News Human Rights For Sex Offenders

[Ladyghosthunter]

Sex offenders need to know that if they go to prison, they will stand a huge chance of dying. My family being in law enforcement and the military, ..........
My stepson is a pedophile. I hate that SOB for his lies to sleep with a 13 year old. He walks around like he did nothing after parole. Sociopath with heavy narcissistic tendencies....
My feelings are too strong for discussion for this subject. Sorry folks.

 

[Neverthesame]

I will keep this brief, anger management is not really a thing I felt the need to apply to this topic.

I do want to comment on the sex offender's desire for a segregated prison system. I remember something that I had learned a long time ago, regarding the current prison system as it pertains to other crimes. That, prison is where an amateur thief learns to be a professional thief.

Perhaps the offender is right, maybe they would re-habilitate one another. Though I doubt it.

So you can get off on telling war stories to each other without fear of other prisoners

This, sounds infinitely more likely.

On a lighter note. We really need a button that just posts the message; "Yeah! What Friday said."

 

[Pietro]

And for what...for sexual gratification?! These people destroy lives so that they can have an orgasm

No, that's not really why they do it. Far more complex than that, often deeply rooted in compulsions caused through abuse they've suffered.

So, why don't they throw themselves off of a bridge if they know they're going to offend? There are probably many reasons, beyond the simple desire for self-preservation. I would guess that they sometimes delude themselves to believe that what they did wasn't that bad, or that they finally got it out of their system, this time, or other rationalizations, not seeing the accumulated damage over time.

Whether these people can control their urges or not, they still made a choice to violate, degrade, and desecrate a human mind, body, and soul..

Agree. Even if a person cannot control his/her anti-social behaviors, he/she is still responsible for them. It is up to each individual to recognize their bad behaviors and seek help. If they can't or won't, that does not let them off the hook. People have a right to be protected from harm. Thus, the offender must be dealt with.

How we deal with offenders is the real question.

"I still want to molest little suzy, but I PINKY SWEAR that I won't because I'm "rehabilitated."

Yeah, just like one never fully recovers from PTSD, or quitting smoking never completely removes the urge to smoke, rehabilitation doesn't 100% guarantee that an offender won't offend again. Someone having committed 2nd degree murder may never do so again, and rehabilitation can work well for such individuals. But sex crimes are rooted in deep psychological pathology that is as intransigent as addiction, and perhaps worse. Rehabilitation can be effective, but not fool-proof.

Yet, sex offenders do have legal rights, and, thus, are entitled to due process of law. Moreover, they have human rights, and are entitled to an opportunity to live a normal life, if they have committed to doing so, and agree to the necessary terms for doing so that will also provide for the safety of others. This is where things get complicated -- how to achieve this balance? There are ways, but they take a lot of commitment.

Maybe if 98% rapists didn't walk free and instead spent the rest of their lives rotting away in prison where they belong, then maybe little Suzy wouldn't have to be afraid to tell when daddy touched her. Maybe then she wouldn't have to feel so ashamed, ostracized and alone. And maybe..just maybe..daddy will think twice. Because this time..it's not gonna be so easy to get away with..and Suzy doesn't have feel so afraid anymore.

This identifies many of the problems that lead to the creation of sex offenders and the propagation of sex offenses. Our society needs to take these issues seriously and mature in the way we handle parenting and social issues within society. To start.

Because the victims are the only ones that really suffer. They are the ones left broken and alone to pick up the pieces. Nobody gives a shit about their human rights. There is entirely way too much compassion shown sex offenders..

All true. Interesting how, for example, Josh Duggar got so much sympathy from certain quarters, but those same folks were completely indifferent about the siblings he molested. :/

I try hard to be objective and rational. But that doesn't mean that, when I see a report of a child having been molested, or worse, that my initial reaction is sympathy and compassion for the offender. Quite the opposite. But we are required to curb our baser desires and behaviors in the interest of having a civil society. This also applies to our treatment of those who have expressed criminal behavior. In the long run, sympathy and compassion, across the board, will do far more towards lessening the number of offenders and offences than Draconian punishments.

 

[InvisibleSun]

I would guess that they sometimes delude themselves to believe that what they did wasn't that bad, or that they finally got it out of their system, this time, or other rationalizations, not seeing the accumulated damage over time.

This makes sense to me..especially those who experience regrets about their offenses..

Yet, sex offenders do have legal rights, and, thus, are entitled to due process of law. Moreover, they have human rights, and are entitled to an opportunity to live a normal life, if they have committed to doing so, and agree to the necessary terms for doing so that will also provide for the safety of others. This is where things get complicated -- how to achieve this balance? There are ways, but they take a lot of commitment.

