Transforming Fear into Power: The Politicization of Child Sexual Abuse

[Ian David]

Transforming Fear into Power: The Politicization of Child Sexual Abuse

By Ingrid Drake, AlterNet. Posted January 7, 2007.

Politicians trying to gain points are pushing laws to "get tough" on child sexual offenders. But a new movement has a better idea -- work with offenders instead of ostracizing them.

Trailing in the polls a week and a half before Election Day 2006, then-Governor Bob Ehrlich (MD-R) announced new funds to track sex offenders. The press secretary for Ehrlich's opponent, Martin O'Malley, called the move "clearly political."

It is hard to find a campaign anywhere -- for Attorney General, Senate or School Board -- where one candidate is not pronouncing that another candidate has been too soft on pedophiles. This follows a national trend -- from California to Wisconsin to the U.S. Congress -- of the passage of "get-tough-on-offenders" legislation. Republican state representative from Georgia, Jerry Keen, captured the mood when he said, "We want to make it so tough, that are not going to live in Georgia once they are released."

Yet those most impacted by child sexual abuse -- survivors, their supporters, and those who work with perpetrators -- are critical of these new public policies, saying they do little to address the enormous problem. The United Nations reported last year that 150 million girls are sexually abused each year, (14 percent of the planet's child population), as well as seven percent of boys.

Largely ignored by both the mainstream and progressive media, a grassroots movement is empowering communities to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse (CSA), while holding perpetrators accountable.

More:
http://www.alternet.org/story/46238/


See related thread:

Advocates propose (clergy) sex abuse reforms
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2679751

[Mikey929]

1. No

When it comes to drug use, I am all for treatment instead of prison. But sexual abuse of kids? I have a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old. Anyone sexually molests them, I want to see that person in jail for the rest of his life. Period. No hand-wringing, no rehab, no pity. There are some lines you don't cross in life, and one of them is sexually molesting a child.

[Ian David]

2. I mostly agree with you. But I think we still need treatment for those who want it.

They say an addict, for example, has to "hit rock bottom" before they admit they need help.

I think that molesting a child is "hitting rock bottom" for a pedophile.

If they don't seek help after that point, then they've decided that their illness is okay. They've stopped being someone who succumbed to an impulse, and become a predator instead.

I'm not saying people should get ONE free victim before they're held accountable.

Have you watched "To Catch a Predator?"

There was one guy who got to the decoy house early, watched some other pedophile being arrested, and then went inside anyway-- because his compulsion was so strong and irrational.

The thing is, at least on TV, I see people who struggle against it and seem to want to make themselves stop. There are people out there who WANT treatment. There are people out there who go so far as to castrate themselves.

[Mikey929]

3. want

If you want treatment before you molest, then fine. Get treatment. But if you cross the line and have sex with a child, then you deserve what is coming to you. The child molesters are even hated in prison.

I have seen To Catch a Predator. Shocking the number of people who decide to engage in such behavior. I agree it can be a compulsion.

BUT: If my children are assaulted, I am not thinking about treatment. I'm thinking revenge and punishment.

[Ian David]

4. This is why I am against the death penalty.

Because if someone killed someone I loved, I would want that person to get the death penalty.

I am against the death penalty because I am afraid that people like me would use it.

Similarly, I am against imprisoning someone for life if they have a sickness for which they want to be cured-- because if someone molested someone I love, people like me would want them imprisoned for life.

In other words, I am in favor of a legal system that protects other people from things I would want to do them if I were angry.

I want laws that protect us from those who would wrong us. But I also want laws that allow a chance for redemption to those who can truly earn it.

[Mikey929]

5. no cure

I doubt there is a cure for molesting children. How many cases are there of people who get out of prison and molest another kid? There is no recognized cure. So we cannot trust to let people out of jail who have molested (especially violently) molested kids. They will do it again and again.

Sorry to be harsh. But my liberal niceness goes away when the idea of some child molester moving into my neighborhood crops up.

[Ian David]

6. Molesters have among the highest rate of re-offense of criminals.

It makes my liberal niceness go away, too.

Which is why I hope that calmer heads protect both us AND them.

I'm really torn on this issue, though.

Perhaps we could put repeat child molesters on an island somewhere. Or perhaps send them all to Utah.