Paedophilia series - Life in jail will not address disorder

Today, the Irish Examiner begins the first of two articles on paedophilia in Ireland.

It is an extremely emotive subject that requires rational consideration.

All too often, public revulsion leads to people calling for paedophiles to be locked up and the key thrown away. While that would protect children from those paedophiles, it would drive the problem further underground and thereby expose other children.

The culprits are usually men, but they are not typically the dirty old men lurking around corners in shabby overcoats. Most sexual abusers are not strangers; they are related to their victims, or at least well-known to them.

Thus the paedophiles are at the heart of our society, not on the fringes. Hence it is necessary to tackle this compulsive disorder in a rational manner to achieve the best results.

Some people who may fantasise about such behaviour may never give physical expression to it, but the nature of their compulsion is a threat that requires treatment. Yet the Health Service Executive is more interested in assessing people than treating them, and the cost such assessments rose by a staggering 50% to €3,600 in 2006.

Even jailed paedophiles are not getting the necessary treatment. On the basis that prevention is better than cure, some of the problems could be avoided by encouraging likely offenders to seek treatment, but in the current agitated climate, they would risk the emotional equivalent of a public lynching by admitting such proclivities.

This only heightens the dangers, because the real threat remains close to home.