I agree..they absolutely have legal rights, but the punishment still needs to meet the crime. If you offend once..okay, get your treatment, do your time, get out and hopefully be rehabilitated. But if they do it again, and they probably will, then they need to spend the rest of their lives in prison. I am not interested in creating a balanced society with sick, twisted, sexual deviants. I do not trust these individuals enough to believe that they can be upstanding citizens. Because these people have the capacity to commit a crime that is truly inhuman and that goes against everything a free and civil society stands for. The risk is too great..the damage is forever..

All true. Interesting how, for example, Josh Duggar got so much sympathy from certain quarters, but those same folks were completely indifferent about the siblings he molested. :/

I try hard to be objective and rational.

Right?! Those poor young girls!! Broke my heart...

I also try to be objective and rational..however, I struggle with this greatly in regards to sexual offenders.

I understand that many of these people have suffered unjust abuse and have deep seeded psychological problems. I understand all to well how damaging the cycle of abuse can be and I definitely understand the evil that it can breed inside the human soul. And this is of no fault to sexual offenders. However..they still made that choice. Because what motivates these people is pure evil. Not abuse or social condemnation...but a sickness of the mind that never goes away. And as long as these people are allowed to exsist freely within our society, that sickness will continue to grow and keep perpetuating the same cycle of abuse that caused it to begin with.

I may never truly understand what goes on in the heart and soul of a sex offender..but I know first hand the destruction that these people cause. They have no compassion or sympathy for their victims..no regard for their humanity or dignity. I know because, you see, I have a sickness of the mind too..thanks to people like them. Except I didn't have a choice..

 

[hodge]

I'm the one left to pick up the pieces after my sexual abuse as a child. I don't have any empathy for the men who did this to me. They can be in prison or whatever and feel whatever remorse they want -- it still won't help me heal! I am the one left to pick up the pieces of my life and try to rebuild. They don't have to. Sex Offfender, do you really get what you have done to others? Do you really get how damaged you have made them? I think that if you really did, you would not dare to come on here and talk about how you are "rehabilitated." You would do it again if you got the chance, wouldn't you?

 

[Neverthesame]

Exactly. The fact of the matter is, and always should be. The victim is a child.

The simple fact is, kids don't have the capacity to do anything to deserve having horrible things happen to them. They are just innocent, always. Even when they have done something awful, it is clear that some "adult" had put them up to it. They don't know what they are doing. The child brain is not developed enough to understand grownup stuff. (Sex, death, ect, ect.)

While it's interesting to discuss the idea of rehabilitation for the monsters. Really, the more important thing is and always should be, the rehabilitation of the poor children who have to live the rest of their lives with the memory of someone having done horrible things to them. At an age when they couldn't possibly understand anything other than, it was wrong. At an age when they couldn't fight back, or didn't know how, or were too afraid to.

It would still be small comfort, but being able to tell "Little Suzy" that the piece of human garbage that did the bad things to her will never, ever see the light of day again through a window without bars on it. That she doesn't have to worry about ever seeing him again, as words like parole are not in that guy's future. Doesn't take back what happened, but it would be a better way to start.

I think I have cleaned that up enough to post, should have seen how many f-words slipped in. Yikes.

 

[anonymous]

I've tried to write several responses to this, but I'm not managing to keep it from descending into a string of incoherence and swearing. What my thoughts on it boil down to though, I think, is the question, why are we considering the human rights of offenders who gave no consideration to the human rights of their victims?

 

[hodge]

I do hope that Sex Offender has gone, as he said he would. At least maybe he recognized the further damage he was doing. His post caught me totally by surprise, and I just wrote the first thoughts that came to mind. Not sure I would want to spend any more time responding to him. I think I said all I have to. Because these guys will never really get it, so why revisit all the suffering to try to respond to someone who will never really get it? I guess I have dehumanized my abusers because I don't even have fantasies about what I would say to them if I had the chance. What can you say to a person who would do those things???

 

[Ed Norton]

Rehabilitation= castration

 

[joeylittle]

I think I have cleaned that up enough to post, should have seen how many f-words slipped in. Yikes.

We don't have a rule against profanity, just FYI.

why are we considering the human rights of offenders who gave no consideration to the human rights of their victims?

I think this is the main issue as well - and it's the hardest question any society can face (in my opinion): what do we do with people who commit violent crime against other people?

I think it's possible, to a certain extent, to separate the crimes against people from crimes against things. Property can ultimately be replaced, or repaired. But humans really can't just be replaced or repaired.

