Burning Issue 6 - protecting children from sex offences

Before you start reading this article, let me get one thing straight. As far as I am concerned, bastards who sexually wreck children's lives should be locked up and the key thrown away. Have no doubt about that.

As a society, however, we have a problem.

Take the typical scenario below. The time when an offender is caught is AFTER they have committed the offence and by that time, the young child themselves are traumatised and are carrying this problem with them for the rest of their lives. Yes, the offender gets locked up for a long time when they are caught, but this is the wrong way of going about it ... too late.


This is what I'm aiming for. Stop the perpetrator before they commit the crime and wreck someone's life. But how do we do it? Well, this won't work for al paedophiles but there is a particular class of abuser who it will help, and if it has the potential to save one child, it it worth considering.


Before I start detailing things, I have to convince you that it is in your best interest to shelve your emotions. Knee jerk politics has been responsible for a whole raft of stupid laws lately. Rather than being thought out and relying on evidence, research and proof, some twit has whipped up the population in to a barking mad, foaming at the mouth, pitchfork waving, banging on the gates frenzy.

If you're going to understand any of this, then you have to park your emotional reflex on the shelf right now.

Penn and Teller, in their US series, "Bullshit," proved just how bad we really are when we let our emotions and minimal information reflexes go in to overdrive. Getting a researcher to tell nothing other than the truth, they got a large number of people to sign a petition to ban, "Di Hydrogen monoxide." Yep, they managed to get people to actually sign a petition calling for WATER to be banned.

That is why you need to park your emotional response.

I'm going to ask you a question. You don't have to answer me, as it is not me you have to convince; or not convince ... um ... you know what I'm talking about.

Think about what turns you on. Think about what starts your pulse racing. Muscle bound builders? Long, lanky legs? Those come-to-bed eyes? Good. Now hold that thought.

WHY do you have that response? What put that trigger in you? Did you consciously decide that you would drop your jaw on these stimuli? I doubt that very many people will answer yes to that question.

That is an involuntary, positive reaction. Otherwise known as fetishes, some common inanimate trigger objects are fur, leather, rubber, etc. and the fetishists will usually admit that don't know why they have these triggers, or have any control over them. Involuntary negative reactions are phobias.

We all like to think that Mother Nature is a benevolent person that wouldn't harm a fly. Well, there are times when she is an evil old crone. Children born with all sorts of conditions; hole in the heart, etc. you name it ... the list is very large.

So, we come to the logical conclusion that some people are being born or somehow programmed with an attraction to young children. We already know that children who have been abused are also likely to carry on that trait themselves, so I'm not painting pre-programming as a cause of all paedophiles; only a section. How large a section, we don't know.

They know who they are ... but we don't ... until it is too late.

What evidence exists to support this?

One main piece of evidence is in the writings of long serving Paramedic Brian Kellet, writing under the name of Tom Reynolds in his book, "Blood, Sweat and Tea."

"Imagine, if you will, getting sent to a job where a 15-year old boy is threatening suicide. You turn up at the address and discover that it is a care home. Meeting with one of his carers she hands you a list of the boy's medications and it reads like a, 'Who's Who' of psychiatric drugs. You talk to the boy and he seems calm, collected and very polite. He explains that he wants to jump out of a window and kill himself, and agrees that he would like to go to hospital. You take him in to the paediatric department of a local hospital. As this does not feel like the normal, “Teenager wants to kill themselves” you have a chat wit the children's nurse and you ask them to let you know what happens to the patient. You leave and continue with your shift. The next day you ask the children's nurse about the patient and she tells you, “The boy wanted to die because he wants to have sex with, and kill small children – and that he knows that it is wrong.

I hate paedophiles as much as any other member of society, but in front of me that day, I saw a victim."

So here we have it. A human being who openly admits to this desire within him, has no ability to control it and wants to kill himself rather than give in to it and wreck another child's life.

It is at this point that the emotionally driven retards will say, "Lock him up and throw away the key!" Those are the kind of people that would happily hand the poor kid a gun and a bullet.

