Letters to the Editor

• david sugarman, there aren't as many as you are thinking . .

  [Read the article: Churches slam doors on sex offenders]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  because the stats I cited are about the percentage of children offended against and not the number of offenders. I don't think anyone knows how many there are because they aren't exactly volunteering. The reason the stats I mentioned make it seem like there are so many is because hard core pedophiles have many victims over their "career." I remember reading years ago a study of Tucson inmates who where pedophiles, who admitted to an average of 70 victims each. Most of these guys were into little boys.

  I will mention two books and hope no one takes it as an inappropriate plug for the books. One is called "Predators" by Anna Salter and the other "Caught in the Web" by Julian Sher. Both books mention similar stats, but this is nothing new. (If it is inappropriate to list these, I will not be offended if someone removes my post.) These stats have been more or less constant since studies in the Eighties by Nicolas Groth and Diana Russell.

  Now I know I am going to shock people and raise doubts, but anyone is welcome to do their own reading on this. Assaults upon preschoolers seem to be increasing because of more stringent prosecution of offenders of older victims. Some predators are apparently looking for kids who are "pre-verbal." Also, there is a greater awareness of the number of female offenders. (There are some indications that the most violent male offenders were victims of females (mothers or caretakers), So definitely the problem of the female offender shouldn't be ignored, although women are not often classified as pedophiles because they mostly offend against family members. People who keep it all in the family are not often classified as pedophiles, but I believe it would be good to get convictions on these people because the abuse of the victims is ongoing and very traumatic as to long term effects. For example, a father who likes to have sex with his daughters will move from the eldest to the youngest as his daughter grows older and he loses his sexual interest. He may, for instance, have no interest in girls who have breasts.

  I hope my continuing isn't going to cause a problem here. I worry because I once posted about pedophiles at a science forum and, amazingly, a bunch of them showed up to declare how much they "loved children" and "would never harm a child" and that "most children were willing and eager." I was shocked! Apparently some of them are quite organized, political, and combative. They really see nothing wrong with their sexual behavior with children.

  That is why statistics are not necessarily the most important thing I think people need to understand. Only a little research will help people understand the some of the psychological makeup of serious child predators. Someone mentioned sociopathy earlier. This is so true. I would also add that narcissism also plays a role. Manipulation is expert in sociopaths and narcissists. Almost all sexual offenders have one or both of those disorders. However, there are many people with antisocial personality disorder or narcissitic personality disorder that never commit these offenses. (I actually feel quite sorry for narcissists because at the core, they are so sad.)

  Pedophiles, unlike other criminal offenders, do not mellow over the years. Their 3 year recidivism rate may be less than that of other crimes, but their lifetime offenses add up. A recent program on NPR mentioned the problems with elderly offenders whose medical care is a great burden, but they don't dare let some of them out because apparently aging increased their attraction to more powerless victims, dementia lowers their inhibitions, and many refuse treatment -- as is their right.

  Because of all the sexual abuse in my family, (I am lucky to have avoided anything serious) I became interested in the issue and did lots of research. I wanted to understand these people. I used to give talks on the subject to support groups and therapy groups, and I grew to dislike that role, because the people in those groups really knew so much more firsthand then I did. They always asked me the same question: "Why did he/she do this to me?"

  I never had the answer. I still don't know.

  David, I think you are right. Children will be killed by perpetrators if we start having the death penalty of sexual offenses. Neither victims rights groups, or prosecutors, or defense attorneys wanted this law in Texas -- although there are a few components to it other than the death penalty that are good. The other consequence is that juries will not convict and that more of these people will go free to hurt more children.

  Permalink Thursday, April 26, 2007 09:37 PM