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Sunday, June 25, 2006

Question of the Day: Day 176

Do you believe in the possibility of "rehabilitation" for child molestors? Would you be okay with a registered sex offender moving in to your neighborhood?

8 Comments:

Blogger David said...

No, I do not.

Capital punishment should be applied.

6/25/2006 8:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I doubt they can be rehabilitated. And it would really, really bother me if a sex offender moved into my neighborhood. But then, I am a mother. :)

In Lexington, certain known sex offenders are going to have to move because of a new law. These people are living within a certain distance of a school, and therefore have to find another place to live. However, there is the risk that they'll just "go underground," and not leave a forwarding address with the police.

6/25/2006 9:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These are two different questions. Many registered sex offenders are not child molesters. Even for those who are, I would feel very different about a young man who had a single occurrence of a "lewd act with a person under 14" versus - well, the kind of person most people envision when they hear the term "sex offender".

Personally I have little tolerance for any who engage in activities which harm others, especially the innocent. But as a society we must be cautious that we don't paint scarlet letters with too broad a brush, as once a person is branded, their life will be never be the same.

6/25/2006 10:32 AM  
Blogger b said...

Members of my family have been molested over the period of several generations - when I had the ability to prosecute someone who did this, the state police came and took them away, much to the chagrin of some of the rest of my family; who were promptly told to "Shut the fuck up and get out of my sight."

From my life's experince dealing with people who have molested children, the recidivism (the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior) is very hight. According to rather sketchy government statistics, the rate is, roughly (1/2 - a few.) I believe that, in unmonitored individuals, the rate is FAR highter - more like (100% - a few.)

So, IMO, rehabilitation is possible, but not likely - mainly due to the traditional ignorance of our culture as a whole. Furthermore, since I am opposed to acting against life (Capitol Punishment), I believe that all molesters should be incarcerated for a period of time not to be less than a year - EVER - in an isolated environment with deep psychotherapy, their names, photos, and (in perpetuity) information concerning their domociles be made available to public access via the web. To discern levels of molestation is unpleasant, but, I think necessary - so, IMO, 4th-3rd degree offenders should be monitored, 2nd degree offenders should be tethered and monitored, and 1st degree offenders (or repeat offenders) should be be neutered (whether physically or chemically), tethered, and monitored.

A meta-analytic study by Rind, Tromovitch, and Bauserman (1998) found that reported prevalence of abuse for males ranged from 3% to 37%, and for females from 8% to 71% with mean rates of 17% and 28% respectively.
-Wikipedia

What this says to me is that, we don't know, how many children are molested in this country. And, I believe, it's because polite society does not want to know these things.

In it's 1997 report, entitled Child Sexual Molestation: Research Issues (PDF), the National Institute of Justice Research Service, very inconclusively discusses the causes, the problem, and the solutions to child sexual molestation. However, this, as shoddy as it is, at a glance, it seems one of the more definitive papers I have read on the subject.

One quote that sums up the idea of recidivism...

"[i]Although optimal treatment interventions have yet
to be identified, the most effective intervention
to date--cognitive behavior therapy and, when
appropriate, antidepressant and antiandrogen
medication--has reduced recidivism among child
molesters.[/i]"
-NCJRS - Child Sexual Molestation (1997)

Children need our protection, all of us can help, and should help - it is ominous, but importatn to remember that an abused child grows up far more likely to be an abuser.

6/25/2006 11:16 AM  
Blogger Mississippi Songbird said...

I don't think they can be rehabilitated.I would not be OK with one living near me, But I doubt there would be much that I could do about it, except be very aware , and I would also tell my children to stay completely away from this person, Just to be safe.. I tell my children to stay away from strangers anyway.

6/25/2006 11:20 AM  
Blogger Michelle said...

This is a combined question that has come up several times in our classroom and I felt it would be a good weekend question since it pushes different buttons for different people.

There have been many individuals who have been accused and/or convicted of crimes that were essentially consenting individuals of alike age but one set of parents (usually the girls) has brought the legal process to bear against the other one. If these are truly "sex offenders" then many people would be wearing that label for adolescent experimentation. We do have to VERY careful in our assignment of labels and in their definitions.

That being said, I'll answer the second question first. I do have several registered sex offenders in my neighborhood. Some have been convicted of crimes against children andothers have adult rape convictions. I would not know them on the street if I did see them because I have never looked up their pictures. I know that I tend to be as safe or as vulnerable as I allow myself to be and I am fairly vigilant about being aware of my surroundings and raising the boys to do the same. I think that we (society) frequently forget that it may be someone that we know and like who will take advantage just as often as it is a total stranger.

The first question is quite a bit trickier.

I think that there is a huge difference between a single, situational offense and a serial (pathological, perhaps?)offender who has multiple offenses. The first one, I believe, is less likely to have a second sexual assault.

On the second one, however, it is difficult for me (being the optimist that I am) to refute the studies and data that tend to show repeat offenders are very likely to continue offending until they are no longer able to do so due to health, incarceration, or death. If these are truly crimes of "power and control" and not sexual then even chemical castration would not "fix" the root of the problem.

We hear so much about this in the news these days that I have to wonder: have we (as a society) always had this much of a problem but didn't have thenews coverage of it or is it getting worse with each generation?

6/25/2006 12:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have worked with a few over the last couple of years & the answer is "no".
There was one who we showed a brief film prior to each & every time he went out in the community- as a deterrent. It didn't work... I once had to go & pick him up from an arrest because at a public establishment, he had propositioned a nine year old boy to go into the mens' room with him.
I sometimes, have heard stories, details, which I'd rather not have known. I am not a therapist, rather a rehabilitation counselor. From all that I have witnessed & been told directly, from the mouths of offenders, the "desire" is always there. I have learned to accept the positive aspects of their being, but despise some of their behaviors.

To be honest, while I know that such offenders have to live somewhere, I would not one living next door to me... especially if/when I had young children. I am sometimes conflicted about many behaviors in my line of work. I do the best I can, & when I burn out in one area, working with a certain population... addictions, alternative incarceration~ PSRB, children/adults, etc. I transfer to another program, asap.

6/25/2006 1:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't believe that they can be rehabilitated. I think once you do something that horrible and wrong and you get pleasure from it, i don't think that there is turning back.
If I had a child, I would NOT be okay with a past child molester living in my neighborhood.

6/28/2006 1:18 PM  

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