Do you think that some people are possessed and can’t help what they do?

and as such should be treated for mental illness instead of as criminals? l ask the question because last night I was watching “To Catch a Predator” with Chris Hansen and you would be surprised to see how many men were caught in the on-line dating trap; even people who had actually watched the show. There was one lad who was caught in exactly similar circumstances by Hanson and his crew and was awaiting his day in court and he was caught again.

I guess my other questions would be what would make a grown man want to have sex with 13-year-old lass; and why after he was caught one time would go back and do the exact same thing again?
Answer:
I actually work in this field so all your questions are great questions. Pedophilia is a sexual preference not a choice - this makes it hard for us to grasp because it would be like your preference for women (an assumption here) and mine for men. It is how a person is "wired". There is no cure but in a weird way, they also cannot be held responsible for their actions. The treatment is containment - 24 hour supervision.

Also remember that we all are deluded by the thought that what we see and hear will not happen to us. How else to explain that in this age of information, the population that is most effected by AIDS is young women.

Great question and your responses will be full of judgment and ignorance, I suspect.

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sad, but evil is evil

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There is no excuse for criminal behavior.

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I do feel that some people are not in control of their criminal behaviors because of mental illness, but would prefer that defense not be allowed in court. In our criminal justice system, once a criminal is deemed not guilty by reason of mental illness, he or she no longer comes under the jurisdiction of the court. The criminal may be ordered to serve time in a mental institution, but only until he or she is pronounced cured by a qualified psychiatrist.

There is no objective test for the existence of mental illness. You can't look at it under the microscope and see the crazy germs swimming in someone's bloodstream, so a "cure" is often a matter of opinion. There have been many cases of mentally ill people fooling psychiatrists into releasing them.

As for your question about why a grown man would want to have sex with a 13 year old -- why a nine year old? Why an infant? Some men need to feel powerful, and they get that feeling of power from molesting children, who have no power. That feeling is addictive. Just like any other addict, they will go back time and again regardless of the risk.