Sex offenders locked up and throw away the key or do you think they can be rehabilitated?

Answer 1

There should be an island set aside to house sex offenders.

They should be sent there for life. These people should never be amongst normal people - they can never be rehabilitated.

Answer 2

This is way too generalized a question. Not all that are labeled sex offenders are truly that. The child molesters, the repeat rapists, etc should surely be locked up forever. However, when a 14 year old can legally get an abortion without her parents consent, but cannot legally consent to sex, you have a whole 'nother situation. A guy has no defense on a rape charge. There should be a revamping of the system to eliminate the "oh, I was too drunk" and the morning-after-regrets. I will go far as to say that those that use these type of accusations when they know they weren't raped should be locked away and the key thrown away. The problem here is the vague term of sex offenders and how the courts and society lump it all into one. Does a 20yr and a 17yr old consentual get together really call for a felony sex offender, forever labeled situation?
I think not.

Answer 3

It's too generalised a question. I think that some sex offenders can be 'rehabilitated' where their crime was a result of an emotional disturbance.

There is some evidence that other offenders are suffering from a physical malfunction of the brain. There is at least one recorded instance of a brain tumour causing paedophile tendencies. When the tumour was removed, the patient became completely normal and when the tumour regrew, he began to show paedophile inclinations again.

See: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-2251248.html

Your question was about 'sex offenders' which, of course includes everything from 'peeping toms' through adult rape to paedophile murder. There is a big difference between the offence of a man who commits rape once under the temporary influence of alcohol or drugs and someone who offends time and again and whose victims are defenseless and unwitting children. There is also the problem of 'technical rape' where a person is under the legal age of consent but actually was a consenting partner. It just isn't possible to say 'Bang, wham! This person is now 18 (or 16 in some countries) and is now able to make a rational decision!'

I don't think there is ever a case for the death sentence for sex offenders as such. Of course we abhor what they do and find it extremely difficult to see that they have any good points at all. However, though it is our duty in society to protect ourselves and society from people who choose to do harm in this way, it is not our right to judge whether they should live or not. A death sentence is legitimised murder and morally it can be argued that it is worse than what we call 'murder' - the intentional killing of one person by another - because it is the intentional killing of one man by many, usually with no other motive than anger, fear and the unwillingness to put the cost of keeping him out of harm's way (but alive) at the public expense.

Edit: I have been reading other answers. While I appreciate some of the views expressed and understand the anger, revulsion and fear, I am appalled to see how common feeling is no more humane and understanding now (with so much more understanding of psychology and physiology) than it was in the days when we burnt witches.

Answer 4

Not the death penalty because the court system has so many false positives--incorrect convictions. Its a difficult problem. I guess the best answer would be big medical research to develop drug therapies so these people would not re-offend. A lock up costs $40,000 a year which may be money well spent but still if you multiply it out by hundreds of thousands, its a chunk of money. I would opt for drug therapy of some kind as a first resort and prison if it doesn't work. But not death, you can free innocent people (a guy in Cal spent 28 years locked up for a sex crime then DNA evidence showed he'd always been innocent!), but you can not bring back the dead.

Answer 5

Offenders need to get more honest about what really happened. Clarification exercises for Sexual Offenders

Clarification help’s the offender understand the damage he created and to accept full responsibility for his offense. Clarification can be done formally but more importantly is part of the ongoing process where the disorder wants to project responsibility outward and discount the consequences to others and the role of treatment is to correct these inaccuracies and help the offender not reoffend.


Goal of Clarification: The offender will be able to sincerely explain

He created a victim by committing the offense. All the offending and build up behaviors are clearly defined as wrong with no minimization or distortion.

No other persons had a role in the creation of the offense, not his wife, not his boss, and not society. The offender has 100% responsibility. The offenders will not defend their offense by focusing on the behaviors of others.

The offense as the victim reported , with no minimization of physical intrusiveness, force, duration, or frequency.

The emotional, physical and psychological trauma done to the victim, victim’s family, victim’s friends, and professionals (i.e.: secondary victimization of police, therapists, prosecutors, and CPS workers who have exposure to the toxic event via the offender, victim or case material)

The systems/communities response to the crime was fully justified, the offender is not a victim of any police DA’s, society, probation, lawyers, act.

The cognitive, behavioral and emotional states which lead to the offense

What occurred before an offense, like “grooming” (manipulation, trickery, bribes) and leverage (threats, coercion, force), abuses of power/authority/trust.

History of deviant thinking, fantasy, behavior.

Why the victim (as opposed to other potential victims) was chosen by the offender

The emotional and psychological wants the offender was attempting to obtain through the offense.

Identification of appropriate alternative behaviors to replace the offense.

Effects on the victim including future harm to sexuality, relationships, values, trust, educational and work achievement.

Any current retaliation fantasies against victim, victims parents, those who reported abuse, ex-wife, CPS, probation officer, Judge, prosecutor- and how these show displacement of responsibility for the consequences of his behavior.

Any substance abuse issues, like need for abstinence, meetings, ect

How the offender lied to, manipulated, and abused other individuals in a non-sexual manner to achieve the offense.

Answer 6

Definitely lock them up and throw away the key because these individuals are persistent offenders and they cannot be rehabilitated.

Answer 7

WEll, tough call, but I strongly believe that if a person molests a child they should be put away forever or have their part cut off. It's disgusting that people do this especially to an innocent child. It's gross and unforgiveable. Some might get rehabilitated but most I don't believe they can as it is a sickness to these offenders

Answer 8

Lock them up and throw away the key. I was a victim and I think anyone who does that to someone else deserves to be punished for a long time. After all, what they did gave a person a permanent emotional and/or psychological scar that they have to deal w/ the rest of their lives. It's only fair that they deserve to be punished for as long as their victim is scarred.

Answer 9

its all cycle of abuse and violence. Abused as children - abusers in adulthood. I think we need to break the cycle, sex offenders can not be rehabilitated. Death Penalty.

Throwing away the key costs a lot of money, in south africa it costs us R96 a day to house an inmate, that's more than most people earn!

Answer 10

Death penalty. Why feed an clothe these bastards? And rehabilitation is a naive dream. Sex offenders always strike again. It is an issue in America. I don't know why people cannot see this.