Do you think child molesters can be reformed?

How far gone do you think child molesters are? Can they be reformed?

I believe that there are more pedophiles out there than people realize, and that the ones who actual act of it are the sick ones. Call me crazy, but I don't think one can help whoever it is that he/she is attracted. But you can certainly control your actions.

I hesitate to say that those who touched only one child (but how likely that there was just the one?) can perhaps be helped. Serial molesters, with a string of children they abused, no.

I supposed it depends what "reformed" means. Anybody can repent of their actions, but it'd require a desire to be reformed. IMO, you can't force reformation. You can only aid it. So I guess it'd probably depend on the individual. I believe some probably could be brought to a point where they'd be repentant (not that it should mean they get any less of a punishment), but many would likely not.

Nope, I wouldn't even trust them as far as I could throw them, on account of I might actually be able to do it.

I think child molesters and rapists in general should just be castrated as their punishment. To hell with prison--cut off the part they can't control, leave them with a catheter to piss out of, and we won't have to worry about funding their existence in the slammer, with our tax dollars.

Hyacinth Girl wrote:I think child molesters and rapists in general should just be castrated as their punishment. To hell with prison--cut off the part they can't control, leave them with a catheter to piss out of, and we won't have to worry about funding their existence in the slammer, with our tax dollars.

Good sentiment but fortunately illegal by the U.S. Constitution.

(Oh!) Rob Petrie wrote:I believe that there are more pedophiles out there than people realize, and that the ones who actual act of it are the sick ones. Call me crazy, but I don't think one can help whoever it is that he/she is attracted. But you can certainly control your actions.

There is an extremely high recidivism rate amongst these kinds of crime so I don't think there is much cure for it - only suppression with much effort.

Shale wrote:

Hyacinth Girl wrote:I think child molesters and rapists in general should just be castrated as their punishment. To hell with prison--cut off the part they can't control, leave them with a catheter to piss out of, and we won't have to worry about funding their existence in the slammer, with our tax dollars.

Good sentiment but fortunately illegal by the U.S. Constitution.

There is an extremely high recidivism rate amongst these kinds of crime so I don't think there is much cure for it - only suppression with much effort.

Yeah, I have a lot of "out there" pipe dreams----better never let me get elected as President!

To answer the question, no, I don't think they can be "reformed". Some of the comments reminded me of a pretty good movie, "Little Children". Jackie Earle Haley (he's in your Dark Shadows movie, Tony), is a registered sex offender who takes drastic action.

Chris wrote:How far gone do you think child molesters are? Can they be reformed?

It depends on the individual. Child molester is a blanket term that encompasses a variety of different types of sexual criminals. Once a child has been victimized in some way, we tend not to care about the perpetrator anymore, nor what motivated them. It becomes about the welfare of the child at that point and whatever motivated the perpetrator becomes irrelevant in the eyes of most people. Only when the motives and personality traits of the sexual predator (for any given circumstance) are examined would it be possible to determine whether or not such a person could be rehabilitated or not.

Not all people who've been convicted of being a "child molester" are the same. Not all child molestors are "pedophiles". Some of them are actually pedophiles (having a sexual desire towards prepubesent children) while others are merely sad, misguided individuals who have historically has such problems with establishing interpersonal relationships on their own level, that their only hope for sexual exploration has been with a child (whom they see as someone on their own level).

A psychologically and emotionally insecure, immature person with low self esteem could feel that engaging in sexual relationships with children are the only way they'd be able to express themselves sexually with ANYONE. The difference between this type of person and a genuine pedophile is that this person may actually be fully aware that what they are doing is wrong. Many child molestors may actually feel a sense of guilt, remorse or regret that they've victimized a child in such a way. This inevitably lowers their self esteem even more to the point where the only way they can feel good about themselves again is to molest another child. A person like that actually needs intense psychological therapy or they will never be fulfilled and they will always be seen as a dangerous predator of children. These people can be rehabilitated because they inherently understand the difference between right and wrong and just require emotional and psychological re-tooling to help them adhere to their own convictions.

True pedophiles on the other hand often have no sense of guilt or remorse after molesting children because they don't see anything wrong it. To a pedophile, having sex with children is a "good" thing, both for them and to the child. They often rationalize in their own mind that since sex is a good thing (feels good), sharing it with a child is merely an act of love. "Why shouldn't we try to make a child feel good sexually?" "What's wrong with giving a child physical love?" This is how pedophiles rationalize and justify their own behavior. To them, there is nothing to feel guilty about. To them, everyone else who wants to "protect" children from the pleasures of sex is crazy, evil and just wrong! This type of person cannot be rehabilitated because they don't understand the difference between right and wrong in our society.