Have you ever asked the question, how we know if a pedophile or sex offender can ever be cured or rehabilitated. Would I be comfortable with them living in my neighborhood? If you have you are just like the rest of the world. Pedophilia is a true illness, and not just in my opinion it also in the DSMIV 302.2. We may never truly be comfortable with the thought that researchers say Pedophiles can not be cured, but they can be rehabilitated in time with and they have test to prove it, Pedophilia is a medical diagnosis, which is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or older adolescents, ranging from ages 16 and older. Pedophilia is characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children, unusually ages 13 and under. The victim of a pedophile is usually at least five years younger in the case of adolescent pedophiles. The word pedophilia derives from the Greek word: παῖς (paîs), meaning "child," and φιλία (philla) meaning "friendly love" or "friendship. This literal meaning has been altered toward sexual attraction in modern times, under the titles "child love" or "child lover," by pedophiles who uses symbols and codes to identify their preferences. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIV), defines pedophilia as a person having an intense and recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about prepubescent children and on which feelings they have either acted or which cause distress or interpersonal difficulty. Based on an article by the National Alert Registry by Dr. Herbert Wagemaker, four percent of the population suffers from sexual orientation toward children. In 1999, 93,000 kids were sexually abused. 50% of the abusers were parents of th... ... middle of paper ... ... References 1. Maletzky, B., Treating the sexual offender, Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications, 1991. 2. Burton, D. & Smith-Darden, J., North American Survey of Sexual Abuser Treatment and Models 2000, Brandon, VT: Safer Society Foundation, 2001. 3. 3. Report of the Interagency Council on Sex Offender Treatment to the Senate Interim Committee on Health and Human Services and the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, 1993 4. Sex and Sexuality: Sexual deviation and sexual offenses 5. By Richard D. McAnulty, M. Michele Burnette,2006 6. Lotringer, S., Overexposed: Treating sexual perversions in America, New York: Pantheon Books, 1988. 7. Freeman-Longo, R., Bird,S., Stevenson, W., & Fiske, J., 1994 Nationwide Survey of Treatment Programs and Models, Brandon, VT: Safer Society Foundation, 1995.
Worling, J .(2012). The assessment and treatment of deviant sexual arousal with adolescents who have offended sexually. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 18(1), 36-63. doi: 10.1080/13552600.2011.630152
When a late adolescent or adult is primarily or exclusively attracted to a minor child sexually they become diagnosed with the psychiatric disorder pedophilia. Mostly a person is not diagnosed with this disorder unless they have had this attraction for six months or longer. This attraction can be in the form of fantasies which are sexually arousing to the perpetrator, or the urge to engage in sexual activities with a minor child. In addition, in order to be diagnosed the molester will have to have acted on these urges or suffered from some type of distress, which will be result from having these feelings. Also the molester should be at least sixteen years old with the victim being younger than them by a minimum of five years.
Yates, P. M. (2005). Pathways to treatment of sexual offenders: Rethinking intervention. Forum on Corrections Research, 17, 1-9.
Introduction The United States of America has always supported freedom and privacy for its citizens. More importantly, the United States values the safety of its citizens at a much higher level. Every year, more laws are implemented in an attempt to deter general or specific criminal behaviors or prevent recidivism among those who have already committed crimes. One of the most heinous crimes that still occurs very often in the United States is sexual offenses against children. Currently, there are over 700,000 registered sex offenders and 265,000 sex offenders who are under correctional supervision.
Our text describes pedophilia as a person who “gains sexual gratification by watching, touching, or engaging in sexual acts with prepubescent children, usually 13 years old or younger” (Comer, 2013, p. 411). The movie, The Woodsman describes the story of a convicted sex offender recently released from prison. Walter, depicted by Kevin Bacon shed some insight into the motivations and thought processes that a sex offender, specifically a pedophile might have.
