Friday, July 5, 2019

Paedophilia, Prevention rather than "Cure" (a discussion)





Paedophilia, Prevention rather than “Cure” is the title of this discussion recorded on the second anniversary of the publication of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.

It was also the date of the launching of the second Jersey Redress Scheme for people who as children were abused or suffered harm between 1945 and the end of 2005 in places such as Les Chenes secure residential unit.

 Appearing in this video are;

Jill Garcia – the former Secretary of the Jersey Care Leavers Association

Alan Collins – a UK lawyer who represents many of those who have been abused

Neil McMurray – A long-time anti-child abuse campaigner

Mike Dun – is the interviewing voice behind the camera who blogs as “Tom Gruchy”

 This is not an easy subject to discuss and we approached it with considerable trepidation.

But, we think that it is part of a wider discussion that should take place because the abuse of children is clearly a subject that is not going away without some very positive action.

Child abuse is not a simple subject and does not always include sexual abuse.

Sex abuse of children and paedophile are just aspects of a complex web of interlinked problems that can include such as violence, neglect, poverty, mental illness, marriage breakdown and failures of child care services.

 La Moye Prison (Jersey) currently detains about 136 prisoners.  About 28 are kept in the “J” separation wing where “sex offenders” are held.

There are (according to an FOI answer in 2018) 83 persons on the “Sex Offenders Register” and 18 of these have left the Island.

 It seems that capturing and detaining “sex-offenders” in prison for long periods is an admission of failure.

It means that a child – in some cases many children – have already experienced abuse before the perpetrator is removed from society.

Obviously the aim should be to prevent the abuse happening at all.

 Potential abusers need to be identified and - if possible - “treated” before they offend.

We do not know how this can be done but recognize that capturing and convicting potential abusers before they commit sexual offences is effective, especially in a small community such as Jersey.

Similarly, we do not know what punishment or treatment can be effective or acceptable to prevent convicted offenders committing further acts of abuse if released from prison or other forms of detention.

 We discuss these matters in the video.

There are many other matters that could be discussed and we would hope that further informed examination of the issues will take place.

We invite others with an interest in this whole subject to make contact and we especially want to record further video discussions to broaden knowledge and understanding.

 
We want a serious and productive dialogue and will not publish recordings which are likely to be inflammatory or offensive.

Contributions from those who do not want to be identified in the video recordings will be considered and all communications will be treated as confidential.

 
4 July 2019

3 comments:

  1. Tom Gruchy.

    A quote from one of my submissions to the Care Inquiry (mentioned in the video) might help focus minds:

    "If we can stop them harming our children rather than locking them up after they have ruined a child and their family’s life then I think any child/parent would thank you for it." LINK.

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  2. A great contribution to a complex and emotive subject. Interesting thoughts on the ideal of preventing rather than curing. Bring pro active rather than reactive.

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  3. There are a bunch of taboo subjects and this a good and overdue discussion to have. These include subjects I have broached on a number of occasions on less censorious blogs

    At the risk of wasting my time I will offer a number of observations and opinions.

    The first is hardly rocket science:
    Seek the advice of confessed or repressed paedophiles and also convicted paedophiles. Between them they will know rather a lot about the many, many facets of the subjects of warped sexuality, offending and not-offending. We are mostly making informed guesses at best.

    Many paedophiles would be less than candid and many would seek to mislead for their own advantage, but their input can be assessed critically

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