The Guilty of Pedophilia - Essay Example

1. Background A crime refers to the act committed that is against the laws or rules of a governing authority in an organization. Different societies describe or define crimes differently. It should be noted that commitment of any crime is violation of law but not each law violation is referred to as a crime (Marshall et el, 2001). A crime is also termed as any offence committed against the state or the public. A tort is a crime that is committed against a private sector causing some public havoc. Authorities employ varieties of mechanisms to prevent or allow some kind of behaviours. In an effort to prevent crimes, different policies as well as practices are put in place. On the hand there is a system called a criminal justice put in place so that the can be justice to whom crimes are committed. In every society, there is great evidence of crime commission. There has never been a stop to it or even a limit to the much crimes committed. The reason as to why there can never be a stop to the continuation of crimes, is because a suspect is known as innocent until proved guilty hence some of these criminals run free for as long as possible. Commission of crimes usually does not require any training meaning that anyone can commit it. To make matter worse, there is a provision of some free legal advices, which at times leaves a criminal free from going to the jail. However, even when these criminals goes to prison to pay for their crimes, the society at times does not embrace them back leaving them with only one option of gong back to the world of crime. Due to these factors, crimes never ever end in the society. There are many sources of crimes in the society broadly divided into three. 2. Introduction Most of the children have been, not talk to strangers, inform their caregivers of their where about, and to ensure they stick closer to the person they go out with. The reason behind such warning according to many parents is the fear of Paedophiles who may sexually assault the children. The media has revealed that most of the perpetuators of the crime are not only strangers but also relatives, teachers, religious authorities and coaches who take advantage of their authority over the vulnerable and trusting children and assault them. According to research by Marshall et el (2001), it has been revealed that paedophilia is an illness but the actions that are committed by such a person suffering from the illness are crimes, which are punishable by the law. 3. Statement of the problem Paedophilia refers to the sexual arousal by some objects, persons or situations. It is usually classified as a clinical diagnosis and in most cases; people who are suffering of such an illness are easily aroused by the children who are under the age of thirteen years (Ben & Jan, 1997). It is also a long term disorder that but it first sets in at the years of teenage onset. The paedophiles are classified depending on the victims that they choose which include heterosexual paedophile, homosexual and bi-sexual paedophiles. Most of them that are attracted to the female victims’ age for the children that are at the age bracket of between 8 to 10 years but those that are attracted to the male victims go for the kids that are of the bracket of between 10 to 13 years. They involve in oral sex, penetrative sex and also exhibitionism, voyeurism and frotterism. Under the criminal code, all paedophilic actions are classified as crimes however most of the paedophiles do not really understand what they are doing (Maguth et el, 2006). The follow are the main defence that are used by the paedophiles; minimization- it happened just once, defence- is it wrong to hug children? Fabrication- the activities were done for a scholarly research, attack- character attacks a police, child etc, justification-I am only a lover of boy and not a paedophile at all. Even if paedophile is a clinical condition most of the laws recognizes the actions of such a person as centrally to the law hence classified as crimes. 4. Research question Should those found guilty of paedophilia be allowed to live ordinarily in our neighbourhoods or should they be incarcerated as a threat to society? 5. Argument It is important fist to ask a question of if any person chooses to be a paedophilia. According to the medical research that has been carried out, there is not answer to that question. This is because the conditions is both causes and facilitate by the environmental factors, neuropsychiatric differences in people and social factors which makes the difference between the paedophiles and the normal human beings (Cohen & Galynker, 2002). Neuropsychiatric difference Left handedness Cognitive abilities that are impaired Lower IQ Brain abnormalities Neuroendocrine differences Other psychiatric disorders Social and Environmental factors Some of the paedophiles claims or complains to have been abused sexually when they were children which leads to a cycle of victim to abuse but this cause is not scientifically acceptable because the evidence is based on a self confession which could be a strategy of the person to gain sympathy Some of them had some great difficulties in their studies, which caused them to repeat classes or grades in school hence requiring some special education. Many organization and groups have come up which are advocating for the age consent as far as issues of paedophilia are concerned. Their main aim being to abolish the laws of age consent and to ensure that paedophilia is taken as a crime and not a psychological disorder. The launching of these groups also attracted other groups, which were anti-paedophile activism. They were to oppose the efforts of the other groups against the paedophilia (Cohen & Galynker, 2002). This explains that in the society there are people who believe that paedophilia is a crime that should be punishable by the laws and other do not believe or have the same opinion. There have been occurrences whereby the attention of the media has lead to the incidences of serious moral panic in the society and especially whereby the actions have been associated with satanic ritual as well as dare car kind of sexual harassment. This is because the society feels that with the perpetuators of the vice running free in the society, then there is no safety for the most vulnerable and especially the children. In the year 2002, in the United Kingdom, there was a street riot against the paedophiles after an incident, which was referred to as “naming and shaming them”. This action resulted to a great violence because of the fact that there were two groups, which were opposing each other and it, forcer the police to come in. There are some laws like in the United States of America, which allows the confinement of such people found guilty of the crime (Crawford, 2001). This is whereby such a criminal is found to be mentally unstable meaning that the person is clearly a threat to the members of the society and the only way to deal with the person to have him confided. Some of these people are also involved in child pornography. This is whereby they are