of decrease (Hall, 2007, p. 467). Part of the problem with locating recidivism information on pedophiles remains the lack of reporting for offences. Testing for such offenses proves time consuming and not always reliable. “Rate of recidivism was related to age at release, with younger men reoffending at a significantly higher rate than older men” due to the individual’s sexual drive and hormone levels (Blanchard, 2005, p. 453). Recidivism highly depends on the offender, the age of the offender, and how much the offender participates in their treatment(s). There are sexual behaviors that may help offenders stay on their beaten

There has been much debate about why people commit sexual crimes. As far as to what causes people to become sex offenders, there is no real answer to this question. No single factor can fully interpret why someone commits a sexual offense, though it is believed that some combination of factors may combine to increase sexual deviancy dramatically. These factors include biological, circumstantial, environmental, and sociocultural aspects of the person, describing the development of abnormal sexual expression through the same mechanisms by which conventional sexuality is also learned (Terry and Tallon). There are a number of sub-theories which have been designed to explain the onset of sexual deviancy. However, because no one can pinpoint the dynamics of sexual deviancy, different theories have been developed to study and account for the development of sexual aggression and behavior. An explanation of the main theories is offered below:

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

Most psychological research on the personalities of pedophiles consists of only clinical descriptions and case presentations. Bell and Hall represented the clinical approaches to the study of the personalities of pedophiles. They analyzed the dreams of a pedophiles and made suggestions about their characteristics. “ The inference from their case report was that pedophiles have a basic character disorder shown by schizoid and passive traits as well as a severe dread of adult sexuality.”(Bell & Hall 1971).

Perpetrators of sex crimes committed against children often start by gaining the trust of potential victims and the adults in their lives’ by using a tactic called “grooming.” The purpose of this memo is to give the court a baseline understanding of what sex offender victim grooming is, its purpose, and techniques. Because of the extensive amount of research and information on this topic, this paper does not detail all of the grooming techniques used by child sex offenders to groom potential victims.

Sex crimes include acts considered as either sexual abuse, or a non-tolerable behavior considered inappropriate to social norms. The law forbids certain sexual acts, despite expressed consent from both parties. Sex laws vary from region to region, and may evolve over time. Furthermore, sexual acts forbidden by law in a proscribed jurisdiction are coined as sex crimes.