Pedophilia And The Criminal Justice System

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Pedophilia is defined as “an ongoing sexual attraction toward prepubescent children” (Tenbergen et al., 2015, p. 1). People with pedophilia are often described as a dangerous criminal. People among this category were considered as a category of offenders, by the criminal justice system, among the highest priority for the system to manage and maintain (Lynch, 2002). The differing views between psychologists and the criminal justice system has been a long drawn out debate. Pedophilia is considered a disorder in the DSM V, but by the criminal justice system it is viewed as one of the worst crimes a human being could commit, needing the most severe punishment. The concern with pedophilia for people is the fear that their child will be victim. …show more content…

The Central Administration Committee for Pedophilia by the NVSH in 1973 decided to send out a questionnaire to try to learn about the various aspects of pedophilia itself and the composition of the group (Bernard, 1975). The questions asked concerned personal things such as age, education, etc, questions concerning their pedophilia, questions on substitutes to help combat the problem, and finally questions concerning conflicts with society and the criminal justice system. Most of the people participating in the questionnaire were under 40. This is surprising due to the image the criminal justice and media points out for us. We typically tend to see a man who is much older than 40 who is senile. Ninety percent of pedophiles were found to be unmarried and with no children. Their job profiles also varied widely from office jobs to academic professions. Overwhelming, when going back to the diagnosis criteria about when to diagnose someone with pedophilic disorder we usually do not diagnose someone in adolescence due to puberty. In the questionnaire, those with the disorder realized their disorder between the ages of 10 and 20 years old. This is shocking to the fact that at the age of ten they have not gone through puberty and many do not know what sex is. Most children have homorelationships as friends, aka girls think boys are gross. They grow out of this once they hit puberty. This question brings into question how much research should be done on adolescence to inquire about when pedophilia really can begin. What is even more shocking and brings into question more research, is the fact that the age when individuals had their first pedophile contact with a child was between the ages of 11 and 20 years old. Eleven years old is pretty young to even know about sex and sexual connotations. The ages of which individuals were most interested in varied. The highest percentage was those in puberty, ages

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