involved in the collection of child pornographic materials and then labelling them by the age of the children. This is a clear indication or evidence of the fact that the person is greatly attracted to the children sexually. Some of these people are even involved in the production of the children pornographic materials as well involved in the children prostitution. According to the society that is one of the most unacceptable actions since it involves introduction of the young children to immorality at a very tender age and for most of the children it is against their will (Crawford, 2001). Although they may have indulged willingly, it is important to note that it is still against the law since as long a child is below the age of sixteen; they are not old enough to make their own decisions. People who are found to be child molester are not fit to live in the society with other people. Most of them are stepfathers and other fathers to the children who are victims to the act. This leads to a question; if they are convicted, then what happens to the rest of the family members since they are the breadwinners? Such kind of a question has lead to different reactions in the society (Goldman, 2000). This is because some of these perpetrators of the vice have been left in the society free the reason being that the family is not willing to report or to expose what happened to the public. A woman will at times prefer to keep to herself the matter when it involved her daughter and her husband. When such men are left free they end up committing the same offences to the other children that are not their own but are within their reach. If they were exposed and confined, the other incidents would have been prevented. The actions of the paedophiles are morally termed as abnormal or wrong by the society. The actions to be taken against this kind of offenses in the society are complicated by the fact that some of the researchers have come out clearly demanding that there is a difference between paedophilia and paedophilia disorder (Ben & Jan, 1997). This is in the event of some people trying to prove that paedophilia is not an offence at all. There are cases, which have been reported, and after the investigation, it was discovered that the children were not raped or abused by a paedophilia but rather a normal person. Some of these people are very dangerous because they lead a normal sexual life but occasionally victimize children without arising any suspicion. In some societies, paedophilia is acceptable. In Afghanistan, for instance, powerful men are heard openly boosting of their actions whereby they use small boys as they sexual playthings (Krus & Hoehl, 1994). According to a military research, this kind of action was even celebrated greatly with songs and dances in the society. In addition, this practice is very common in areas where child trafficking is practiced. This is whereby the children are usually sexually harassed and in such societies, it is not taken as a crime. Incarceration refers to the act of detaining a person in the prison especially as a punishment for a crime that he or she has committed. This is one of the punishments that are suggested for the paedophiles. It is done upon conviction or even suspicion of the person having committed the crime. This action serves four main purposes as far as the criminals are concerned. Namely, punishing them for the crimes that they have done, for rehabilitations of the criminals, to prevent other people from committing the same kind of crimes in fear of being detained too and finally to ensure the criminals are isolated from the society so that they do not get involved with more of the same crimes. Ideally, this is a perfect punishment for the criminals because it helps both the society and the person (Krus & Hoehl, 1994). If the criminal truly takes the action, seriously, they will be helped during the period they are under detention and they can easily change for good if not for better. So many nations are adopting the incarceration rate as the main punishment to give the paedophiles as shown below by the figure. The rate is higher in America where the crime too is quite high. This is whereby per 100, 000 prisoners about 800 are incarcerated. This is also evidence by the fact that out of 100 adults 1 is jailed through incarceration. It is also evidenced that 25% of the world’s population that s under the punishment comes from America. The problem with the punishment is the fact that in most cases it is accompanied by great torture to the accused, which is illegal and abhorrent. 6. Conclusion Paedophilia is a serious crime, which are both harmful to the victim and the society. This is a crime that is done mainly to the children who are helpless and defenceless meaning at whatever cost or no matter the cause of the actions, the children musts be made safe. Although some of the cases of paedophilia are clinical, it is important to note that the action is still against the law. This means that there should be punishments that are clearly known to the members of the society that criminal must face. This punishment should also be in such a way that they are both helpful to the society and the criminal so that afterward he will have learnt a lesson (Morris, N. 2004) 7. Recommendation Many people have argued that incarceration is not a sufficient because some of the criminal once they are back in the society they carry on with the vice. This explains why some of the people have suggested chemical castration for the criminals. The male paedophiliac are injected with the Depo-Provera chemical. The disadvantage is the fact that the consent of the person is not sought since to the society the person is dangerous. On the other hand, it is very effective since the person does not have to suffer stigmatization. The chemical reduce recidivism and it reduces or discourages the actions of child sexual molestation by far more than incarceration (Maguth et el, 2006). Reference Ben, S. & Jan, S. 1997. Paedophilia, Sexual Desire and Perversity. Journal of Moral Education, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 331–342 Cohen, L., and Galynker, I. 2002. Clinical features of paedophilia and implications for treatment. Journal of Psychiatric Practice, vol. 1, no. 8, pp. 276-289. Crawford, D. 2001. Treatment approaches with pedophiles. Adult sexual interest in children, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 181-217. Goldman, H. 2000. Review of General Psychiatry. Canada: McGraw-Hill Professional Psychiatry. Krus, D. J., and Hoehl, L .S. 1994. Issues associated with international incarceration rates. Psychological Reports, vol. 75, pp. 1491-1495 Maguth, C., Fiore, A. & Nezu, A. 2006. Problem Solving Treatment for Intellectually Disabled Sex Offenders. International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, vol. 2, pp. 266-275. Marshall, W., Jones, R., Ward, T., Johnston, P. & Bambaree, H. 2001. Treatment of sex offenders. Clinical Psychology Review, vol. 1, no. 11, pp. 465-485 Morris, N. 2004. The Future of Imprisonment. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. Read More