Reply #135: My uncle is a pedophile

[RadicalTexan]

He cannot be rehabilitated.

He should be quarantined away from society but allowed to enjoy his natural life.

I think he has a genetic predisposition coupled with PTSD from having witnessed his own father abuse my mother when they were both children.

He has molested children, harassed children, exposed himself in public and private, and was caught driving around with Barbies, rope, and duct tape in his trunk. He has been in and out of jail (once, for a couple of years for exposing himself, and again for violating his parole by having a handgun in his possession - but my cousins called the police and reported that because, despite the fact that they were trying to help him re-enter society by letting them live at their house during his parole, he exposed himself to them, too!). He is sick, and it's compulsive. He has to act on these fantasies and desires in much the same way a drug addict has to get a fix. I have watched him my entire life.

I feel sorry for him. He's a broken human. I hate his father, but not him. But then I wonder, what happened to his father that made him turn into a sexually abusive father? I suspect there was a long cycle of abuse there.

My mother, who was abused even more tragically than my uncle, has never shown any signs of being an abuser, although she, too, has had a life limited and defined by her shitty childhood.

So, based totally on anecdotal evidence, culled from 30 years of observing my uncle (who abused me, too, of course), I don't think pedophiles can be rehabilitated. It's sad, and I feel deep mourning for the little boy he was. But if he is not able to live in society with others, his rights end. He should not be allowed to inflict a continuing cycle of abuse on others. Period.

I do not, however, think he should be castrated (mainly because I don't think there is much evidence that this is effective) or executed. I just think he should be quarantined, perhaps in some kind of low-security penal community with other offenders, who are all there for life. They can make license plates or something. I think he should receive counseling, and any medication that will help. I don't think he should be confined to a tiny cell and suffer abuse from other violent offenders. But I don't think he should be released back into general society, ever. Unfortunately, he has been back out of jail for several years. He has an ankle monitor and regular parole meetings, but I still worry about what he's up to, and I resent the fact that I cannot go back to my hometown without running into him in the damn public library.

$0.02