Laura
Hult

Although the apparent increase of deviant sexual behaviors is of great concern to many, few crimes inspire a more impassioned response than pedophilia.

Proponents for decriminalizing pedophilic predation are equally as ardent as those who would seek the most severe penalties for such behaviors. On a global scale, the inability to reach a consensus concerning sexual involvement with children requires that science determine why some individuals are sexually aroused by children.

Only with definition can we categorically declare pedophilia as criminal behavior, else the debate will continue and more than likely conclude as a civil rights issue – with the rights of adults taking precedence over the rights of children.

We can conclude that pedophilia is a crime from the lasting effects predation has on child victims. Children seem to know instinctively that such behavior is wrong and must become a secret shared only by the child and perpetrator. This instinct for secrecy would seem at odds with evolutionary theories that propose pedophilia as an arcane survival mechanism for the preservation of our species.

Also, survivors suffer from a persistent lack of self-worth and self-esteem plus a host of comorbid mood disorders, and thus strongly suggest that pedophilia is an aberration of human behavior.

Nevertheless, we humans feel we can fix virtually anything through increased education, empathy training, behavior modification, CBT, aversion therapy, and so forth. We have created statistical software to aid us in this endeavor, and pat ourselves on the back for our ingenuity and calculated success rates of about 60% (Craisatti&Beech, 2006).

But there are several things inherently wrong with such positive assessments:

First, success rates of 60% imply failure rates of 40%. Surgeons with similar track records typically lose their licenses, often along with their patients’ lives.

The 40% who fail do so at the expense of the mental health and emotional stability of their latest victims, yet this fact is seldom considered in the evaluation and advocacy of current treatment programs.

The 60% who successfully complete mandated treatment may simply have been taught better ways to hide their deviant behavior. Repeated exposure to polygraph testing could in effect desensitize the pedophile to intrusive monitoring, and classes in victim empathy may actually enhance grooming skills.

How are we to know then what treatments actually work?

The answer is that we cannot, and the only sensible recourse left involves biological testing to discover the underpinnings of deviant sexual behavior. With the information presented by Tost, et al. (2004), we have a starting point, and perhaps through additional investigation we can discover the specific genetic factors that predispose an individual to pedophilia.

Armed with such data, medications or genetic therapies could be developed to either control deviant sexual impulses, or at best, eliminate the biological or neurochemical cause.

Sadly though, until enough research has been done along these lines, we will have to live with our mediocre behaviorally targeted treatments…and hope for the best, which is little comfort to the countless children who will continue to be victimized.

References:

Craissati, J., Beech, A. (2006). The Role of Key Developmental Variables in Identifying Sex Offenders Likely to Fail in the Community: An Enhanced Risk Prediction Model. Child Abuse&Neglect, 30, pp. 327-339.

Tost, H., Vollmert, C., Brassen, S., Schmitt, A., Dressing, H., Braus, D. (2004). Pedophilia: Neuropsychological Evidence Encouraging a Brain Network Perspective. Medical Hypotheses, 63, pp. 528-531.