Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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Usually we feel we
understand what went on in the criminal's head. We reject the actions of the
fraudster, the thief, the drinking driver, the murderer, as wrong, harmful
and deserving punishment but to a large extent they do not need to explain
themselves to us. Reprehensible though
their deeds were, we can at least on some level
understand the temptation. Not so with
paedophiles. In the eyes of many, these people stand in the dock as
sub-human, even monstrous, not only because of the extravagant cruelty of the
harm they inflict, shocking though it is, but also because the rest of us
cannot understand what drives them. Their deeds appall us but their motivation confounds us. Even amid
the twisted values of prison communities, they are held as the lowest of the
low. Everything about them screams the corruption of innocence, the
dismemberment of childhood. In their cases the question how could you is not
rhetorical. We simply do not understand. Yet, increasingly, we
need to try, at least to the extent that we can better confront the nature of
the problem, which has grown to a scale that it demands attention. David John Gay has
become the 10th Southland man to be convicted in the past year of sexually
abusing children. Barry Allan Ryder faces the prospect of preventive
detention after admitting in Readers are no doubt as
sick and dispirited of reading about such offences as reporters are of
covering them, yet flinching from this most discomforting of problems merely
makes it easier for the offenders to continue untroubled. Unhappily, the number
of criminals does not equate to the number of crimes. Paedophiles often prey
on multiple victims and, even when caught and treated, have the highest rate
of recidivism apart from flashers. The archetype of the dirty old man is also
surely fading; not only younger men, but women and even youths are being
caught. As the risks become
better known, the protective instincts of society kick in, understandably,
though in ways not always appropriate. Many now believe the conviction of
Peter Ellis in the Dr John Edgar was
emphatically acquitted of eight charges of indecency against Scientific attempts to
understand the sexual wiring of paedophiles, including work by New Zealander
Dr John Money, continues. To date, it is easier to find research that is
interesting than to find much that is truly helpful. An article in
Saturday's edition by venereologist Dr Thomas Stuttaford, concurs with
the views of a Southland psychologist specialising in helping sexual abuse in
suggesting that the abusers' commonplace claims to have been sexually abused
as children should invite some scepticism. While many must obviously be true,
many others simply do not stand up to scrutiny. Given the rates of reoffending, it seems penalties have minimal deterrent
effect. This is not a type of offending that should invoke the three strikes
and you're out approach. Two strikes is plenty. Furthermore, Those who access child
pornography are effectively commissioning more offences against the victim
children. |