Treatment & Help

for 'pedophiles' and sex offenders

Arehart-Treichel, Joan, Pedophilia Often in Headlines, But Not in Research Labs Clinical & Research News, May 19, 2006, Volume 41, Number 10, page 37
Since the average age of child molesters in the United States is 13 years, helping families identify
adolescents who have fantasies about sexually molesting children might help keep those adolescents from acting on their fantasies. 

Berlin, Fred: 
Hansen, Chris, What can be done to stop predators? NBC News Feb. 3, 2006 
Chris Hansen spoke to Dr. Fred Berlin, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Berlin has over 25 years of experience working with sexual offenders. 
'Some can be easily treated, some can't... and you've got the whole group in between,' says Fred Berlin, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. 
I've worked in this area for many years. And the findings surprised even me because what they found was, as a group, sex offenders have a lower rate of recidivism than people who commit other kinds of serious offenses. And yet the public perception, most of public policy, the way in which we view this problem today, is based upon exactly the opposite assumption. 

Claydon, Russell, Paedophile had 'no-one to turn to'; eadt.co.uk, 22 April 2008 
A paedophile who ran a global child abuse network from his parent's Suffolk farmhouse has claimed he had no-one to turn to with his problems.

Gieles, F.E.J., Lecture, background article, references and web site 15th World Congress of Sexology. June 2001 [External links]

Gieles, F.E.J., 'But sir, you are an offender!' - Narrative coercion as method of behavior modification, 2006

Kramer, Richard, Social workers learn from pedophiles; 2008-March-22 
This past Thursday, B4U-Act held its one-day workshop entitled "Beyond Fear and Mistrust: Toward Open Communication between Mental Health Professionals and Minor-Attracted People" in Westminster, Maryland. [...]
Probably the most notable thing about the workshop was that minor-attracted people and mental health professionals were working together as equals, without the minor-attracted people being required to label themselves or their sexuality as sick or identify themselves as 
potential offenders who need to be controlled.

McKeen, S, Just hating pedophiles won't keep children safe - Torches and pitchforks will not drive the monsters from our realm; The Edmonton Journal (Canada), October 10, 2008 
Neither prosecution nor protest will protect our children from pedophiles. Our common sense and humanity might. But on this issue, both are in short supply. [...]
Why not create a support and accountability network like Alcoholics Anonymous for pedophiles? 
Good idea. So good, in fact, that it's been around for years. A mostly unheralded and underfunded program known as COSA, or Circles Of Support and Accountability [...]

Muller, Heather , Child molester unlikely to re-offend, expert says;  eurekareporter.com, 16 October 2007
Park argued that the program itself was fundamentally flawed, focusing too much on details of past offenses in an attempt to prevent relapses. Preventing relapses should be the goal of sex-offender treatment plans, Park agreed, but said the SOCP approach had been criticized for instilling a sense of shame in participants. 
"Shame," he said, "is looking at yourself as scum." It's a negative emotion that, in Park's opinion, actually increases the risk of re-offense.

Schultz, Pamela D., Treatment for sex offenders can protect community; But the problem of readmitting perpetrators to society will never be solved if we allow misplaced fear and paranoia to guide us; OPINION, By Pamela D. Schultz; Newsday [Melville, NY], December 3, 2006.
The hunt for released sex offenders, in particular child molesters, has become a moral panic, a mass-mediated wave of irrational public fear. Public policy is based on the idea that child molesters lurk in every neighborhood, playground, schoolyard and public park. [...]
Child molesters cannot be hiding beneath every rock; there aren't enough of them.