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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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Paedophilia is widely recognised as a life long mental condition, and most of society's issues with how we deal with paedophiles, are down to the failure of our legal system to recognise this.
For a comparison, if a person is diagnosed as a psychopath, they don't just serve the sentencing tariff for the violent act that highlighted their condition, they're isolated from the public indefinitely, because their condition means they'll always be a danger to others.
There's no point tagging paedophiles or threatening them with harsh prison sentences, they'll abuse children anyway, because they have a mental illness they can't control. Like psychopathic, they'll always be a danger to others, and similarly, the only way to prevent them indulging their wants, is to keep them isolated from the rest of society indefinitely.
A good way to differentiate between a crime, and behaviour caused by a mental condition, is to consider whether or not a normal person would do it if they thought they could get away with it.
I'd speculate, that most people, if offered the opportunity to nick a million quid from their local bank with a 100% guarantee that they wouldn't be caught, probably would.
I'd be very certain, that almost all people, if offered the opportunity to abuse a child with a 100% guarantee that they wouldn't be caught, still wouldn't (and would probably punch the person offering the opportunity to boot!).
That's the difference.
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