There is also an aspect of how our society is very badly handling the situation at present. "Diary of an On-Call Girl" purports to be the writings of a serving policewoman. Started anonymously, like Brian Kellet did, this book is a collection of her blogging posts. In its darker moments, however, there are pieces that strike a serious chord on this subject, like this one on pages 180 and 181...

Colin is 13 and I have located him three times already this year. On each occasion I found him in the same place, back at the Foundation sitting in front of the television.
This time, we are shown in by Carlita, one of the live-in carers. She makes me a cup of tea and apologises for having to call us out.
"So," I say, "Why did he go this time?"
"He went for some fags. We usually let him have one after doing his homework, but he wanted one now. So he just left."
I look at the front door, a sturdy-looking PVC thing with two bolts. "How did he get out?"
"He opened the door."
"Did anyone try to stop him?"
"We aren't allowed to do that!" She looks horrified at the suggestion. "If they become violent, we retreat."
"But couldn't you just lock the door?"
"We don't lock them in," she says, "That might make them violent."
Perhaps I have misunderstood the nature of the Foundation. I ask for a recap. "Why are the kids here again?"
"High risk offenders. Most of them have committed rapes or sexual assault on younger kids. Colin raped a younger boy last year."
"And they aren't in prison because...?"
"Well, most of them were also abused as kids," Carlita explains. "They're not even sixteen, so it wouldn't be fair to just chuck them in jail and throw away the key. They're mixed up kids."
"So let me get this straight: you have a house full of boys who have been victims of sexual assault, living in a house with boys who have committed sexual assaults?"
"Well, they aren't allowed in each others' rooms."
Colin is under a Supervision Order from the court and Carlita shows me the order. It lays down in no uncertain terms that COlin is to stay indoors at the Benicci Foundation all day, except when escorted to school and back by staff or taken on outings authorised by staff. He is to abide by the rules of the house and is not allowed to be rude or threatening or to assault anyone.
"So he breaks this Order every time he goes storming out?" I ask.
She nods. "If he does it again he'll be put in a high security home."
Will takes out the paperwork. "He's done it ... let's see ... 30 times in the last three months."
Sadly, this is no exaggeration. Colin and others like him really exist, as to their records of going "missing."
She shrugs. "Well, like I say. One of these days he'll be put in high security."
I shake my head, and go to look for the little ragamiffin. First stop, the park. As we drive into the park our car is surrounded by a gaggle of ten year old boys in school uniform and we chat to them for five minutes. On leaving, I look in my mirror and see some parents pull up to collect the kids. I wonder what those parents would say if they knew that a thirteen year old child rapist wanders through that park two or three times a week, untroubled by the court order designed to protect their children from him."

So here we are ... the question is ... what do we do?

There are three options...

1) Lock the poor sod up.
2) Do nothing but wait until the poor sod is driven insane, commits an offence, wrecks someone else's life and THEN lock the poor sod up.
3) Do something to help and prevent the poor sod from ruining another child's life.

To be honest, at this point I am no expert in the condition, but what I have been reading, and the little correspondence I have had with people in this field, makes me believe we are really poorly equipped to help someone in this position.

*) Funding for this area; non-existent from what I've been told. (by a charity responsible for rehabilitating abused children)
*) How to help these people and stop them from offending; that needs research ... for which ...there happens to be no funding available, thanks to our over-emotional brethren whipping up such a fucking opinion storm that no one stands a chance of having reasonable debate in this field.

The only thing I can put forward here is the following.

1) Any person presenting for help has their DNA taken and stored forever more; that will help foster in their own minds that if they DO do something, that they're going to get caught. I'm not sure how human rights legislation will come in to play on that.

2) That they receive regular monitoring/counselling by either the medical or psychiatric profession (not the Police) - hopefully a positive presence in their lives on this issue will help keep them positive and on the right track.

3) That some form of help is provided to help handle the feelings and stop them from actually doing any harm to anyone.

...and no, I don't take it as acceptable that we lock them up and throw away the key unless they've done something. After all, every now and then some people give me the urge to throttle them, but that doesn't make me eligible for being locked up for murder ... does it?