Should all perpetrators of violent crime be executed? Or, should they be incarcerated permanently? What effects would these kinds of actions have on a society in the long term?

I've been trying to research data on recidivism for sex offenders (pedophiles and others). It's really hard to pull the numbers together into a coherent picture. The easiest things to find are studies on offenders before the sex offender registry kicked in and after (in the US). They are looking to understand whether that program is effective or whether it actually makes things worse. The data is a problem, because you are always missing some chunks of information - the number of re-offenders who aren't caught, for example - and the number of offenders who aren't prosecuted in the first place.

This is a well-put together article specifically on pedophilia. I'd recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning a bit more about pedophilia specifically. The stand out statistic for me was that multiple studies have revealed that only half of child molesters actually have sexual feelings towards children - and those would be the ones with the identifiable MRI signature for pedophilia. The other half are acting out of violence, sadism, power, any number of disorders - and children happen to be the easiest victims.

Also, the possible numbers of non-offending pedophiles are really frightening. People who can say that they deal only in fantasy and photographs....at what point do they lose their control over that?

Anyway, it's a bit of a tangent - but here's the article: http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1658-5-ways-were-making-pedophilia-worse.html

Reading made me think a lot more about what effort and energy needs to be put into prevention, even more than rehabilitation.

 

[scout86]

I'll agree that they're human. Of course they are. And they deserve to be treated with fairness and respect, like any human. And, I suppose, there are a lot of differences between and among them. A lot of coexisting pathologies, or not. That makes a difference for the individual. I've read some convincing accounts of people (who haven't abused anyone) who truly seem to be tormented by their impulses. I concede that there's a chance anyone can learn and be rehabilitated. I just happen to think that the chances for people in THIS group are fairly small. They might even be better for those among them who were abused themselves. That group, as I remember, is actually the minority.

The thing is, "these people" often succeed by being accomplished liars. Narcissism and psychopathy are not uncommon coexisting conditions. I think a "good" liar is hard to detect. Harder if you think you're smart enough to actually do it. So, those who claim to be "cured" or "rehabilitated" would have to do a lot more than talk the talk to convince me. Our visitor didn't convince me. That bit about dropping in to present an opposing view and then going "Oh! Some of you find this disturbing? I had no idea! I'll leave now." That seems pretty bogus to me. That seems a little more "troll-like" and actually kind of cowardly. Which sort of fits with my personal thoughts on "these people" but that's probably my own personal spin on it. I might be being too hard on him/her but I'm not buying it. That was too general. There was nothing there that suggested real remorse to me. And I think that's what you're typically going to get as the result of "rehabilitation".

There's a lot wrong with the criminal justice system in the US. I wish they spent more time and effort sorting predators from "simple criminals". Predators, of any ilk, are going to be a recurring threat unless they are confined or eliminated.

 

[Pietro]

I do not trust these individuals enough to believe that they can be upstanding citizens. Because these people have the capacity to commit a crime that is truly inhuman and that goes against everything a free and civil society stands for. The risk is too great..the damage is forever..

This is the most difficult part -- figuring-out how to deal with sex offenders after prison release. Especially regarding repeat offenders, more needs to be done to prevent further offenses. A strong external monitoring and management program would be the most humane, but will likely be considered too expensive or meet political resistance as being "soft on crime". The only other alternative is, as you suggested, life in prison.

And as long as these people are allowed to exsist freely within our society, that sickness will continue to grow and keep perpetuating the same cycle of abuse that caused it to begin with.

This is true.

I know because, you see, I have a sickness of the mind too..thanks to people like them. Except I didn't have a choice..

I empathize with you. I don't know what exactly happened in my past, but, from what information I have gotten thus far, it seems that it involved some form of sexual abuse. I certainly have the personality and life profiles of a survivor. :/ Whatever our abuse, we suffered at the hands of those who took advantage of those too innocent to have any defense against their attacks. And we continue to suffer, all our lives, even as we attempt to go through the equally painful process of recovery. There is no justice, here, ever.

I have fantasized about the possibility of eventually discovering who might have abused me, and what I might do regarding that person/s. Revenge seems sweet and just -- until I consider the aftermath, and realize that I would have allowed myself to become the same monster that they were, and, worse, that, even after all this time, this individual/s still had control over my life and actions. Revenge is not justice, because it doesn't eliminate the damage done. Hatred does not soothe the perpetual emotional pain. Containment is the best we can achieve for such offenders, which will at least prevent further victimization. But it does nothing to lighten the burden for an offender's existing victims. Again, no justice.