Sex Offenders: Crime Prevention and Punishment
Child abuse is a critical problem for society because it leads to substantial psychological trauma affecting children’s future lives. Thus, governments of different countries have been working to address this issue by implementing new approaches to treating sex offenders. One of the controversial legislations refers to the notification of neighbors regarding sex offenders living in their community. While such an approach may protect the children, to a certain extent, it also leads to the exclusion of particular people from the community. In my opinion, the registration and notification concerning sex offenders should be perceived as a temporary measure until more humane and efficient ways of handling this issue are developed.
Nowadays, there are several ways in which parents and the larger community can protect children from sex offenders. For small children, it is critical to ensure physical protection, meaning they need to have a parent or a trusted person who takes care of them outside their home. In addition, electronic devices might contribute to the enhancement of protection (“Trailer Park”). For instance, a child may have a wearable device that tracks location, records sound, takes interval pictures or starts recording a video under targeted circumstances. In such a way, parents may be notified when someone talks to their child and have a chance to prevent adverse interaction. Furthermore, for children of all ages, it is crucial to educate them regarding appropriate and inappropriate adult behaviors, how to behave when meeting a stranger, and what words or actions of others to report to their parents (“Trailer Park”). In a community, families can develop such an educational strategy by sharing knowledge and teaching their children at home and in collective settings.
Hence, the registration of sex offenders appears as a necessary measure at the moment. Although every person, including sex offenders, has a right to privacy, society must protect children using the means available. The community members should not necessarily be informed of all crimes committed by their neighbors due to privacy rights. However, the crimes of sex offenders, in general, and child molesters, in particular, should be known to communities because these criminals are more likely to reoffend due to their innate predisposition (“Trailer Park”). Thus, their records should be accessible to children-related venues and educational institutions to prevent dangerous people from working or spending much time there. From this point of view, sex offenders might not differ much from other criminals because most companies would conduct screening on a candidate before hiring them. Therefore, treating sex offenders and other people with criminal records seems similar.
However, community notifications on sex offenders’ crimes do not work sufficiently since an offender might be excluded or leave their place voluntarily and move to a different one. Nonetheless, the diminished efficacy of community notifications does not mean they should be eliminated. As mentioned in the video, no one would like to have a sex offender as a neighbor, and, as a result, these former criminals live in the “village of the damned” when released (“Trailer Park”). Thus, notifications should occur to inform community residents about the risks to which they are exposed.
Nonetheless, notifications are not enough to prevent criminals from reoffending and to protect the community. Additional measures should be implemented to ensure that statements work not only for offenders’ exclusion but also for the community’s protection. For example, it might be more efficient to provide an offender with a particular place to live after they are released instead of returning them to their community that would not accept them. In addition, after sex offenders are released, it is crucial to help them adapt to new circumstances and provide them with the necessary treatment to prevent them from repeating their crimes. For example, therapy should be an obligatory intervention for released sex offenders (“Trailer Park”). Although sex offenders, particularly pedophiles, are unlikely to be cured due to biological reasons, James Cantor, a neuroscientist, mentions that only a small percentage of offenders must be isolated from society, and those are psychopaths (“Trailer Park ”). Consequently, criminal justice should develop thorough and efficient test methods to indicate psychopathology in sex offenders and let others have more opportunities to reintegrate within a community.
Finally, castration does not appear as an acceptable punishment for sex offenders. Speaking of pedophilia, Cantor stated that it is biologically determined, and the science now does not have methods to address it (“Trailer Park”). He also mentioned that there are so-called “virtuous pedophiles” – people who are aware of their pedophilia and who have never committed a crime against children (“Trailer Park”). Therefore, it is evident that pedophiles’ attraction to children cannot be changed and that the psychological approach is proven to work. Castration, in such a way, would only affect one’s potential to biologically satisfy the sexual urge but not the attraction that displays the root of the problem.
Overall, society uses various methods to protect children against abuse, including registration of sex offenders and notifying the community about their neighbors’ sex crimes. Although the mentioned methods appear necessary now, developing alternative strategies to manage the problem is critical. The indication of psychopaths and psychological therapy for pedophiles can help to prevent more crimes and let people who can adequately address their desires function within society.
Work Cited
“Trailer Park Entirely Inhabited by Paedophiles and Sex Offenders.” YouTube, uploaded by 60 Minutes Australia, Web.