“...an individual with [pedophilia] has the same ingrained attraction that a heterosexual female may feel towards a male, or a homosexual feels towards their same gender.” (Johnston, Pg. 1). Pedophilia - “the fantasy or act of sexual activity with children who are generally age 13 years or younger” (American Psychiatric Association, p.1) - a word that holds multiple negative connotations, is often seen as aberrant thought process or behavior, and is under debate as to whether or not it’s a sexual orientation. But can it be considered a sexual orientation? As a member of the LGBT community, this issue has surfaced among us and shocked the majority.
The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (2011) reveals an estimated 747,408 sex offenders were registered in the United States as of 2010. This number shows an increase of over seven thousand from the previous year. According to Vivian-Bryne (2004), therapeutic treatment for sex offenders is one approach to address the issue of sexual offense and reduce numbers. Although the idea of therapeutic treatment for sex offenders can raise skepticism, a myriad of therapeutic treatment models are available (Polizzi, MacKenzie & Hickman, 1999). This paper will establish the important complexities surrounding therapeutic treatment of sex offenders, including treatment effectiveness, challenges of treatment schemas, and recidivism. Peer reviewed articles regarding therapeutic treatment for sex offenders will be reviewed and the validity of these sources will be discussed.
Finkelhor, D., Hotaling, G., Lewis, I., & Smith, C. (1990). Sexual abuse in a national survey of
Wijkman, M., Bijleveld, C., & Hendriks, J. (2010). Women don't do such things! characteristics of female sex offenders and offender types. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 22(2), 135-156.
Perkins, D., Hammond, S., Coles, D., & Bishopp, D. (1998). Review of sex offender treatment programs. 01-16. Retrieved from http://www.ramas.co.uk/report4.pdf
Before anything can be said about the treatment for a child molester, a proper definition must be defined as a person who has involvement with a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or that violate the laws or social taboos of society. Some reasons individuals commit these sexual acts towards minors is due to the facts that they are experiencing sexual inadequacy. Some of these deficiencies arise from primary impotence of “males who have never experienced satisfactory coitus, with orgasms” or primary premature ejaculation where “fast ejaculatory responses are frequent.” There are numerous reasons why these disturb individuals perform such acts of violence, but we have to remember that what these people have is a disease that needs to be treated with medication and time.
Marshall, W. L., and H. E. Barbaree. "An Outpatient Treatment Program for Child Molesters." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Article First 528.1 (2006): 203-14. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.
There is no “standard” sexual offender. Child molesters and rapists come from a multitude of backgrounds and are most often seen as law abiding individuals. In most cases, offenders are male; however, there have been cases of females committing sexual offences reported in the past (Schaffer, Jeglic, Moster & Wnuk, 2010). This treatment manual will focus on the male sexual offender population; they may vary in age, from youth to senior citizens. In fact, more than half of the adult male sexual offender population began offending in their teens (Terry, 2004). This program will feature a ‘rolling group’, this allows individuals to be at different stages in the program which will allow for patients to ease into the program at their own pace.
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes(Oakes 99). This presents a
According to the American Heritage Dictionary the word pornography means: Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal. The term child pornography applies for the sexual explicit material who involves minors of eighteen years of age. The human being as part of a civilized society it is meant to evolve and eradicate some kind of behaviors that make us go back as society and degrade our human nature. No matter the harshness of the punishments against the people who posses, make, distribute and so on child pornography this is something that is growing day by day and can be proved by the statistics. The enormous difference between the “regular” pornography and the child pornography it is not only the legal or illegal the moral or immoral, the people who realize and participate on those kinds of products are adults, are remunerated for what they do. In the case of child pornography the minors involved are obligated, mistreated, and sexually assaulted, some of these minor may have been kidnapped from their homes, other used by they own families to earn money in this unpleasant business. But the important point here it is the fact that the child pornography available it is the fuel for those pedophiles who are seeking innocent victims to satisfy their deviances. As society we have the power to prevent, enforce laws, monitor the internet, and take care of our little and defenseless ones of being victims of child pornography, and also we have the power to stop this illegal and rising trend that use children’s as mere objects of sexual pleasure.