Should we be helping peodophiles get cured instead of treating them like demons?

Question

Many of them can't help themselves, were prayed upon as children themselves, aren't they the saddest most mentaly disabled among us?

Answer 1

are u serious ? i was preyed upon and i never molested any child. there is no cure for paedophiles its like saying cure madness.

Answer 2

No. the children they prey upon are the saddest most disabled amoung us. I have worked with and around them for years with in the Dept. of Corrections and most pedophiles self admitt that given the chance, they will offend again. If they can't help themselves then we must protect children from them. They don't need sympathy, they need incarceration or confinement. The sexuality of the predator isn't the problem. It is that ability to have power and control over someone weaker. It is about violence, not sex. We should be protecting the children. Treatment is putting a bandaid on the issue but there is no cure.

Answer 3

There are actually mental facilities for sexual predators. For instance, Atascadero State Hospital in CA has sexual predators as patients from the criminal system.

While I'm not up on the most current research... what I learned in grad school was that even with therapeutic interventions, the recidivism rate (the rate at which someone will re-offend) was extremely high. And these are for people that have been either in jail or in mental facilities for years. There is no known cure at this point. This is an extremely profound and complex problem, and yes, many offenders were molested themselves within extremely harsh and neglectful family environments... but the short answer is, there is no known cure. If you have a contagious virus, you are withdrawn from society so you don't infect others. You might be treated medically, but you need to be kept separate. This is the same concept.

If anyone has more current research or info on this, pls. share.

Answer 4

Most Ans are absolutely right on! No such thing as a cure! AND there are not even enough JAILS to contain them!! We must do more education of children of the danger, just as we do to stay away from fire, running across the busy street and other life-saving alerts!!

Convicted peodophiles are supposed to register with the local police. Parents need to monitor these--I think most are on line! Then monitor, monitor and education your children. Accompany your children to the playground, games and check the observers--esp those who are not parents and are taking pictures. Call police and ask for a possible check on the person. Insist that schools, bus companies, churches and park officials have police checks on volunteers, workers etc. Know where your children are and whom they are visiting....Be a PARENT; GRANPARENT and take responsibility.

Re having been preyed upon themselves as children....Millions of people have been physically abused by parents and others, and yet DO NOT ABUSE OTHERS!! It's as others have ANSWERED!!

Answer 5

Well, child molesters are not likely to be cured. It seems to me that they are very similar to psychopaths. I believe that both conditions need lots of research.

One thing that may help is early intervention and prevention. If there was a way to get people who have these urges to talk about them BEFORE acting on them for the first time, it may help.

Anyone who is the victim of one of these should have access to intense therapy, and have help dealing with the sense of powerlessness this crime creates. Then maybe they won't try to exact that same control over others in order to make up for the profound feelings of powerlessness.

Also, youth who are starting to show signs of antisocial behavior need to be put into some sort of intervention program. Things like starting fires, abusing pets, severely injuring siblings, attempting intercourse with siblings, etc., need to be completely dealt with when they happen. They should not be overlooked or brushed aside. Maybe with early intervention while they are still young, they will not proceed to worse behaviors.

Also, better safeguards should be in place. Places in schools where abuse is likely to take place should have surveillance. I know this is a touchy subject, since there are privacy laws. But there should be some sort of protocol when it is just an adult and a child in a room, that there should be monitoring or a witness. This should go for churches, daycares, schools, pediatricians, etc. I don' know how to better protect children in their own homes or their own yards. A lot of times, the ones guilty are those you'd least expect.

There was a movie about a boy getting sexually assaulted and beaten nearly to death. He was in a coma for a while. The janitor was off on a technicality because the lot where the car was impounded was unlocked and unguarded. The night before the trial, the mother was threatened on the phone, and she put a pistol in her purse in case someone tried to break in. She forgot she had it went she went to court, and when the guy was acquitted, she fatally wounded him in the courtroom. She ended up serving 3 years in prison. Now, what if the office where the abuse started had been monitored? It might not have prevented the crime, but it would have possibly given more evidence. But in good surveillance, there must be a combination of visible and hidden cameras. That is to thwart any attempts to evade security.

The hardest thing is how do we best balance security with rights? Megan's Law might be a deterrant, but it causes so many problems. What do they do when someone is living in the only place in town where they can afford, and someone decides to build a day-care right down the street? I think that maybe tighter licensing and siting laws on the day-cares might help. They should not be allowed to start in areas where there are already registered sex-offenders living. The offenders were there first, and there might not be another affordable child-free place for them to live. So they may move where they want to live, kids and all, and just fail to register.

The above type of dilemma has made a group of offenders in Florida homeless. They are living under a bridge, and that is where their probation/parole officer visits them. They are required to remain under that bridge between the hours of 10PM and 6AM. That is not an ideal situation, but that is the best that the state and the offenders can do right now.

Answer 6

I am really not sure that they can be "cured". Yes, many of them were prayed upon as children, but in my opinion, that gives them NO right to do it to others!!! "Can't help themselves"??? Seriously. You say that and think that they should be treated lavishly rather than being treated the way they do. So, if I said that a serial killer "couldn't help himself", then it'd be ok in your mind?? Whatever. Pedophiles are sick and deserve to be punished just like the rest of the people they sit on cell block B with.

Answer 7

They are the saddest and the most dangerous in our society. Yes we should help them be cured but they still need to be quarantined. They are still slipping through the cracks and victims are still being assaulted. This is a serious issue that doesn't get addressed in my opinion.

Answer 8

Yeah, I read about a place in Germany where they can go to get help. They can't ever stop their sexual urges, of course, but the therapy helps them to control themselves and stops them acting on their fantasies. Maybe the therapy wouldn't work for everyone, but castration would not help at all

Answer 9

I like to think positively, but I am not sure in this case. I don't know if we are ever going to find a 100% cure or not. Possibly they are just wired in the head differently and I don't know if even drugs or surgery would ever fully change that.

Answer 10

No, the saddest thing about this is the pain in the ones they molested.
Pedophile is a fancy word for sexual pervert and potential killer.
They are demons and they need to be forgiven, yes, but they also need to be punished.
That is why we have laws.
Their only help is in Christ.

Answer 11

They need to be removed from society, and whether that is placement in prison or an asylum is a whole different discussion. Nevertheless, be they in prison or an ayslum, pedophiles need intensive therapy.