A jury in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania on Friday, June 22, 2012, found Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach under Joe Paterno, guilty of 45 counts of child sexual abuse. When escorted out of the Centre County Court House in handcuffs, Sandusky, instead of feeling guilt and shame, felt misunderstood, under-appreciated and persecuted. The day before the verdict, one of Sandusky six adopted children, 33-year-old Matt Sandusky, came forward with accusations that he too had been sexually molested by this man. This should not have come as a surprise to anyone who knows anything about pedophilia. This revelation also begged the question of how the coach's wife had lived with this serial sex offender all those years without having a clue.
Two things were certain in the Sandusky case. This pedophile will die behind bars and he will never admit what he is and what harm he has caused. As a textbook pedophile, Sandusky was a compulsive sex offending machine who on the surface looked and acted like a normal person. This disturbing reality makes pedophiles so dangerous. It's an ugly truth that a high number of pedophiles end up as coaches, teachers, counselors and men of the cloth who impersonate do-gooders who say they simply want to help children. They are not about helping children, they are about helping themselves to children.
Because pedophiles are not mentally ill they cannot be fixed. They are human monsters for life who feel no shame, have no remorse and possess no awareness of the consequences of their perverted behavior.
The only way to protect children from pedophiles is to put them away for life. Otherwise, they will re-offend. Treating them as mental patients or like drug addicts is a waste of time and money. And simply registering known sex offenders, and not allowing them to live near playgrounds and schools does not prevent them from molesting children. Such prohibitions are nothing more than feel-good measures. Compulsive sexual predators are consumed by their desire for children and will do whatever it takes to satisfy their insatiable appetites. They are cruel, cunning and manipulative. To a deviant sexual sociopath fixated on children, everything in life is secondary to having regular sex with kids. These violent sexual deviates do not become teachers, coaches, ministers and priests primarily to teach, coach and preach; they go into these professions to have easy access to children. To ignore this reality is a disservice to young people.
Most pedophiles are never brought to justice. And the ones who are, like Jerry Sandusky, are caught after they have raped hundreds of boys. In Sandusky's case, he sexually molested one of his victims more than 100 times. Pedophiles are also known to rape members of their families simply because of proximity and opportunity. Because victims of pedophilia are young, vulnerable, easily manipulated and ashamed and embarrassed about what is happening to them, they tend not to report their attackers. And when they do it's often as damaged adults. No one knows how many pedophiles have been spared prison sentences by statutes of limitations.
When school teachers are accused in a timely fashion they are often transferred to another school where they can prey upon a fresh batch of victims. This is called "passing the trash." Countless numbers of priests have been protected by the Catholic Church which has, over the years, paid hundreds of millions in court settlements. One of the costs of living under a criminal justice system oriented toward individual rights and the presumption of innocence is paid by the victims of pedophilia. Sexual predators know how to use and abuse the system, and if accused often threaten to sue the accuser.
While the Jerry Sandusky case and the massive Catholic Church scandal put a spotlight on the pedophile problem, sex offenders, impervious to deterrence and shame, will continue to prey upon the nation's children.
Two things were certain in the Sandusky case. This pedophile will die behind bars and he will never admit what he is and what harm he has caused. As a textbook pedophile, Sandusky was a compulsive sex offending machine who on the surface looked and acted like a normal person. This disturbing reality makes pedophiles so dangerous. It's an ugly truth that a high number of pedophiles end up as coaches, teachers, counselors and men of the cloth who impersonate do-gooders who say they simply want to help children. They are not about helping children, they are about helping themselves to children.
Because pedophiles are not mentally ill they cannot be fixed. They are human monsters for life who feel no shame, have no remorse and possess no awareness of the consequences of their perverted behavior.
The only way to protect children from pedophiles is to put them away for life. Otherwise, they will re-offend. Treating them as mental patients or like drug addicts is a waste of time and money. And simply registering known sex offenders, and not allowing them to live near playgrounds and schools does not prevent them from molesting children. Such prohibitions are nothing more than feel-good measures. Compulsive sexual predators are consumed by their desire for children and will do whatever it takes to satisfy their insatiable appetites. They are cruel, cunning and manipulative. To a deviant sexual sociopath fixated on children, everything in life is secondary to having regular sex with kids. These violent sexual deviates do not become teachers, coaches, ministers and priests primarily to teach, coach and preach; they go into these professions to have easy access to children. To ignore this reality is a disservice to young people.
Most pedophiles are never brought to justice. And the ones who are, like Jerry Sandusky, are caught after they have raped hundreds of boys. In Sandusky's case, he sexually molested one of his victims more than 100 times. Pedophiles are also known to rape members of their families simply because of proximity and opportunity. Because victims of pedophilia are young, vulnerable, easily manipulated and ashamed and embarrassed about what is happening to them, they tend not to report their attackers. And when they do it's often as damaged adults. No one knows how many pedophiles have been spared prison sentences by statutes of limitations.
When school teachers are accused in a timely fashion they are often transferred to another school where they can prey upon a fresh batch of victims. This is called "passing the trash." Countless numbers of priests have been protected by the Catholic Church which has, over the years, paid hundreds of millions in court settlements. One of the costs of living under a criminal justice system oriented toward individual rights and the presumption of innocence is paid by the victims of pedophilia. Sexual predators know how to use and abuse the system, and if accused often threaten to sue the accuser.
While the Jerry Sandusky case and the massive Catholic Church scandal put a spotlight on the pedophile problem, sex offenders, impervious to deterrence and shame, will continue to prey upon the nation's children.
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